HoldenV8
Journey Man
A tough loss at home to the Titans last night. But hopefully it brought us back down to earth after a week where the media seemed to fall in love with us.
Brendan Elliot 6/10 - Elliot was good for the most part and his tackle on Brimson reminded of Snake at his last line best. But too many tries are being scored because he's in the line and caught out of position on kicks to the in-goal.
Jorge Taufua 5/10 - Jorgie boy tried his heart out last night. Not our worst by a long shot.
Dylan Walker 4/10 - A mixed bag. Great in attack in the first half, woeful in defence for most of the game. Definitely lacking match fitness and was blowing harder than a $2 hooker after his 50 metre run for Garrick's try.
Brad Parker 8/10 - Scorpio was one of our better players last night, just like he has been all year. This kid is growing on me. Last year I thought he was never to play first grade again. Now he's a must in our centres. Anyone who thinks that Hank should be dropped when Suli returns is kidding themselves. After last night, maybe its Walker who needs time at Blacktown to get back match fitness.
Reuben Garrick 4/10 - Great attack, speed and goal kicking, but he and Walker were a defensive liability on the right last night. As good as he was running the ball in open space.....Copley scored 3 tries down his flank. Think about that. Dale Copley....Dale bloody Copley, scored 3 tries. And he's the fish that John West (i.e. the Drongos and Rorters) rejected. And it might have been 4 for him if Garrick didn't have the speed to run him down.
Cade Cust 5/10 - Two try assists gets him a 5, but otherwise was a 4. His kicking game let him and the side down. Still, it was only his second game in first grade. However, IMO right now he is only warming the #6 jumper for when Croker returns. Wow, who'd have thought that about Croker 12 months ago?
Kane Elgey 4/10 - Should have had a try, but otherwise he didn't capitalise on the platform set by Marty, AFB, Jake and Api. Like Cust he had a very poor night with the boot. Last night was his chance to show that he's better than the Gold Coast saw of him when he was there. He didn't show it.
Addin Fonua-Blake 7/10 - Ran hard, but his knee seems to be stopping him being as dominant as he should be. Discipline is still a worry.
Api Koroisau 7/10 - Api was great when he was on from the start, especially his runs from dummy half, but last night the plan to have him on the bench for the middle 3rd of the game didn't work because we needed more of what he was giving. Hindsight says Des should have put him back on much earlier than the around the 70th minute.
Martin Taupau 8/10 - Marty was his usual strong running self last night. And his defensive game has improved a lot this year.
Joel Thompson 5/10 - Ran OK early, but didn't really get involved a lot, although most of the play, both ours and the Tits, went to our right.
Curtis Sironen 4/10 - Not Siro's best game last night, he didn't get involved as much as he could have. Went off injured late.
Jake Trbojevic 8/10 - Couldn't fault Jake last night. Tackled everything that moved and tried his guts out in attack.
Manase Fainu 3/10 - His form has dropped a lot in the past 3-4 weeks and last night he offered next to nothing. Defence was OK, but zero spark in attack and he looked gassed after just 10 minutes. We looked a lot more dangerous with Api out there.
Jack Gosiewski 4/10 - Did nothing wrong, but only came on with about 10 to go when Siro got a leg knock, and by then the game was gone.
Corey Waddell 4/10 - Didn't have a lot of impact last night.
Morgan Boyle 4/10 - His dropped ball helped kill any momentum when we led 12-0, but other than that he was what you would call.....serviceable. Not bad, not good. With Sips on the sidelines until next year, Boyle needs to stand up to be counted as the bench prop.
Last night we were as flat as a board and it showed. Sure, we led 12-0 after 30 minutes, but those two tries were against the run of play and the result of (finally) having the speed on the right to go the length of the field when the Tits made early errors attacking our line. For the most part though we were camped in our half, even when we led.
Yes the Tits got some lucky bounces when attacking our line, especially in the second half, but our defence on the right was shocking. Kelly played all over Walker while Tyrone Roberts had one of those rare games where almost everything he touched turned to gold. In defence both Walker and Garrick were guilty of rushing in and leaving big holes for Copley to just stride over for 3 tries.
We are going to have to get back to basics if we are to beat Penrith next week because although they won't have Cleary (he'll get picked for NSW despite his form, no doubt), they get Maloney back and he'll have a point to prove, as with the rest of the Panthers. And with their win over the Worms on Thursday they will have some confidence going into the game. Play like we did against the Sharks and we'll win. Play like last night and we'll get hammered.
I'm not going to blame the refs for last night because the reality is that we just played poorly and didn't deserve to win. But I do question how the 3rd most penalised team going into Round 11 only concedes 4 penalties for the whole game while we were getting hammered for almost everything. And with Perenara in the bunker there were no surprises. Did what he could to no try Manly, but ignored even basic obstructions that allowed the Gold Coast to score. It was nothing more than expected from him when he's a referee in some capacity for a Manly game.
