HoldenV8
Journey Man
A good win over our sworn enemy on a glorious Sunday arvo in front of a mostly packed Brookvale Oval. You know, beating Doesn't-matta is the best thing outside of winning the premiership.
Tom Trbojevic 8/10 - Teddy's good, but right now when he's on form there is no better fullback in rugby league than Turbo. Still, a couple of errors stopped me giving him a 9. Since his return he has been a lot more vocal from the back organising the defence. The Snake influence at work. And its good to see we're finally using his height and leap to effect in attacking kicks. Neither Gutho or Moses knew anything about it when he scored.
Jorge Taufua 6/10 - The Worms targeted his lack of pace early with a couple of grubbers that led to tries, but otherwise Jorge was OK. Another sledgehammer hit in defence. Has he been stealing Matai's cool aid?
Brad Parker 7/10 - Hank Scorpio is back people. He's become one of the best defensive centres in the NRL this year, a big change from the "Never to play first grade again" hat people put on his ginger head after last year. But he needs to get some sun. I needed sunnies watching the TV because his legs were were like a blinding white light
.
Moses Suli 6/10 - Not a bad day out for Moses. He made some good runs and gave a nice pass for Garrick to score our first try. Missed scoring his own try (through no fault of his own) by the width of a cigarette paper.
Reuben Garrick 8/10 - The only thing I could fault really was his goal kicking. Blotted his copybook by missing two very easy kicks through what seemed a lazy approach. But you couldn't say that about his general play scoring his first NRL hat-trick and if not for a milimetre or two could have had a try assist.
Dylan Walker 7/10 - I don't think Walks did too bad yesterday at 5/8. He actually seemed a fair bit more focused because he was getting his hands on the ball more. Good awareness to realise it was the 5th to put up the kick that saw Garrick score his second.
Daly Cherry-Evans 7/10 - DCE led from the front yesterday, especially with the ball in hand. Cherry is a half who is at his best when his team is rolling forward and he can play off the front foot, and that was shown when we came back from 12-6 down in the first half.
Addin Fonua-Blake 7/10 - Yet another strong game from AFB.
Manase Fainu 8/10 - This kid is showing that he will be a star and will challenge Damien Cook for the best hooker in the game tag after Smith retires. The Worms couldn't contain his dummy half runs.
Martin Taupau 7/10 - Strong as usual, although only one offload which I found a bit strange. 26 tackles from a front rower is a good haul.
Joel Thompson 7/10 - Joel was very good yesterday. Was robbed of a fair try by yet another BS call from Horsehead in the bunker.
Curtis Sironen 7/10 - Had a good game yesterday, but I was most impressed by his defence.
Jake Trbojevic 7/10 - Not a lot of run metres from Jake because he more passed than did hit ups, but as usual his defence was top class. I think Des took him off too early.
Lachlan Croker 5/10 - Was OK, but hooker is not his position.
Corey Waddell 5/10 - Didn't do anything wrong, but he's been a bit quiet since his return from suspension.
Morgan Boyle 5/10 - A fair effort from the new Mr Plod. But in all honesty, if Sips does return in a few weeks I can see Boyle as the one to drop off the bench.
Taniela Paseka 6/10 - His runs yesterday showed that when he uses his size properly he can be hard to handle.
The biggest dilemma for Des next week will be the makeup of the side. Will Cust come back in? Will he leave Walks at 5/8 and Scorpio in the centres? Will he play Croker at 5/8 and if so who plays centre?
I wouldn't mind betting that we'll line up at AAMI Park as we lined up yesterday 1-17 (which means Cust misses out).
Either way, if we play close to our best I think we can knock off Melbourne next week, but we can't have periods like we did at times yesterday. I wouldn't say we played like $hit like some said we did in the second half, but we did become a bit lazy at times and took the foot off the accelerator which allowed that rabble to get within 12 at the end. Realistically we should have put 50 on them again.
So far this year, of the top 5 sides on the ladder (currently), the Chooks are the only ones we haven't beaten, though of course we haven't played Melbourne yet.
