Round 1 - Player Ratings

[HoldenV8]

OK, our round one game is done and dusted. Yes we lost in golden point so not the ideal start to the season, but there were some positives.....and some negatives as well.

We pretty much dominated the forwards, but our late game ball control (like the Chooks trial) and ill discipline throughout the match cost us the two points in the end. We did enough to win, but lets ourselves down.

OK, the player ratings.....

Tom Trbojevic - 7/10. Flashes of brilliance. Already looks more confident at the back.
Jorge Taufua - 8/10. Welcome back Jorge, your runs and try scoring were missed.
Matthew Wright - 3/10. Offered nothing more than a body in the centres.
Brian Kelly - 8/10. Arguably his best game for the club. Was strong in attack and defence.
Akuila Uate - 6/10. His runs were good, but his hands are still a worry.
Lachlan Croker - 6/10. Not bad, but he'll need to improve. Blake Green clone.
Daly Cherry-Evans - 4/10. Caught with the ball way too many times on the last.
Addin Fonua-Blake - 6/10. His runs were good, his discipline wasn't.
Api Koroisau - 6/10. Nothing flashy tonight from Api, but solid nonetheless.
Martin Taupau - 7/10. Quiet first half, came back strong in the second.
Joel Thompson - 6/10. Didn't do a lot but his defence was mostly good.
Curtis Sironen - 4/10. Siro had a game he'd rather forget. Second half was better.
Jake Trbojevic- 8/10. Can't fault his play, but needs to keep his emotions in check.

Lewis Brown - DNP
Shaun Lane - 7/10. This is the Shaun Lane I hope we see a lot more of.
Frank Winterstein - DNP
Kelepi Tanginoa - 7/10. The kid looks to have the goods.

And for a bonus.....

Trent Barrett - 4/10. A couple of puzzling selections followed by a poor use of interchange. Not his best night as a coach.

Some will agree with me, some won't. That's ok, I won't have to sic Uncle Mick (Taylor) onto those who don't just yet

 

[SeaEagle21]

Can’t disagree with any of that. Great summary

 

[fLIP]

No place in first grade for Wright but what do you do in our situation?

I felt most the other ratings are worth, id give chez a 6 because hes got a man with him on debut just about.

Siro needed to be better, his poor on line defense hurt but its game one and I think the general public are underrating both teams.

Onwards and upwards

ps. how Frank didnt get time im befuddled.

 

[Stiffi]

If Wright had a groin problem, why didn't Parker or someone else play? He was a passenger who did nothing!

 

[pjayz]

I thought Tanginoa was an 8 easily, DCE was better than a 4, AFB was a 7, the rest about right.

I am a Barrett fan, but his selections and use of the bench were a little off. Parker and Perrett in for Wright and Winterstein and I’d still like to see Hastings ahead of Brown as he covers more backline positions plus hooker.

The only reason I can think of for Barrett playing 15 (in a golden point game no less) was that Tanginoa played so well and he didn’t want to take him off.

 

[HK_Eagle]

Yeah, very good summary, I agree.

Yes, Croker did OK. It was a safe conservative first half from him, highlighted by a brilliant hit on Guerra while defending our line. I thought his confidence was about to blossom and nerves melt away when he made that short incisive thrust in the second half. A couple of dummies and had the opposition back-pedalling as he weaved in and out. Unfortunately, he had a brain snap at the end and tried to throw a pass off the ground as he was tackled that was never on. I thought that was a very important moment for him in that game. If he had of held it, we may have seen him continue to grow into that game with confidence.

But, in the bigger picture, there are major concerns with his development and how he will play in the team. I say this because DCE confirmed again tonight he is not capable of steering this team around the park and controlling the game. As we saw from contrasting 2016 and last year, DCE functions better with a proper 7 managing the team. Even though Croker did "alright", I don't know if he is capable of taking that role (and if he is, how long it will take for him to grow into it so that it works effectively for DCE and the team).

On a final note, Baz's conservative approach really hurt us tonight I thought. Parker would have added much more in that centre position, and as many have mentioned already, having two more effective contributing bench players makes much more sense in hindsight.

 

[HoldenV8]

Play Brad Parker instead.

Sorry, but I said it at the end of 2016 and the end of last year.....as solid as Matty Wright can be, and despite that he will give his all out there, we don't want to depend on him for any more than a game or two here and there as an injury replacement.

Cherry got caught with the ball way too many times on the last tackle for my liking. Yes I know he is breaking in a new (and I do mean new) halves partner. But some of those times he got caught was because he was running to the line and then second guessing himself and you can't do that in this league.

You're right, Tanginoa could have easily been an 8.

 

[HoldenV8]

Yeah, very good summary, I agree.

Yes, Croker did OK. It was a safe conservative first half from him, highlighted by a brilliant hit on Guerra while defending our line. I thought his confidence was about to blossom and nerves melt away when he made that short incisive thrust in the second half. A couple of dummies and had the opposition back-pedalling as he weaved in and out. Unfortunately, he had a brain snap at the end and tried to throw a pass off the ground as he was tackled that was never on. I thought that was a very important moment for him in that game. If he had of held it, we may have seen him continue to grow into that game with confidence.

