HoldenV8
Journey Man
From bad to worse, but at least we still qualified for a home Final to shove it up Greenturd and the NRL.
Reuben Garrick 5/10 - A surprise move by Des putting Garrick at fullback, but it didn't really work. He was OK and tried to get involved in attack, but in defence was caught out of position a fair bit.
Jorge Taufua 3/10 - The only good things Jorge did all night were catching a bomb in the in-goal and a few decent runs. His hands have turned to stone lately. Bombed an almost certain try dropping a pass cold.
Brad Parker 4/10 - Ran the ball hard but was effectively held by the Worms defence.
Moses Suli 5/10 - Defence is still a worry, but it was an improvement over his game against Melbourne. Ran well enough.
Brendan Elliot 3/10 - All at sea in defence on the wing. Made one decent break down the sideline. Should have played fullback and hopefully will against Cronulla.
Dylan Walker 5/10 - Not as bad at 5/8 as some thought, but a lot of the play making was left to him and that isn't his style of play. He's a runner, not an organiser.
Daly Cherry Evans 4/10 - His running game went missing (again really), but he stood up in defence.
Taniela Paseka 4/10 - Was looking OK until he fell awkwardly in a tackle and did his MCL.
Api Koroisau 3/10 - Dummy half passing was woeful from Api. As usual his defence was good, but his bumbling from dummy half hurt....a lot.
Martin Taupau 6/10 - A good performance from Marty was soured by his high shot that has seen him earn a week's holiday. With the injuries we have, we didn't need a player of Marty's caliber suspended.
Addin Fonua-Blake 7/10 - Strangely started in the back row and the Worms exploited his lack of pace during their second try. Moved back to prop after Paseka's injury and was his usual, strong running and tackling self.
Curtis Sironen 4/10 - Not a great night for Siro. He ran well, but a few dropped balls and missed tackles didn't help. Did similar to his foot that Api did in 2019 and will not be back until 2020.
Jake Trbojevic 7/10 - With the forwards dropping like 10 pins, Jake did more running than passing. As usual his tackling was first class.
Corey Waddell 6/10 - Waddell wasn't bad. I thought Des should have stuck with him starting and Paseka on the bench.
Manase Fainu 8/10 - My pick for our best on the night. His being there instead of Api sparked our attack into life with his better passes, running and offloads. Hopefully his shoulder being iced was only a precaution and he's good to go.
Sean Keppie 6/10 - A solid first grade debut and he didn't seem out of place in first grade. One to watch in the future.
Lloyd Perrett 7/10 - When did we re-sign George Rose? Nah seriously, Lloyd actually played well when he came on and really didn't do much wrong at all. He ran well, he tackled well and even got out a couple of offloads.
Our combinations were already out of whack missing Thommo, Tom, Jetski and Boyle. Then for reasons only he knows, Des tinkered with the side and made a few more changes that sent us for a loop for about the first half hour, by which time the Worms had raced to a 12-0 lead. Maybe Des figured that even if we lost we could drop no lower than 6th so why not see what would happen with a few changes?
Once we started to get more ball, and at times actually managed to hold on to it, I think we were actually out-playing the worms from around the 30th minute (coinciding with Fainu replacing Api) until Marty was penalised for that alleged incorrect play the ball, after which the energy level dropped and they scored a couple of easy tries to ice the game.
People here (myself included) have questioned DCE's form lately. His running game has seemingly gone into hiding and I can only put it down to the fact that he's probably playing injured, a legacy of coming back too soon in his desire to captain Queensland. But I hope we learned a lesson last Friday night.....even if he's not doing a lot of running, DCE still needs to be the dominant, play making, organising half and Walks needs to be the running half. Walker isn't a play maker or an organiser (not yet anyway) and if we leave that side of things to him, we're in trouble.
We've limped into the Finals, literally and figuratively speaking. Our form isn't all that good and we have more injuries, especially to key players, than you can poke a stick at. But as we all know, Finals football can be a strange beast. And if this team in its current circumstances needs any inspiration to go all the way they need only to look within the history of their own club and the greatest backs to the wall effort in rugby league history......Manly in 1978.
No one is giving us a chance against Cronulla. But then again, these are the same fools who said we would get our first wooden spoon in 2019. We're not lame ducks just yet. Daffy's beak is only spinning, it hasn't fallen off. I think we can shut some people up on Saturday night at Asbestosland and win.
