What to like about tonights game

For me, the most pleasing thing about tonight's game was our defence. Yes we let in two tries but the speed off the line and teams commitment to move up quickly off the line as one was what won us that game. That is what will get us into the finals.

The second most pleasing thing tonight was just the fact that they played as a team. Outstanding by all. Not one bad performance from anyone. That will help us win a premiership.

I think Kaysa needs to be applauded for his work from dummy half tonight. I know some will jump on him and say he threw a forward pass, that is as much Normys fault as his but thought Kaysa was great tonight. Both his service from dummy half and his defence. He is still very young and if he can stay away from tackling to much, for now, and focus on good quick passes from dummy half, he can lock in that position. Consistency is what is needed from him.

Our quickness to play the ball after being tackled. We were eager to get up off the ground and get quick play the balls, also helped by Kaysa putting the ball out in front of players, making them have to run onto it.

The fact that if we went one out from the ruck, we mixed it up with running straight and pushing across field and that we worked out when it was appropriate and when it wasn't.

Our attack was the best I have seen it in a while. Normy was back to his old self and the rest of the team really aimed up, ran hard and weren't afraid to offload when it was there.

A sour point was the loss of Taka. I was a little surprised that he didn't stay at 5/8 from last season. Hopefully he won't be out for too long because he is our best option. I am hoping the Fog will get a run at half if Taka is out and Normy goes to 5/8. Gutho needs to stay at fullback for now.

Auva has been great at centre and you can just about lock him in to that position if he keeps playing the way he is.

So much to like about tonight's game and hopefully they boys can build on that. We have a tough run from here on in with only two or three games with teams outside the 8.

Well done to the entire team though. My faith in the Eels has been restored :)

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Replies

Hugo April 22, 2017 at 5:13pm

Our aggressive defence absolutely. If we had that defence we would have beaten the Titans easily.
Shawn peters April 22, 2017 at 5:20pm

Well we won, but most people on here said we wouldnt win anouther game. Hmmmmm
- Snakey - Sack Dylan Brown > Shawn peters April 22, 2017 at 5:25pm
  
  Shawn thats fake news, i dont recall a single person saying we wouldnt win another game
Danny Crnkovich April 22, 2017 at 5:25pm

And not so many bullshit pushed passes like we've been seeing lately
Wile E. Coyote April 22, 2017 at 5:26pm

Good blog
Agree with everything you said except Maybe Fog
Would have Will Smith and maybe King in front of him
Bup April 22, 2017 at 5:38pm

I hope we don't start our next match the same as we closed out that much. The first half was impressive and the second as bad as it gets. If we put up that kind of display against teams in any semblance of form completing at 65% we are facing a massacre. The two points are important but that second half was a major worry. When we're under pressure we resort to those bad habits, kicking out on the full and compounding our errors. These need to be eradicated quickly. There's currently too big a separation between our best football and our worst. It's a long season but we need to start improving markedly week on week. There's along way to go.
- Mathew Clarke > Bup April 22, 2017 at 6:52pm
  
  Agreed that the second half wasn't our best but we hung in there and didn't fully capitulate.
  
  As soon as Taka went off we started to struggle a bit and I can only hope that he isn't out for too long as he is our best option at 5/8. He can take on the line, pass and kick.
Micka April 22, 2017 at 5:44pm

Did we get a single penalty in the second half?
Thooper Dooper Maltese Sparrow April 22, 2017 at 5:57pm

Intensity.
Defense.
Desperation.

...then came the 2nd half.
Chocolate Frog ♥ Ms Peppers Mint April 22, 2017 at 6:00pm

Bar the Fog, I do agree with everything else you've written Mathew. At various times in our current game Kaysa Pritchard becomes a weak-link in our defensive line and yes, we've begun to fix this problem as witnessed in today's game BUT, we do not want to introduce a second weak defensive link that we'll have to cover. The better NRL teams will work away at these two weaknesses. We need a strong defender who can play 6 or 7 or we bring in Fog to 6 or 7 and drop Kaysa to be replaced by a much better defender.