But, in the bigger picture, there are major concerns with his development and how he will play in the team. I say this because DCE confirmed again tonight he is not capable of steering this team around the park and controlling the game. As we saw from contrasting 2016 and last year, DCE functions better with a proper 7 managing the team. Even though Croker did "alright", I don't know if he is capable of taking that role (and if he is, how long it will take for him to grow into it so that it works effectively for DCE and the team).

On a final note, Baz's conservative approach really hurt us tonight I thought. Parker would have added much more in that centre position, and as many have mentioned already, having two more effective contributing bench players makes much more sense in hindsight.

I don't want to be too harsh on the kid given that its only his second ever first grade game, and his first for us. But really he didn't do a lot out there that Hastings couldn't have done and at a faster pace.

The problem with playing someone so green as Croker is that it puts more pressure on DCE to run things and as we all know (and as you stated), he sucks at that. It didn't work for Qld in 2014 when he had to play that role, it didn't work for us in the first 10 games of 2016 with Walker at 5/8, and it didn't work tonight.

If Lachlan is going to be our 5/8 then he needs to start running the show pretty quickly (plus get a lot more help from Tommy and Api) or we're going to lose more than we win before his confidence rises to the point where it becomes second nature.

One thing I will say is that I thought his defence was pretty good for the most part.

 

[COMMANDER]

Thought NATE MYLES was outstanding tonight.

 

[HoldenV8]

It wasn't Trent's best coaching effort tonight. But we know he is capable of better so I'm not in "sack him" mode just yet.

 

[hozza]

Thought NATE MYLES was outstanding tonight.

Nate was fantastic wasn’t he? I thought his forehead made a real impact

 

[HoldenV8]

Nate was fantastic wasn’t he? I thought his forehead made a real impact

I thought that was Ponga's forehead when he stopped Aku from scoring.

 

[XV-1]

If Wright had a groin problem, why didn't Parker or someone else play? He was a passenger who did nothing!

Yed Parker or Tom Wright.

DCE was 7/10

 

[Budgie]

Anyone else think Uate has lost a tiny bit of speed?

 

[Ralphie]

If Wright had a groin problem, why didn't Parker or someone else play? He was a passenger who did nothing!

The next super coach saw something you & I missed. But hey, we are specials next weekend.

 

[HoldenV8]

FYI.....I would have given AFB a 7 or even an 8 if it wasn't for the fact that he gave away a few silly penalties. His ill discipline cost him and the team. He wasn't the reason we lost, not by a long way. But a few of his penalties resulted in piggy back kicks to get the Knights out of trouble.

One thing I was pleased to see was that Marty Taupau channeled his aggression into his runs and not into trying to pull off big hits in defence. His defence was still strong, but he wasn't putting in his usual fill of high shots and either giving away penalties or getting himself put on report. He played a lot better for it, especially in the second half. Its something he'll have to continue to do because with his rap sheet if he gets put on report, Manly loading or not he will get suspended and we can't afford to lose him like that.

 

[Mr Manly 007]

Using only 2 bench players over around 88 minutes is poor and overall fatigue may have cause a few of the 17 errors (drop balls). L. Perrett I think needs to be on the bench for sure for impact . Matt Wright wouldn’t make our NSW Cup team at full strength . Why pick Lewis Brown if he isn’t going to play. Hastings could cover hooker and 6;7 or 1 and is the clubs best goal kicker. Turning point , when Kelly scored , Manly were on top and we got penalised for not touching the ball with foot. Knights had ball for the next 16 minutes, with the back to back to back penalties.

 

[HoldenV8]

Yed Parker or Tom Wright.

DCE was 7/10

Parker yes, Tom Wright.....not yet. And definitely not by the time Walker returns.

As for DCE....look, he tried his guts out as usual and got through a lot of defensive work. But the big problem is that while Green.....I mean Croker, is still learning and is yet to build his game confidence and combinations, a lot of the organising falls on our captain and that is the one aspect of his game that I'm sorry to say really sucks. When he is forced to do the bulk of the organising, his game suffers, and that in turn see's the team performance suffer as well a-la the Failed Walker Experiment of 2016.

I know Barrett has seen a lot more than I have, but I still feel that while he's learning to run the team, Croker should be doing that at Blacktown, not in the NRL side. I still think Hastings (who has more experience at such things) should be our 5/8.

Think of it this way. If Croker really was the number one choice, why did we go hard after Pearce, Hodkinson and seemingly Carney?

Also, unfortunately last night DCE went too the line a few times on the last and second guessed himself which saw him caught with the ball and caused cheap turnovers.

On the plus side, that was the best he's goal kicked in a long time.

 

[Wombat64]

Thought NATE MYLES was outstanding tonight.

Played his best game for us

 

[Clay]

Baz gets a two at most, and that's for having good faith in Taginoa. I thought Tapau was our best on ground, still made 67 meters in the first half. Explosive second half