The Tits may be a bit of a bogey team for us, but you don't win football games if you turn up thinking that's all you have to do to get the money.
Brendan Elliot 6/10 - Elliot was good for the most part and his tackle on Brimson reminded of Snake at his last line best. But too many tries are being scored because he's in the line and caught out of position on kicks to the in-goal.
Jorge Taufua 5/10 - Jorgie boy tried his heart out last night. Not our worst by a long shot.
Dylan Walker 4/10 - A mixed bag. Great in attack in the first half, woeful in defence for most of the game. Definitely lacking match fitness and was blowing harder than a $2 hooker after his 50 metre run for Garrick's try.
Brad Parker 8/10 - Scorpio was one of our better players last night, just like he has been all year. This kid is growing on me. Last year I thought he was never to play first grade again. Now he's a must in our centres. Anyone who thinks that Hank should be dropped when Suli returns is kidding themselves. After last night, maybe its Walker who needs time at Blacktown to get back match fitness.
Reuben Garrick 4/10 - Great attack, speed and goal kicking, but he and Walker were a defensive liability on the right last night. As good as he was running the ball in open space.....Copley scored 3 tries down his flank. Think about that. Dale Copley....Dale bloody Copley, scored 3 tries. And he's the fish that John West (i.e. the Drongos and Rorters) rejected. And it might have been 4 for him if Garrick didn't have the speed to run him down.
Cade Cust 5/10 - Two try assists gets him a 5, but otherwise was a 4. His kicking game let him and the side down. Still, it was only his second game in first grade. However, IMO right now he is only warming the #6 jumper for when Croker returns. Wow, who'd have thought that about Croker 12 months ago?
Kane Elgey 4/10 - Should have had a try, but otherwise he didn't capitalise on the platform set by Marty, AFB, Jake and Api. Like Cust he had a very poor night with the boot. Last night was his chance to show that he's better than the Gold Coast saw of him when he was there. He didn't show it.
Addin Fonua-Blake 7/10 - Ran hard, but his knee seems to be stopping him being as dominant as he should be. Discipline is still a worry.
Api Koroisau 7/10 - Api was great when he was on from the start, especially his runs from dummy half, but last night the plan to have him on the bench for the middle 3rd of the game didn't work because we needed more of what he was giving. Hindsight says Des should have put him back on much earlier than the around the 70th minute.
Martin Taupau 8/10 - Marty was his usual strong running self last night. And his defensive game has improved a lot this year.
Joel Thompson 5/10 - Ran OK early, but didn't really get involved a lot, although most of the play, both ours and the Tits, went to our right.
Curtis Sironen 4/10 - Not Siro's best game last night, he didn't get involved as much as he could have. Went off injured late.
Jake Trbojevic 8/10 - Couldn't fault Jake last night. Tackled everything that moved and tried his guts out in attack.
Manase Fainu 3/10 - His form has dropped a lot in the past 3-4 weeks and last night he offered next to nothing. Defence was OK, but zero spark in attack and he looked gassed after just 10 minutes. We looked a lot more dangerous with Api out there.
Jack Gosiewski 4/10 - Did nothing wrong, but only came on with about 10 to go when Siro got a leg knock, and by then the game was gone.
Corey Waddell 4/10 - Didn't have a lot of impact last night.
Morgan Boyle 4/10 - His dropped ball helped kill any momentum when we led 12-0, but other than that he was what you would call.....serviceable. Not bad, not good. With Sips on the sidelines until next year, Boyle needs to stand up to be counted as the bench prop.
Last night we were as flat as a board and it showed. Sure, we led 12-0 after 30 minutes, but those two tries were against the run of play and the result of (finally) having the speed on the right to go the length of the field when the Tits made early errors attacking our line. For the most part though we were camped in our half, even when we led.
Yes the Tits got some lucky bounces when attacking our line, especially in the second half, but our defence on the right was shocking. Kelly played all over Walker while Tyrone Roberts had one of those rare games where almost everything he touched turned to gold. In defence both Walker and Garrick were guilty of rushing in and leaving big holes for Copley to just stride over for 3 tries.
We are going to have to get back to basics if we are to beat Penrith next week because although they won't have Cleary (he'll get picked for NSW despite his form, no doubt), they get Maloney back and he'll have a point to prove, as with the rest of the Panthers. And with their win over the Worms on Thursday they will have some confidence going into the game. Play like we did against the Sharks and we'll win. Play like last night and we'll get hammered.
I'm not going to blame the refs for last night because the reality is that we just played poorly and didn't deserve to win. But I do question how the 3rd most penalised team going into Round 11 only concedes 4 penalties for the whole game while we were getting hammered for almost everything. And with Perenara in the bunker there were no surprises. Did what he could to no try Manly, but ignored even basic obstructions that allowed the Gold Coast to score. It was nothing more than expected from him when he's a referee in some capacity for a Manly game.
The Tits may be a bit of a bogey team for us, but you don't win football games if you turn up thinking that's all you have to do to get the money.
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