HoldenV8
Journey Man
A tough loss on Saturday night in Wollongong in what was a much improved performance over our recent games there.
Brendan Elliot 5/10 - Struggled under high kicks, and had to go off for a HIA. Solid enough replacement back there, but for mine he doesn't run enough support plays or provide an attacking threat from fullback.
Jorge Taufua 7/10 - What has happened to Jorge? He's been safe under high kicks for the past 2 weeks!!! And I've seen much better aerial AFL players drop ones like the only one he let slip through his fingers on Saturday night. Saved us a few times on our line taking loose balls and kicks.
Moses Suli 6/10 - Barely sighted in the first half, a much better second half though. I'd like to see some of those charging runs of his closer to the try line rather than either side of halfway. Get him running hard at opposition centres and wingers on their line and he'll be hard to stop.
Brad Parker 8/10 - Defensively very strong and managed to cross for his first meat pie of the season. Unlucky to be called for that so-called trip.
Reuben Garrick 6/10 - He gets a 6 mostly for his work at fullback when Elliot was off which was good. Otherwise he seemed a bit overawed by the occasion of playing against his old club at his old home ground. Robbed of an opportunity to try and win the game by a referee blunder.
Kane Elgey 7/10 - Seems to be growing in confidence and growing into the 5/8 role at Manly. I like that he's taking more of the kicks.
Daly Cherry-Evans 8/10 - Strong game from the captain. Unfortunately with Tom out he lacks a good support player right now. Kicking game is getting back to its best.
Toafofoa Sipley 4/10 - Only played 18 minutes and didn't have much impact.
Api Koroisau 5/10 - He made some good dummy half runs, but his passing is still a major worry.
Martin Taupau 7/10 - Ran strong as usual and made 23 tackles without missing one. Although it seemed he missed having AFB out there, like they have this personal battle to see who can have the better game.
Joel Thompson 6/10 - Made some strong runs, but otherwise wasn't much of a threat. Copped a forearm to the nose that the refs missed.
Curtis Sironen 5/10 - Needs to do more with his runs and get involved more with his size and skills. He has a good offload and needs to use it more than once a game. Turned back the clock to his old 5/8 days when called upon to kick, and put in a good one.
Jake Trbojevic 8/10 - Very strong running from Jake, but missed his first tackle in 3 weeks. For shame Jake, for shame lol.
Manase Fainu 5/10 - Not one of his better games. Didn't run much and did throw a couple of poor passes.
Jack Gosiewski 5/10 - A mixed bag. While he ran strongly at times, at others he got monstered by the St Merge defence. Only made 10 tackles in 34 minutes, and missed two. Not good enough for a back rower, even one who spent about 15 of his 34 minutes playing centre.
Corey Waddell 9/10 - Very strong game from the rookie. 151 metres from 11 runs, 3 offloads and 21 tackles in only 48 minutes. His best game by a country mile. And how was that offload for Cherry's try? Snake like.
Morgan Boyle 5/10 - Geez this guy is huge. Only concern is his fitness really, but then Donny has only had him for about 3 weeks. Even he can't work miracles in that time on a guy who just came out of having Ferris the Fraud as his fitness "guru" when the rest have had 7 months. Give him time, a work in progress. But I liked what I saw from him.
What we lacked on Saturday night was that game breaker who can make a break and either score themselves or set up their supports, i.e. we lacked a Tom Trbojevic or Dylan Walker.
I know it won't happen, but I would like to see Des play Reuben Garrick at fullback with either Elliot or Suli on the wing. I think Garrick played well there when Elliot went off for his HIA and with a bit of work of knowing when to do so, his speed could provide the extra attacking threat from fullback that we lack with Tom out injured. But, like I said, it won't happen. Tom and Elliot were the ones who have trained at fullback while I'd say Garrick has done minimal work there as a just in case while mostly concentrating on wing and probably a bit of centre.
I'm loving the improvement with our defence this year. St Merge made no line breaks at all on Saturday night, their two tries coming from kicks. Compare that to the last time we played them when they just waltzed through our line almost at will. And you can't say it was because they didn't have Widdop this time around because both Hunt and Norman had very strong games, but our defence was up to the task this time around.
I'm not mentioning those other two thing that happened in the last 5 minutes of the game, if I did I'd be here all day. There is another thread in here for that.
