Looked pretty disinterested the whole night. Fumble led to second try, cruised around the park, had no-interest in contesting bombs that weren't near him. Came off late in the first half I think and wasn't seen again in second half.
2. Eric Grothe
He came in off his wing and that created a pretty simple overlap for the first try. Hard to tell if his decision to come in was warranted or not without the benefit of a couple of replay views. Other than that did a good job diffusing a couple of bombs and ran the ball out strongly. Got absolutely smashed on one tackle though.
3. Joel Reddy
Hardly seen in attack. Came up with a couple of his trademark excellent defensive plays
4. Kris Inu
Played in the centres and fullback in the second half. He was involved but I am very worried he has not regained the pace he showed in the first year. If put into a gap, I certainly wouldn't be confident of him going all the way.
5. Luke Burt
A couple of kicks in behind-him led to tries but wasn't a lot he could do about it. Produced his trade-mark brilliance when he chipped over the top of the fullback for Jonothan Wright. Kicked two-from-two, one from wide-out.
6. Daniel Mortimer
Went off early and barely saw the ball in the first 20 as Panthers had all the play. To use racing parlance, forget he went around
7. Jeff Robson
It was a typical Jeff Robson performance. He seemed to play the first half at seven and the second at six. He was busy without doing anything brilliant. One soft defensive effort led to a Panther's try.
8. Nathan Cayless
Absolute shocker. Responsible for three or four turnovers on early tackles. Willing to forgive the first run back from a spell, but needs to improve especially if he is to hold his starting position
9. Matt Keating
Some very poor dummy half passes in the first half. Mixed kicking game, a couple of good ones a couple of wobbly ones but it's good to have that option. Thankfully got better as the game went on and made a couple of decent darts towards the end. Played eighty minutes, though, so Anderson is obviously trying to decide if he'll have an interchange hooker or not.
10. Justin Poore
Didn't make a huge impact but I don't think he was poor (no pun intended). Look, we dropped too much ball for any of the forwards to settle into their game so I'm not going to draw any judgements at all from this match
11. Justin Horo
He filled a hole in the side. Didn't get involved in attack and his contribution was mainly defensive where he did his job. He'll almost certainly play some first grade this year, given our lack of depth in this position. Let's hope he grows into the role
12. Ben Smith
Scored a try with one of his trade-mark jumps but didn't have a great impact other than that in attack or defence. Copped an injury and I'm not exactly sure when he came off but I didn't see him at all in the second half
13. Shane Shackelton
Was our go-to-forward. Made one great bust and always looked threatening. I think he'll be a starter.
14. Kris Keating
I don't think it was a coincidence that we only got going when he came onto the park. He was very heavily involved and his passing was crisp for his outside supports. Was ever-present in support and his kicking was mostly good including one for a try-assist. I think he has played his way into the number seven jersey
16. Taniela Lassalo
I think he has potential. He looks to have beefed up and produced one run in particular that caught my eye. He didn't play a lot of minutes. I don't think he's ready for first grade though, his defensive technique needs work and I think he probably needs a good year under his belt playing seniors.
17. Tim Mannah
Fair game, couple of particularly strong hitups but his hit-up count wouldn't have been particularly high
18. Jono Wright
Got a good run in the centres and did everything asked of him and probably more. Figured in one try, was good defensively and made a couple of strong hitups. I don't think it will automatic that Inu is next to come into the side if we get an injury in the backline. Particularly on the wing, Wright could be just as good an option.
19. Fuifui Moimoi
Eels man of the match by a mile. Came straight on and got involved with everything from his usual rampaging hit-ups, to a couple of dummy half charges and even got a try-assist from a play that would have made Jarryd Hayne happy. Was always looking for a big-hit even if he didn't manage to pull off a lot of them. I remain of the opinion that he is the single most important player in the side. Interestingly, he played very wide in the second half. I'm not sure if he was actually playing in the centres but he may as well have been. Played a lot of minutes after coming on at the 20m mark, not sure if he came off again.
Replies
Having said that I think he has lost a touch of pace since his deubut season.
I agree that Fui is very important to the eels and was just as instrumental as Hayne late last year - probably a toss up between those two as to who is most important.
Having said that I think he has lost a touch of pace since his deubut season.
I agree that Fui is very important to the eels and was just as instrumental as Hayne late last year - probably a toss up between those two as to who is most important.