Reuben Garrick 5/10 - A surprise move by Des putting Garrick at fullback, but it didn't really work. He was OK and tried to get involved in attack, but in defence was caught out of position a fair bit.
Jorge Taufua 3/10 - The only good things Jorge did all night were catching a bomb in the in-goal and a few decent runs. His hands have turned to stone lately. Bombed an almost certain try dropping a pass cold.
Brad Parker 4/10 - Ran the ball hard but was effectively held by the Worms defence.
Moses Suli 5/10 - Defence is still a worry, but it was an improvement over his game against Melbourne. Ran well enough.
Brendan Elliot 3/10 - All at sea in defence on the wing. Made one decent break down the sideline. Should have played fullback and hopefully will against Cronulla.
Dylan Walker 5/10 - Not as bad at 5/8 as some thought, but a lot of the play making was left to him and that isn't his style of play. He's a runner, not an organiser.
Daly Cherry Evans 4/10 - His running game went missing (again really), but he stood up in defence.
Taniela Paseka 4/10 - Was looking OK until he fell awkwardly in a tackle and did his MCL.
Api Koroisau 3/10 - Dummy half passing was woeful from Api. As usual his defence was good, but his bumbling from dummy half hurt....a lot.
Martin Taupau 6/10 - A good performance from Marty was soured by his high shot that has seen him earn a week's holiday. With the injuries we have, we didn't need a player of Marty's caliber suspended.
Addin Fonua-Blake 7/10 - Strangely started in the back row and the Worms exploited his lack of pace during their second try. Moved back to prop after Paseka's injury and was his usual, strong running and tackling self.
Curtis Sironen 4/10 - Not a great night for Siro. He ran well, but a few dropped balls and missed tackles didn't help. Did similar to his foot that Api did in 2019 and will not be back until 2020.
Jake Trbojevic 7/10 - With the forwards dropping like 10 pins, Jake did more running than passing. As usual his tackling was first class.
Corey Waddell 6/10 - Waddell wasn't bad. I thought Des should have stuck with him starting and Paseka on the bench.
Manase Fainu 8/10 - My pick for our best on the night. His being there instead of Api sparked our attack into life with his better passes, running and offloads. Hopefully his shoulder being iced was only a precaution and he's good to go.
Sean Keppie 6/10 - A solid first grade debut and he didn't seem out of place in first grade. One to watch in the future.
Lloyd Perrett 7/10 - When did we re-sign George Rose? Nah seriously, Lloyd actually played well when he came on and really didn't do much wrong at all. He ran well, he tackled well and even got out a couple of offloads.
Our combinations were already out of whack missing Thommo, Tom, Jetski and Boyle. Then for reasons only he knows, Des tinkered with the side and made a few more changes that sent us for a loop for about the first half hour, by which time the Worms had raced to a 12-0 lead. Maybe Des figured that even if we lost we could drop no lower than 6th so why not see what would happen with a few changes?
Once we started to get more ball, and at times actually managed to hold on to it, I think we were actually out-playing the worms from around the 30th minute (coinciding with Fainu replacing Api) until Marty was penalised for that alleged incorrect play the ball, after which the energy level dropped and they scored a couple of easy tries to ice the game.
People here (myself included) have questioned DCE's form lately. His running game has seemingly gone into hiding and I can only put it down to the fact that he's probably playing injured, a legacy of coming back too soon in his desire to captain Queensland. But I hope we learned a lesson last Friday night.....even if he's not doing a lot of running, DCE still needs to be the dominant, play making, organising half and Walks needs to be the running half. Walker isn't a play maker or an organiser (not yet anyway) and if we leave that side of things to him, we're in trouble.
We've limped into the Finals, literally and figuratively speaking. Our form isn't all that good and we have more injuries, especially to key players, than you can poke a stick at. But as we all know, Finals football can be a strange beast. And if this team in its current circumstances needs any inspiration to go all the way they need only to look within the history of their own club and the greatest backs to the wall effort in rugby league history......Manly in 1978.
No one is giving us a chance against Cronulla. But then again, these are the same fools who said we would get our first wooden spoon in 2019. We're not lame ducks just yet. Daffy's beak is only spinning, it hasn't fallen off. I think we can shut some people up on Saturday night at Asbestosland and win.
