MK was outstanding

Ricky Stuart mentioned this in his article, and I was going to concur but thought it deserved it's own blog. Matthew Keating was outstanding against the Tigers. He racked up close to 60 tackles, I thought his service was up-tempo and he was probing with his own running too. And kept it going for the full 80 minutes as well. Stuart reckoned it was his best match of the year, and I'd suggest it was probably as good as any of his career.

I reckon probably not coincidental that it came when having Hayne in the halves.

Now I'm sure many of you will chip in with some smartarse remark, but I tell you, I can't think of a hooker who has had the misfortune to play with as lame a series of halves as MK has, and he's just been the wrong player for this club because we've needed someone to make-up for the inability and lack of leadership our halves have provided for the last three years. If MK plays on next year, I do hope he doesn't end up at Brisbane where he'll be in much the same boat. He's be an asset in a side with proper, playmaking halves. Anyway, credit where credit's due, Matty. Top game.

It's interesting isn't it with Kelly? When he's the dominant half, and playing with a young half like Api his performance goes up and when he's forced into the junior partner role, he just goes missing. As I said in the other thread, if Hayne plays like that, in my view it brings Sandow back into the picture. It puts Chris back in a situation like he was in at Souths where he had Sutton as essentially the controller and he was able to play his natural game. You still have his defence to worry about, but gosh, I reckon those two could cause some damage from an attacking perspective.

I'm assuming given he came off again from Wenty, he's not going to be available this week, but if he was, I'd be wanting to see how they pair up before we make our final decisions on whether we buy a player like Wallace or not.

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Replies

Ham Sammich August 13, 2013 at 1:09pm

"I reckon probably not coincidental that it came when having Hayne in the halves." Hayne has a calming influence on the team and whenever he's on the field the team look more confident and the other 15 boys (Luke Kelly played worse) play at least another 20% better.

Hayne and Norman in the halves for 2014...HAYNE IS THE "DOMINANT" half.
- 1Eyed Eel > Ham Sammich August 13, 2013 at 1:14pm
  
  It's interesting isn't it with Kelly? When he's the dominant half, and playing with a young half like Api his performance goes up and when he's forced into the junior partner role, he just goes missing. As I said in the other thread, if Hayne plays like that, in my view it brings Sandow back into the picture. It puts Chris back in a situation like he was in at Souths where he had Sutton as essentially the controller and he was able to play his natural game. You still have his defence to worry about, but gosh, I reckon those two could cause some damage from an attacking perspective.
  
  I'm assuming given he came off again from Wenty, he's not going to be available this week, but if he was, I'd be wanting to see how they pair up before we make our final decisions on whether we buy a player like Wallace or not.
Numbers August 13, 2013 at 1:18pm

Poor halves should not be an excuse for poor dummy half running and service. Matt is a good defender but hasn't offered much in attack in the last 5 years.
True EEL August 13, 2013 at 1:23pm

Kelly hasn't played in first grade in the halves with Api.....

Kelly also didn't play 'that' badly as some have suggested.
- Ham Sammich > True EEL August 13, 2013 at 1:30pm
  
  He didn't play badly but he certainly didn't play as well as he did when we played Manly the week before or Canberra. His decision making goes out the door, his long kicking game was poor against the Tigers and his decision to chip kick was at the wrong times. If Kelly had just stuck to his long kicking where he can sit the ball up in the in-goal he wouldn't have been as bad.
  - The Badger > Ham Sammich August 13, 2013 at 3:47pm
    
    I thought a reason was that maybe his hammy wasn't quite 100% so he opted for shorter kicking game to protect it a bit ...who knows, it was just so out of character that I got to thinking about why he was doing those dumb arse kicks.
- timbodavo > True EEL August 13, 2013 at 3:01pm
  
  His kicking game against tigers was poor. Hard to believe it was same player after previous few weeks
AlwaysAnEEL August 13, 2013 at 1:25pm

If that was his best performance of his career, i am very thankful we are getting rid of him. It dont think he did all that well. I think he made some wrong choices in the direction he should have gone for particular plays, and some of his runs were just not good.
SHIRE.EEL August 13, 2013 at 1:45pm

So he gets himself a cute lil blog for having a good game. Ain't that sweet.
Putneyeel August 13, 2013 at 2:04pm

Best game of the season against the worst side of the season, to little too late. He can make 90 tackles a game and his attacking play will still be non existent. He does not score tries, doesn't set any up and has a kicking game that makes mortimer look like cronk.. Feel sorry for him but like his brother they are simply not good enough.. Thanks for the memories!!!