After last night I could "wax lyrical" about Mitch Moses.....I honestly did not think a single player could make so much difference to that side.
BUT I would like to talk about JAC, he may not be as fast as he once was, but he is quicker than anything we have had for a long time.
BUT No 2, every young winger in Parramatta can learn by his positional judgement. You just cannot believe the type of players we have had on the wing, have had no idea on how to read the situation. Yes JAC will still get caught out but his judgement is very high, he also gives us that polish at the finish that we had from Sivo, albeit in a much different style.
Finally what JAC has, has been pretty well understated to date, but now we have some creative players back in the side, I think we will really reap the benefits of his presence (yes I know about the goalline mistake he made last night....shit happens, but he made up for it 5 minutes later with some extraudinary stuff).
One thing I will say about the side last night is "game awareness" Moses and JAC demonstrated it in "spades", just imagine if Lomax was around to get under some of those kicks.
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Brings a lot of energy to training too which is where all the hard work is done.
I agree Pops, there are a certain few players that have an instinct for reading the game, the Fox is one of them. Bevan French is one who also pops into my mind, Nathan Blacklock another. I believe Indigenous players seem to more often have this natural atribute than others and often just find themselves in the right place at the right time. However just to make sure I am suitably DEI, for me one of the best at having this 'knack" was Brett Kenny.
Yes Strange-eel, game awareness does not happen so naturally these days. A good friend of mine was talking about this the other day, saying he could tell how long a guy had been playing the game by the way he tackles, passes and backs up....endemicly bred into young footballers who were initially taught the fundamentals, as against a athlete with brawn and speed. Many of those natural athletes end up on the wing and never learn the fundamentals.
Interesting to see these 7's players be such natural and instinctive players, but their weakness is in defence. That bloke playing for the Roosters is brilliant, but his positional weakness in defence stands out on analysis. Doesn't mean of course that they cannot adjust in time.
What really impressed me last night was how much everyone stood up. Yes, Mitch was immense, and JAC was great - but we had folks stepping up across the park.
We haven't looked like a team for so many years and last night gave me hope that we have team starting to build. Previously it was "wait for Gutho or Mitch to rescue us". But last night there were good points to basically everyone who got minutes on the field. This played out in the Fantasy Points too - no standouts, just everyone doing their thing and doing it well.
Still lots of issues to fix (missed tackles are still shocking) but gee it was great to see a team of Eels last night...I've missed seeing that for a long time.
Yes Cappy, you remind me of that everyone, you are always standing up on this site with your commonsense and practical approaches, you deserve to see exactly that!
I reckon I get just a thrill out of seeing a "warrior fan" (no pun) getting rewarded with that satisfaction. NOS fits the same category as does a few others, I can't mention you all.
JAC's speed and experience was the difference between scoring those tries or not, hencing winning or not.
JAC beat Turuva on the outside to score his first. A slower winger dosn't make that.
JAC got the ball in a 2 on 2 and was fast enough to get outside Turuva, once in the backfield he had the experience and the skill to send an absolute peach of a pass back into Iongi.
JAC's second try, he skips away with pure speed after picking up a dropped ball.
There's 3 tries we don't score if JAC doesn't play.
Not to mention his try saving intercept (makes up for his brain fade whilst playing FB).
Having the young guys step up is great. But experience still matters. And speed definitely matters. Great stuff.
Was great to see Iongi backing up on the inside. Another new player with speed. I would like to see him in a "traditional" fullback role of backing up though the middle. With his speed and step he could create a lot of havoc. We definitely have enough players that can offload to his benefit
He will become that with adding size. He is quite thin at the moment. As he learns what it takes to be a FG player he will build himself up. Look at Moses in 2017 to now in body shape. Players work out what they need.
As long as he gains his weight "organically". Sometimes players bulk up too quickly and lose their speed and step. If he can gain it gradually while keeping his speed, great. Even though he is slight he doesn't get man handled that much.
Well he is a professional footballer. Ryles and staff would want him to beef up and will show him how to do it to the benefit of himself and the team by not losing too much if any speed and gaining strength.
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