1. French is class, he has confidence and is a star. He will be an even better Fullback and will add a new dimension to our attack with the speed and his ball playing will be shown. His defence is solid, yes he let in a few tries but his defence isn't terrible but isn't great either.
2. Alvaro and Scott were sensational tonight. Workhorses and solidify our defence. Alvaro is no world beater but would give his all every game. Scott is pure class and a professional, as soon as he came on in the second half, Cronulla's momentum went down. Granted they did end up scoring 2 tries.
3. Jennings stifled our attack. He really ticked me off tonight and was one of our worst on the field. looked lost and didn't know how to get into the game. Defensive reads were poor and just seemed lost. For an Origin centre that shouldn't happen.
4. I didn't know Terepo played tonight, until I looked at the stats and saw his name Lol.
Honestly they did the best they could and in terms of being one of the best in the league, we are close but not there yet. But very, very close
Replies
Radradra
Jennings(NSW) Gutherson
Takairangi
French
Norman
Robson
Mannah
De gois
Wicks
Mau
Scott
Edwards
Bench
King
Moeroa
Alvaro
Terepo
1. Gordon is starting to show his age. That last Sharks try was poor. He may be in second grade next week. His drop in pace is opening the door for French.
2. Semi was wasted again on the wing and was more of a secondrower then outside back tonight. Good effort in second half but went missing in the first half. The whole left edge attack went missing in the first half.
3. Jennings urgently needs to move to the right centre position as our right edge defence was at sixes. Maloney and Graham gave Edwards nightmares.
4. Gutherson was solid but bombed an important try at a vital stage of the game. I'd prefer Gutherson on the other side of the field and not defending next to French.
5. French. 10 out of 10 in attack. He had a couple of defensive poor reads but he will improve. It might be time to tap Gordon on the shoulder for this young kid!
6. Edwards tried very hard. At times in attack I thought he looked confused whether to run the ball or ball play. Defensively he struggled up against Maloney.
7. Norman had some good glimpses but seamed to be overwhelmed with not having a genuine half assistant.
8. Alvaro played decent but should have had more minutes. When Alvaro, Wicks and Scott were off the field we struggled.
9. Big D had big effort tonight and had very good line speed. He needs to run more from dummy half then just passing off the ground.
10. Wicks was very good in attack (strength and punch at the line). We need to get another 5 to 10 quality minutes from him each game.
11. Ma'u had an unusually average game. He had a couple of important tackles but struggled in attack.
12. Scott was strong as usual, but we need far more then 50 minutes out of him. I'd prefer to get 70 minutes from him.
13. Big effort, had a running battle with the old bull opposition number. He got knocked around but kept on turning up.
14. Nelson only got a few minutes and therefore didn't get any opportunities. Pretty much a waste in selecting him if he only gets 10 minutes.
15/16/17. Tried hard but didn't add the usual lift and energy they bring.
Changes Needed:
- Robson to right half. Will bring a steady hand, an extra kicker and genuine half.
- Mannah into the 17. Possibly start him on the bench to ease him into the game.
- Jennings to right centre.
- Taka to left centre.
- Gutherson to fullback. Gordon given a week's rest to "freshen up".
- Edwards to bench.
FB French, the kid showed class and I think his style of defense is better suited at the back. I'd give him some time there because we need to have a glimpse into next year and if he struggles we still have Guth or Flash. It's nothing personal for Flash, he won't be here next yr.
Centres, Taka and Jennings, but they need to swap and Jennings needs to pull his finger out. If he continues into his form slump then replace with Guth for few weeks. But a Semi needs a centre who doesn't kill any plays down the left. French maybe able to help this issue also with his speed.
Wingers, Semi and Guth, for obvious reasons
Halves, Norman and Robo, we need kicking opinions and better right side defensive reads than Kenny. Kennys done his best but by his own admission he runs out of steam.
Props, Wicks and Álvaro played well.
Dummy, swap IDG back to the bench and bring him on when the forwards get tired. Nelson or King to start and put until IDG comes on. But really I'm not sure about these 3 and would be happy with any combo.
Second row, Mau and Scott, Mau had an off night but he won't have one again for quite awhile otherwise he'll beat the shit out of himself.
Lock, Tepai, I like him running out wide and swapping with Scott.
Reserves
Kenny, will enjoy coming back on when Scott tires.
IDG, come on when forward tire. But really don't have a problem if he starts either because he gives 110%
Mannah or Terepo, depending on Mannahs fitness.
Obrien, he's just a different body shape to our other forwards and we need to keep pushing him to be a full time player.
Now of course this has nothing to do with how they train or anything else other than what I've observed on game days so not expecting this to happen.
I'm continually disappointed with our left attack esp if you compare it to the right and their experience. Semis try ststs are good but he has to go looking for those tries or at the very least he scores from a kick. I'd be interested to see how many go through Jennings hands compared to last year with Taka.
Anyway that's my Sunday morning thoughts.
Him because he is one. He had a bad game at Origin and he was heavily marked tonight with no early ball and no space.
I think the backline will stay the same with Taka moving to 5/8.
Im not sure how you could dump French with his efforts so far.
There isnt any point making mass changes. We had a chance to beat the Sharks until the last minute last night and we did so with a makeshift team. I was at the game last night and i didnt leave feeling disappointed, i left feeling as though we did a great job against the leaders of the comp
Jennings is yet to have a breakout game and for the money we pay him I would have loved to see something. there are others to take the pressure off him, he's not our only attacking weapon and therefore the op just target him. They have others to worry about also.
The guys in a form slump and if Taka comes back, what do we do? As you said we can't drop French now.
Maybe you need to watch a replay and yes I was more disappointed with the reffing but our left attack has gone from the best in the comp to avg, with the inclusion of a $800k player. I'm not sure what else to say.
His heart just didn't seem to be in it and he seemed outta sorts. Guessing he must've taken a niggle into this.
Scott was off the field a little longer than we could afford I thought.
Semi didn't get one single decent opportunity and shakes did a good job there rattling us,we did the rest.
Edwards tried so hard, sometimes trying to do too much.
Alvaro had his best game for us and really looked like he dug just a little deeper for Mannah
But all in all, it was stated a that sharks have only used 19 players all year,, in comparison look at our disruptive year and without a genuine halves pair, kicking was below parr again but think we gave it a great shot. A for effort.