High scores to the outside backs who were generally excellent in both attack and defence, but I struggled to give pass marks to a number of our forwards and playmakers. Our forwards were dominated and our playmakers failed to give us the direction or kicking game we needed to counter the excellent work St George was doing on those fronts.
Jarryd Hayne: 7
The Dragons did everything possible to take Hayne out of the game, but he still managed a try assist, contributed heavily to the first try with some nice support play and was at the centre of most of our breaks. To counter those good moments you might say he was out of position on a few kicks and his kicking game wasn't great including one shocker that went out of the full. Still, we looked at our best when Hayne had the ball in hand
Luke Burt - 8
Flawless game included two kicks from touch. Looked dangerous every time he touched the ball, held on to a rocket pass from Hayne for a try and was generally just all class all night.
Kris Inu - 7
A very solid defensive game and there were a couple of runs that were just the Inu of old. He's still a little short of confidence in my mind, though. If he'd have taken a couple of the bombs he put himself in a position to catch, it might have gone a long way towards changing the course of the game
Timana Tahu - 7
Strong return to League. Aggressive in defence, arguably sometimes overly so. Dragons didn't ever look like scoring down his side. Some strong runs and the game augurs well for the rest of the year. Broke 100m.
Eric Grothe - 7
Carted the ball forward all night from the back to top our metres gained and was more successful than the forwards in denting the rock solid Saints defence
Daniel Mortimer - 4
Kicking game was ordinary, partially to blame for the first try, plus a couple of dumb penalties/errors which proved costly.
Jeff Robson - 6
Some very strong defensive plays and made one quality break. However, like the rest of the halves kicking game was ordinary and the side seemed to lose a little direction when he dropped into dummy half.
Nathan Cayless - 6
The hardest working Eels forward in both attack and defence and he took on the line with gusto even if, he seldom managed to make much of a dent. Got smashed returning the ball back and coughed it up, and unfortunately that was a key point in the match.
Matt Keating - 5
Wasn't given much opportunity behind a beaten back and a couple of options he would like to have had back again. Got through a lot of tackling, including a couple that stopped big breaks
Justin Poore - 4
Under 6m per hitup and got totally outplayed by his former Dragons teammates. His elbow that cost us a penalty in the opening ruck provided the worst possible start to the game
Nathan Hindmarsh - 5
I think this is the lowest rating I've ever given Hindy. Averaged just 5m per hitup and looked short of a run to be honest.
Ben Smith - 7
In my opinion, the best of our forwards. Made some very important tackles on our goal-line and made some quality runs on the fringes, although I'd like to have seen more of them. Shame he couldn't have taken that kick, which could have resulted in a try.
Feleti Mateo - 6
Played within himself, some good offloads and strong runs. No errors.
Kris Keating - 4
I honestly don't know what KK was told to do, but he didn't seem to have a clear role and floated about without any impact. I still can't tell you what position he was playing.
Shane Shackleton - 4
This score reflects the fact he played few minutes after suffering a serious injury early in the first half. However, it also reflects the fact that he did very poorly in helping Mortimer stop Jeremy Smith for the second Dragons try. Did a make a couple of strong runs that would have pleased Eels fans but didn't get a chance to show what he is going to be capable of.
Fuifui Moimoi - 4
Could be the lowest score I've ever given Fuifui as well. No damage and also came up with a couple of costly errors/penalties.
Tim Mannah - 5
Ran the ball with gusto during his limited minutes and probably had better success getting over the advantage line than any of the other props.
Replies
Hope its not a tactic by parra.footy friggin basics and fui and poore can def impact like that. ur ratings are correct and show that they werent even trying to drive through the tackles but were looking to get to ground to quik.
Either I had forgotten how big Tahu is or he has put on some considerable bulk - he looked almost like a front rower out there.
Its going to be hard to leave Inu out - perhaps with the injury to shack he may go onto the bench. Having said that I probabably wouldn't do it because I can't really see the point in having a back on the bench.