NYC v Riff

Well last night just compounded what most of us already knew. In NYC if you take a couple of better players out teams can go from the penthouse to the outhouse pretty quickly. In this case it was clearly evident that our replacement players were clearly well below those they replaced. Numerous dropped ball especially in the second half cruelled every opportunity to work back into the game. Our middle seemed to be turnstiles in defence with Penrith rolling through us all night. Ultimately it was goal kicking that decided this one although we never deserved to win it.Those that have previously been identified were our best Kelepi kept going forward and making an impact, Tepai when on the rare occasion the ball went left was always a threat and was held up over the line after a great take and bust. He also produced a few bell ringers one on the Penrith 10 that was that loud the whole crowd around me gasped. Davis had his moments scoring a try missing a few goals and the odd dropped ball although always looked likely.1. Makelim - definitely glad to see him return. Gives greater balance to the team although epwasnt able to inject himself as much as he would have liked.2. Leva Li - did not have a good night and seemed out of his depth. Dropped the ball more than once when carrying out of defence and spilt a relatively easy kick to gift the Panthers a try.3. Fou Tagalima - performed ok. Nothing of real note in the positive or negative pm saw a lot of ball without any real impact.4. Nathan Davis - as mentioned scored a try looked likely although for every time the ball went left and made it out of Daouds hands it went right on a dozen occasions.5. Halauafu Lavaka - was good for us. Ran strongly coming out of our own end and has been getting more involved and better every week. One of the better ones.6. Mark Daoud - out of his depth. Our potent left edge has been reduced to a shell of its former self without Matterson at the helm. No doubt the kid gives his best but isn't up to it. As noted ZDC ruled the roost and when Daoud did see it options were often wrong or execution. Kicking game all round was poor.7. ZDC - showed very little. Dominated possession over Daoud but did nothing constructive with it. Over did the running at times and kicking game was again very ordinary. With Kaysa out and an injury to Lussick bring Mattperson back and move him to 9.8. Fred Junior Mauala - I like Mauala but he just doesn't have the size to make the necessary impact. Hard worker gives his all but just struggles with the intensity and size.9. Joey Lussick - looked good early provided good service and scoring a try before injuring his shoulder or perhaps arm. When Joey left the field we lost a lot of structure, organisation and threat in the middle. Anderson only seemingly passed right to ZDC when he took over and his defence was lacking.10. Kelepi Tanginoa - was a rock especially in the first half, took the ball forward strongly and laid the platform well. Got a little bit sideways in the second half although he was almost doing it by himself.11. Tepai Moeroa - typical Tepai game. Worked all game had his fair share of big hits and looked good with ball in hand. That said Daoud killed this edge. I can remember just one instance when Daoud hit Tepai the ball was behind him he scooped it in well busted the line and looked to have scored before being called held up. Why we don't use him more in that capacity is beyond me.12. Eric Newbigging - was impressed with his game. He is getting better every week. Big kid who runs the lines well and hits the line hard. Defence still a little issue but has big up side and going well.13. Jeff Markus - we definitely miss Josh. Jeff had great work rate in attack carting it forward whenever possible although his defence was poor missed multiple tackles and he, Anderson and Tepu- Smith were mostly responsible for our leaking defence in the middle.14 -17 Our reserves lacked impact. Anderson was poor as a replacement for Lussick. Tepu Smith is the most frustrating player. Good size and great impact at the line but ball security is horrendous. Either loses it trying to offload or loses it cold. Stopped a number sets due to poor control. Munda and Raeli lacked any real impact.

"He played two weeks I think at left centre last year at the start. We abandoned that quickly but maybe we can consider it next year with Russell gone. Maybe a year or two next to the fox would sort him out."

"I remember watching him in nsw cup. He was at left centre with Naiduki on the wing. I remember every week saying he should make his nrl debut. He was such a good defender at 18/19 years old. I would argue since then that his attacking threat has…"

"Michael, you are dumb. Doesn't mean you are a bad bloke.
The whole game of managing a roster is value for money. Will Penisni gets paid the same as the great Centres in the game and he isn't one. Move him on, it's not harder than that. Hos brother…"

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NYC v Riff

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