I have watched the first three games again with an unbiased eye (OK it was slightly biased) and can see many positives for the rest of the year.
1. Against St George we were up against a team that had a serious hit out in the charity shield just prior to playing us and had got their game together. It was 2 tries apiece against a well oiled attack, from a top 4 contender, our defence, particularly on the goal line was great. Refereeing decisions aside our mistake rate cost us that match. I believe we were as good as them in most areas except for intensity in attack and errors. This will improve over the next few weeks for sure.
2. Manly were a different matter for what ever reason we let them get a start on us, but in the sweltering conditions we pulled it back from 20-0, with some great play, forget about the forward pass, we got ourselves in a position to score, and would have even without it, their defence was shot. We also had Fui's fair try disallowed in the first half for a double movement, plus numerous other calls going against us. In the 2nd half the team was beginning to play as we know they can.
3. The Tigers were always going to be a hard side and I cannot discount the affect little Oscars passing had on the side, if what I read and hear is correct many of the boys were extremely distressed, particularly Hindy. I believe that this had a profound affect on their play, I have never seen Hindy have such a poor game. From my observation I think the team was trying to hard passes were pushed and communication was poor. As well Marshall and Farrah had great games as we know they can. Losing Mortimer didn't help as Robson and Keating seemed to not know each other, this needs to be addressed if they are to share any roles on the field.
I can see us bouncing back against the Sharks, I don't think it will be a landslide ( I hope I am wrong) but I see it as a build up for a satisfying run in the weeks ahead.
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And of course, all the players would have been touched when Oscar, along with his Dad, took receipt of the NRL Trophy from Lockyer and El-Masri at last year's Grand Final. If we as fans (and I'll admit I did) shed a tear when reading about this young man's courage in the face of such cruel and unfair adversity, imagine what the blokes who got to know him personally would have felt!
Maybe we played poorly. Maybe the Tigers played well. Maybe the players were distracted. But considering this sober reminder of how precious life is, I thing we can safely say the players did not have 'big heads' last Friday night!
Stiil think we can be the team to beat there is so much improvement in us.
I am not as Toey as I used to be, but thanks for the compliment.
By the way love your enthusiasm and your work with the swarm, it is great to see wholehearted supporters on this site again.
However I will concede that we have not been at our best as yet but I can see signs that a turnaround is not far away.
We have a great roster and after watching these 3 games again I saw little things that are starting to gel, such as Tahu and Inus combination, Mannah and Fui getting much more involved and both the Keatings improving with every game. Of course we have areas to work on and I get just as disappointed as everyone when we lose, but I am also confident that the boys will come out and try even harder the next week and I believe that the improvement will come.
Take a look at your Avatar, the great Ray Price, I bet after a loss or a string of losses he would come out confident of winning every game he started in, so have a bit of confidence in your team.
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