Next week will definitely be the biggest test of where we are currently. And right now we are looking in very good shape.
Tom Trbojevic 8/10 - Teddy's good, but right now when he's on form there is no better fullback in rugby league than Turbo. Still, a couple of errors stopped me giving him a 9. Since his return he has been a lot more vocal from the back organising the defence. The Snake influence at work. And its good to see we're finally using his height and leap to effect in attacking kicks. Neither Gutho or Moses knew anything about it when he scored.
Jorge Taufua 6/10 - The Worms targeted his lack of pace early with a couple of grubbers that led to tries, but otherwise Jorge was OK. Another sledgehammer hit in defence. Has he been stealing Matai's cool aid?
Brad Parker 7/10 - Hank Scorpio is back people. He's become one of the best defensive centres in the NRL this year, a big change from the "Never to play first grade again" hat people put on his ginger head after last year. But he needs to get some sun. I needed sunnies watching the TV because his legs were were like a blinding white light
.Moses Suli 6/10 - Not a bad day out for Moses. He made some good runs and gave a nice pass for Garrick to score our first try. Missed scoring his own try (through no fault of his own) by the width of a cigarette paper.
Reuben Garrick 8/10 - The only thing I could fault really was his goal kicking. Blotted his copybook by missing two very easy kicks through what seemed a lazy approach. But you couldn't say that about his general play scoring his first NRL hat-trick and if not for a milimetre or two could have had a try assist.
Dylan Walker 7/10 - I don't think Walks did too bad yesterday at 5/8. He actually seemed a fair bit more focused because he was getting his hands on the ball more. Good awareness to realise it was the 5th to put up the kick that saw Garrick score his second.
Daly Cherry-Evans 7/10 - DCE led from the front yesterday, especially with the ball in hand. Cherry is a half who is at his best when his team is rolling forward and he can play off the front foot, and that was shown when we came back from 12-6 down in the first half.
Addin Fonua-Blake 7/10 - Yet another strong game from AFB.
Manase Fainu 8/10 - This kid is showing that he will be a star and will challenge Damien Cook for the best hooker in the game tag after Smith retires. The Worms couldn't contain his dummy half runs.
Martin Taupau 7/10 - Strong as usual, although only one offload which I found a bit strange. 26 tackles from a front rower is a good haul.
Joel Thompson 7/10 - Joel was very good yesterday. Was robbed of a fair try by yet another BS call from Horsehead in the bunker.
Curtis Sironen 7/10 - Had a good game yesterday, but I was most impressed by his defence.
Jake Trbojevic 7/10 - Not a lot of run metres from Jake because he more passed than did hit ups, but as usual his defence was top class. I think Des took him off too early.
Lachlan Croker 5/10 - Was OK, but hooker is not his position.
Corey Waddell 5/10 - Didn't do anything wrong, but he's been a bit quiet since his return from suspension.
Morgan Boyle 5/10 - A fair effort from the new Mr Plod. But in all honesty, if Sips does return in a few weeks I can see Boyle as the one to drop off the bench.
Taniela Paseka 6/10 - His runs yesterday showed that when he uses his size properly he can be hard to handle.
The biggest dilemma for Des next week will be the makeup of the side. Will Cust come back in? Will he leave Walks at 5/8 and Scorpio in the centres? Will he play Croker at 5/8 and if so who plays centre?
I wouldn't mind betting that we'll line up at AAMI Park as we lined up yesterday 1-17 (which means Cust misses out).
Either way, if we play close to our best I think we can knock off Melbourne next week, but we can't have periods like we did at times yesterday. I wouldn't say we played like $hit like some said we did in the second half, but we did become a bit lazy at times and took the foot off the accelerator which allowed that rabble to get within 12 at the end. Realistically we should have put 50 on them again.
So far this year, of the top 5 sides on the ladder (currently), the Chooks are the only ones we haven't beaten, though of course we haven't played Melbourne yet.
Next week will definitely be the biggest test of where we are currently. And right now we are looking in very good shape.
