HoldenV8
Journey Man
A loss we had to have? Yeah, nah. We were outplayed big time, simple as that.
Tom Trbojevic 1/10 - Not enough time on the field for his presence to be a factor. Missing him hurt massively though and will until next year.
Jorge Taufua 5/10 - 3 big hits, and I do mean BIG. And the hit of the year (bar none) on Munster was also a try saver. Unfortunately though his old dropped ball habits came back in a big way. He wasn't alone there though.
Brad Parker 6/10 - Moved to right wing early after Tom's injury. He's not a winger, but I thought he played OK despite the amount of tries scored on that side. Still pulled off some very good tackles. Should return to the centres against the Worms.
Moses Suli 3/10 - Had one good run in the second half, but his defence and lack of mobility in the wet was exposed by Melbourne.
Reuben Garrick 6/10 - Played mostly at fullback to cover for Tom and did an OK job under the circumstances. Tried to get involved in support play, but it was like his team mates thought that without Turbo, that wouldn't happen and he got virtually ignored.
Dylan Walker 5/10 - Didn't have a bad game, but then we hardly had the ball. Took a legitimate tap but was called back for a player who (wasn't in reality) in front. It was a missed chance, but not Dylan's fault. Cummins got that wrong.
Daly Cherry-Evans 5/10 - Not Cherry's best night, but not his worst either. Unfortunately we didn't take advantage of his early 40/20 and that set the tone for the rest of the night.
Addin Fonua-Blake 4/10 - Nowhere near his usual input and was well contained.
Api Koroisau 3/10 - Defence was OKish, but some of his passes were like he's already left for Penrith.
Martin Taupau 4/10 - Also well contained by the Melbourne pack.
Jack Gosiewski 4/10 - Moved to centre after the re-shuffle and did a reasonable job, except for continually running out of the line looking for another intercept. All it did was leave gaps.
Curtis Sironen 5/10 - Siro was OK, but a couple of dropped balls didn't help his or our cause.
Jake Trbojevic 7/10 - Once again tackled everything that moved and he tried to get us going in attack. Almost played a lone hand in our pack.
Manase Fainu 4/10 - Once again our attack looked better when he was at dummy half. 5 missed tackles though was telling. They ran Asofa-Solomona at him all the time they were both on and he got run over a few times.
Corey Waddell 5/10 - Tried hard, but even he had the fumbles towards the back end of the game.
Morgan Boyle 5/10 - Boyle was OK until he went off injured.
Taniela Paseka 6/10 - Easily the pick of the bench and arguably our next best forward behind Jake. Scored his first NRL try.
We got ambushed on Saturday evening.....at our own home. Put simply, Melbourne adjusted to the conditions and played almost perfect wet weather football. On the other hand, we tried to play like it was dry...spreading the ball wide early, things like that. It didn't work and dropped balls often handed Melbourne possession in our own half. By the time we knew what was happening, it was 18-0 and in the wet, that may as well be 36-0. One of the worst things we did, or didn't do as it turned out, was we let sCam Smith dictate the game and no one took it upon themselves to go belt the guy and shut him down. We just let him run, pass or kick.....and kick our butts is what happened.
The first half reminded me a lot of the game in the wet against the Chooks at Brookie in Round 2. The halftime score then was 22-0. We didn't handle the wet that night either, and haven't since.
Tom's injury is a cruel blow to the side. He's our main strike weapon (Garrick may have scored more than double the amount of tries, but more play runs through Turbo than does out on the wing). At least we know that Elliot will do the job in the #1. Unfortunately though his attacking game isn't on the same level as Tom's so we will miss that potency.
And there are also question marks over Jetski and Boyle. We're getting injuries at the wrong time of the year. Thommo, Tom, Jetski, Boyle. Not good.
The refs may have stuffed up a few things. They let Melbourne lay all over the tackled player. They let Melbourne get away with at least 3 obstructions which they twice scored from a tackle or two later. But the refs didn't miss 34 tackles (Melbourne only missed 16.....) and they didn't drop the ball 10 times, usually handing them possession in a position to attack our line. In short, we were more of our own enemy than Cummins and Gee were so I can't blame them, as much as I'd like to.
The measure of this team will come with how we show up at BankWest on Friday against the Worms. After a 36-6 loss at home, a lot of our credibility will be riding on beating Doesn't-matta or at least maintaining 5th spot. We can beat them, but we need to improve a LOT over Saturday's performance to do it.
