Mighty_Tiger
Well-known member
Watched the game twice my summary as follows
New recruits:
Gildart - looked sharp with the ball, has some speed off the mark but not over distance. He needs to hold and mark up in defence, at least twice he came out of the line and infield creating a gap on his edge.
Hastings - looked bigger than I thought he was, he also looks slow with the ball in hand but strength & brains his is attributes for his size. Loved his delivery to the centers. He played the rover roll which allowed Brooks to play direct which is Brooks strength.
Peach - look the tempo changes when he came on but his ball delivery 2 games in a row is shocking it's like he is rushing his play. His defence in the middle he needs to watch as well 4 times in the 2 trial games he has been found out with teams getting easy meters around the ruck when he is 3rd man in and not fast enough to be either a marker or back in the line.
Young Guns:
Tuki - is way off, I call him puff the dragon. He gets on for 5-10mins and runs out of steam.
Rua - most impressive debut from a young kid for a very long time, he plays like Smith and is very very strong, deceptive as well. He is abit of a ball hog but so was Robbie early on. His ball delivery was the best of all our hookers over the 2 trials as well, fast/flat infront both left and right. He is a way off NRL however as he struggled to last 10-15mins max at intensity but the glimpse we have seen hopefully he is training with the big boys for the rest of season because he has huge upside
Forward pack:
Tamou and Stefano are holding up well. Tamou in both trials has had a big dig and is hitting very hard in defence , playing long minutes as well for him.
Liddle is Liddle, Simpkin 1st trial won't judge but looked off the pace but that's the point of a trial + he is coming back from an injury.
Kelma he is looking primed, I hope we can change his mind and keep him. Last year thought he was a while off but so far in the trial games has looked great.
Lucy brilliant to see he is dedicated and driving for us this year he is such an important part of our success in 2022
Others: No one has really stood out from our rotational forwards. Seyfarth has looked off the pace, Joe has been Joe, Musgrove has started to improve with each game, Mika nothing really seen & Twal we know what we get with him. No kid really stood up and was overly impressive outside of Rua
Backs:
Early ball to JTJ/Gildart and we looked very different and that comes down to the smarts of Hastings. JTJ has speed and strength still, the glimpses he showed, we just need to give him some ball to have a crack, last year he didn't get anything.
Our wingers running hard and straight also set a good platform.
Laurie was a warmup game but was safe which is all we can ask.
Brooks was great to see his running game, support/link play and directing the forwards around, his kicking game is way off but hopefully as he gets confidence in the running game then he finds the kicking range as well. He is such a different player when playing direct and using his speed. Hastings will be a very good combo for him I feel - looks like he compliments Brooks well. It's 1 game though so lets see how it goes in true NRL situations.
Overall tactics:
Defending - we clearly have changed the forward direction in defence. We are hitting harder and more side to side not front/one hit dimension holds. Cayless effect has seen a change here and was very impressed with it. There was gaps that opened up in the last 20mins in the ruck and we need to be careful of that but our scramble defence was brilliant when needed.
Attacking - Small notices but we are playing hit 1-3 then edge. It was on repeat most the Roosters game. I liked what I saw but it's very hard to take note when the 2 games have had side to side wind and rain = not built for attacking football, it's far to early however that adjustment with structure and getting our centers early ball for a change was very happy with. Nofo & big Ken though will catch a cold if it wasn't for their work rate of the kick returns/set runs. I do think we will struggle for a while. Peach/Laurie how they chime in if Hastings plays abit wider as at times we looked abit crammed which is why I think Brooks playing direct will be key to allow more space for those to work.
Against the Roosters to go down 8 nil, hold the ball for ages in the attacking zone & not get a result from it - normally we would've been blown off the park. But we held very firm played our game all game and we came out 16-8. The intensity of the trial was the highest out of all the trial games so far as well, it was a high effort match in which we stayed strong and competed all game. If we do that all year I will be happy.
New recruits:
Gildart - looked sharp with the ball, has some speed off the mark but not over distance. He needs to hold and mark up in defence, at least twice he came out of the line and infield creating a gap on his edge.
Hastings - looked bigger than I thought he was, he also looks slow with the ball in hand but strength & brains his is attributes for his size. Loved his delivery to the centers. He played the rover roll which allowed Brooks to play direct which is Brooks strength.
Peach - look the tempo changes when he came on but his ball delivery 2 games in a row is shocking it's like he is rushing his play. His defence in the middle he needs to watch as well 4 times in the 2 trial games he has been found out with teams getting easy meters around the ruck when he is 3rd man in and not fast enough to be either a marker or back in the line.
Young Guns:
Tuki - is way off, I call him puff the dragon. He gets on for 5-10mins and runs out of steam.
Rua - most impressive debut from a young kid for a very long time, he plays like Smith and is very very strong, deceptive as well. He is abit of a ball hog but so was Robbie early on. His ball delivery was the best of all our hookers over the 2 trials as well, fast/flat infront both left and right. He is a way off NRL however as he struggled to last 10-15mins max at intensity but the glimpse we have seen hopefully he is training with the big boys for the rest of season because he has huge upside
Forward pack:
Tamou and Stefano are holding up well. Tamou in both trials has had a big dig and is hitting very hard in defence , playing long minutes as well for him.
Liddle is Liddle, Simpkin 1st trial won't judge but looked off the pace but that's the point of a trial + he is coming back from an injury.
Kelma he is looking primed, I hope we can change his mind and keep him. Last year thought he was a while off but so far in the trial games has looked great.
Lucy brilliant to see he is dedicated and driving for us this year he is such an important part of our success in 2022
Others: No one has really stood out from our rotational forwards. Seyfarth has looked off the pace, Joe has been Joe, Musgrove has started to improve with each game, Mika nothing really seen & Twal we know what we get with him. No kid really stood up and was overly impressive outside of Rua
Backs:
Early ball to JTJ/Gildart and we looked very different and that comes down to the smarts of Hastings. JTJ has speed and strength still, the glimpses he showed, we just need to give him some ball to have a crack, last year he didn't get anything.
Our wingers running hard and straight also set a good platform.
Laurie was a warmup game but was safe which is all we can ask.
Brooks was great to see his running game, support/link play and directing the forwards around, his kicking game is way off but hopefully as he gets confidence in the running game then he finds the kicking range as well. He is such a different player when playing direct and using his speed. Hastings will be a very good combo for him I feel - looks like he compliments Brooks well. It's 1 game though so lets see how it goes in true NRL situations.
Overall tactics:
Defending - we clearly have changed the forward direction in defence. We are hitting harder and more side to side not front/one hit dimension holds. Cayless effect has seen a change here and was very impressed with it. There was gaps that opened up in the last 20mins in the ruck and we need to be careful of that but our scramble defence was brilliant when needed.
Attacking - Small notices but we are playing hit 1-3 then edge. It was on repeat most the Roosters game. I liked what I saw but it's very hard to take note when the 2 games have had side to side wind and rain = not built for attacking football, it's far to early however that adjustment with structure and getting our centers early ball for a change was very happy with. Nofo & big Ken though will catch a cold if it wasn't for their work rate of the kick returns/set runs. I do think we will struggle for a while. Peach/Laurie how they chime in if Hastings plays abit wider as at times we looked abit crammed which is why I think Brooks playing direct will be key to allow more space for those to work.
Against the Roosters to go down 8 nil, hold the ball for ages in the attacking zone & not get a result from it - normally we would've been blown off the park. But we held very firm played our game all game and we came out 16-8. The intensity of the trial was the highest out of all the trial games so far as well, it was a high effort match in which we stayed strong and competed all game. If we do that all year I will be happy.
