I watched the GF for the first time last night after going to the game and I thought SBW was the difference between the two teams. Without him I think Manly would have won. Leading 18-8, we had it in the bag and only needed to control the play for us to win but SBW pulled out a couple of freakish plays to get them back into the match.
Foran was marking up against SBW in the first half and did not give SBW any room in attack. This caused him to drop a couple of balls and he could not get away any passes to support players.
Things changed in the second half and last night I suddenly realised that Foran was no longer marking up against SBW. SBW had changed his positioning by playing more in the centre and on the left. This I think was a master stroke and allowed him more room in attack. From there he was able to throw the ball to Maloney after it was not wrapped up (by Stewart) in the tackle leading to the first try and also allowed him to burst through Burher's tackle leading to the second try. Without these two big plays they would never have got over the top of Manly.
Foran was marking up against SBW in the first half and did not give SBW any room in attack. This caused him to drop a couple of balls and he could not get away any passes to support players.
Things changed in the second half and last night I suddenly realised that Foran was no longer marking up against SBW. SBW had changed his positioning by playing more in the centre and on the left. This I think was a master stroke and allowed him more room in attack. From there he was able to throw the ball to Maloney after it was not wrapped up (by Stewart) in the tackle leading to the first try and also allowed him to burst through Burher's tackle leading to the second try. Without these two big plays they would never have got over the top of Manly.