Tom Trbojevic 1/10 - Not enough time on the field for his presence to be a factor. Missing him hurt massively though and will until next year.
Jorge Taufua 5/10 - 3 big hits, and I do mean BIG. And the hit of the year (bar none) on Munster was also a try saver. Unfortunately though his old dropped ball habits came back in a big way. He wasn't alone there though.
Brad Parker 6/10 - Moved to right wing early after Tom's injury. He's not a winger, but I thought he played OK despite the amount of tries scored on that side. Still pulled off some very good tackles. Should return to the centres against the Worms.
Moses Suli 3/10 - Had one good run in the second half, but his defence and lack of mobility in the wet was exposed by Melbourne.
Reuben Garrick 6/10 - Played mostly at fullback to cover for Tom and did an OK job under the circumstances. Tried to get involved in support play, but it was like his team mates thought that without Turbo, that wouldn't happen and he got virtually ignored.
Dylan Walker 5/10 - Didn't have a bad game, but then we hardly had the ball. Took a legitimate tap but was called back for a player who (wasn't in reality) in front. It was a missed chance, but not Dylan's fault. Cummins got that wrong.
Daly Cherry-Evans 5/10 - Not Cherry's best night, but not his worst either. Unfortunately we didn't take advantage of his early 40/20 and that set the tone for the rest of the night.
Addin Fonua-Blake 4/10 - Nowhere near his usual input and was well contained.
Api Koroisau 3/10 - Defence was OKish, but some of his passes were like he's already left for Penrith.
Martin Taupau 4/10 - Also well contained by the Melbourne pack.
Jack Gosiewski 4/10 - Moved to centre after the re-shuffle and did a reasonable job, except for continually running out of the line looking for another intercept. All it did was leave gaps.
Curtis Sironen 5/10 - Siro was OK, but a couple of dropped balls didn't help his or our cause.
Jake Trbojevic 7/10 - Once again tackled everything that moved and he tried to get us going in attack. Almost played a lone hand in our pack.
Manase Fainu 4/10 - Once again our attack looked better when he was at dummy half. 5 missed tackles though was telling. They ran Asofa-Solomona at him all the time they were both on and he got run over a few times.
Corey Waddell 5/10 - Tried hard, but even he had the fumbles towards the back end of the game.
Morgan Boyle 5/10 - Boyle was OK until he went off injured.
Taniela Paseka 6/10 - Easily the pick of the bench and arguably our next best forward behind Jake. Scored his first NRL try.
We got ambushed on Saturday evening.....at our own home. Put simply, Melbourne adjusted to the conditions and played almost perfect wet weather football. On the other hand, we tried to play like it was dry...spreading the ball wide early, things like that. It didn't work and dropped balls often handed Melbourne possession in our own half. By the time we knew what was happening, it was 18-0 and in the wet, that may as well be 36-0. One of the worst things we did, or didn't do as it turned out, was we let sCam Smith dictate the game and no one took it upon themselves to go belt the guy and shut him down. We just let him run, pass or kick.....and kick our butts is what happened.
The first half reminded me a lot of the game in the wet against the Chooks at Brookie in Round 2. The halftime score then was 22-0. We didn't handle the wet that night either, and haven't since.
Tom's injury is a cruel blow to the side. He's our main strike weapon (Garrick may have scored more than double the amount of tries, but more play runs through Turbo than does out on the wing). At least we know that Elliot will do the job in the #1. Unfortunately though his attacking game isn't on the same level as Tom's so we will miss that potency.
And there are also question marks over Jetski and Boyle. We're getting injuries at the wrong time of the year. Thommo, Tom, Jetski, Boyle. Not good.
The refs may have stuffed up a few things. They let Melbourne lay all over the tackled player. They let Melbourne get away with at least 3 obstructions which they twice scored from a tackle or two later. But the refs didn't miss 34 tackles (Melbourne only missed 16.....) and they didn't drop the ball 10 times, usually handing them possession in a position to attack our line. In short, we were more of our own enemy than Cummins and Gee were so I can't blame them, as much as I'd like to.
The measure of this team will come with how we show up at BankWest on Friday against the Worms. After a 36-6 loss at home, a lot of our credibility will be riding on beating Doesn't-matta or at least maintaining 5th spot. We can beat them, but we need to improve a LOT over Saturday's performance to do it.