Brendan Elliot 5/10 - Struggled under high kicks, and had to go off for a HIA. Solid enough replacement back there, but for mine he doesn't run enough support plays or provide an attacking threat from fullback.
Jorge Taufua 7/10 - What has happened to Jorge? He's been safe under high kicks for the past 2 weeks!!! And I've seen much better aerial AFL players drop ones like the only one he let slip through his fingers on Saturday night. Saved us a few times on our line taking loose balls and kicks.
Moses Suli 6/10 - Barely sighted in the first half, a much better second half though. I'd like to see some of those charging runs of his closer to the try line rather than either side of halfway. Get him running hard at opposition centres and wingers on their line and he'll be hard to stop.
Brad Parker 8/10 - Defensively very strong and managed to cross for his first meat pie of the season. Unlucky to be called for that so-called trip.
Reuben Garrick 6/10 - He gets a 6 mostly for his work at fullback when Elliot was off which was good. Otherwise he seemed a bit overawed by the occasion of playing against his old club at his old home ground. Robbed of an opportunity to try and win the game by a referee blunder.
Kane Elgey 7/10 - Seems to be growing in confidence and growing into the 5/8 role at Manly. I like that he's taking more of the kicks.
Daly Cherry-Evans 8/10 - Strong game from the captain. Unfortunately with Tom out he lacks a good support player right now. Kicking game is getting back to its best.
Toafofoa Sipley 4/10 - Only played 18 minutes and didn't have much impact.
Api Koroisau 5/10 - He made some good dummy half runs, but his passing is still a major worry.
Martin Taupau 7/10 - Ran strong as usual and made 23 tackles without missing one. Although it seemed he missed having AFB out there, like they have this personal battle to see who can have the better game.
Joel Thompson 6/10 - Made some strong runs, but otherwise wasn't much of a threat. Copped a forearm to the nose that the refs missed.
Curtis Sironen 5/10 - Needs to do more with his runs and get involved more with his size and skills. He has a good offload and needs to use it more than once a game. Turned back the clock to his old 5/8 days when called upon to kick, and put in a good one.
Jake Trbojevic 8/10 - Very strong running from Jake, but missed his first tackle in 3 weeks. For shame Jake, for shame lol.
Manase Fainu 5/10 - Not one of his better games. Didn't run much and did throw a couple of poor passes.
Jack Gosiewski 5/10 - A mixed bag. While he ran strongly at times, at others he got monstered by the St Merge defence. Only made 10 tackles in 34 minutes, and missed two. Not good enough for a back rower, even one who spent about 15 of his 34 minutes playing centre.
Corey Waddell 9/10 - Very strong game from the rookie. 151 metres from 11 runs, 3 offloads and 21 tackles in only 48 minutes. His best game by a country mile. And how was that offload for Cherry's try? Snake like.
Morgan Boyle 5/10 - Geez this guy is huge. Only concern is his fitness really, but then Donny has only had him for about 3 weeks. Even he can't work miracles in that time on a guy who just came out of having Ferris the Fraud as his fitness "guru" when the rest have had 7 months. Give him time, a work in progress. But I liked what I saw from him.
What we lacked on Saturday night was that game breaker who can make a break and either score themselves or set up their supports, i.e. we lacked a Tom Trbojevic or Dylan Walker.
I know it won't happen, but I would like to see Des play Reuben Garrick at fullback with either Elliot or Suli on the wing. I think Garrick played well there when Elliot went off for his HIA and with a bit of work of knowing when to do so, his speed could provide the extra attacking threat from fullback that we lack with Tom out injured. But, like I said, it won't happen. Tom and Elliot were the ones who have trained at fullback while I'd say Garrick has done minimal work there as a just in case while mostly concentrating on wing and probably a bit of centre.
I'm loving the improvement with our defence this year. St Merge made no line breaks at all on Saturday night, their two tries coming from kicks. Compare that to the last time we played them when they just waltzed through our line almost at will. And you can't say it was because they didn't have Widdop this time around because both Hunt and Norman had very strong games, but our defence was up to the task this time around.
I'm not mentioning those other two thing that happened in the last 5 minutes of the game, if I did I'd be here all day. There is another thread in here for that.
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