Another case of the one that got away. I firmly believe we were the more dominant team for the majority of the contest & should have won this comfortably.
We just seem to produce basic errors which the opposition capitalise on & lack of footy smart moments (highlighted by Lovodua giving away a penalty when we were on the attack by not knowing the 10m dropout rules). It's endemic in our club which boils down to coaching & discipline in players & coaches.
1 Izaak Tui'tupou had a 'barry crocker' opening, dropping a kick under pressure but not in contest (poor), then made a poor read in defence (not trusting Taylan to take his man) leading to the opening try. Then did not contest a bomb (poor) which the Warriors chaser tapped back to a team mate to score. 12-0 right there. He then had a good game with his runs out of yardage. I'll put it down to a one-off as he has been great for 2 months straight. However it's moments like these that probably tell us why he hasn't seen more NRL over the past 3-4 seasons.
2 I have no doubt we could have scored another 5 or 6 tries that we missed by inches, poor last pass etc. Naden almost grounded a grubber before going dead, Tui was called in touch which looked a try, Lovodua was tackled inches short, Mapalangi almost grounded a kick-through etc etc etc.
3 I thought our best was Brent Naden especially in the 2nd half when at fullback, sparked our attack, and played the last 20-25 mins at left backrow and did look good there imo. Others will disagree but I hope we can extend Naden on a low value contract for the versatility depth he brings but nothing more than $200-$230k.
4 Taylan May (aside from one knock-on) & Heamasi Makasini were both very good. Exciting times with these two. Taylan was up against Ali Leiataua so a great match up to get NRL ready. Good to expose Big Mak to the right side but that does limit his natural tendency to fend with his right arm.
5 Other strong performers were Luke Laulilii & Elie El Zakhem. Both had an error or 2 in them but Luke was again strong with his carries& Elie very busy in both attack, defence & offloads. He does have a brain fade in him, either a poor offload or today it was a poor blindside play and tackled into touch. He did overshadow Kayliss Fatialofa who probably had one of his poorest games of the season for the Wahs. Kurt Falls his usual good rating 7/10 game.
6 No standouts in the forwards really. Murray & Rahme were both busy without being impactful, Kit had some strong carries but had a poor missed tackle & knock-on (his downfall atm).
What I'd like to see next week ...
Heath Mason into 5/8. For god's sake coaches, help his development by playing him in the front-line. He has too many weaknesses at fullback.
Luke Laulilii into fullback. This is the kid who can be our fulltime backup to Bula next season. Give him reps. He carved up last month at fullback. He has played fullback most of his career and comes naturally to him.
Heamasi Makasini to left wing. This is the position he needs to get reps in if Taylan is a success at left centre in NRL. Skelton is not a long-term answer for us.
Let's give Krystian Mapapalangi a go at left centre. Just has that class and left side is preferred. Give Tui'tupou a go on the right wing - if he can also handle that side, he could be a viable top 30 depth signing for us. Naden to right centre or backrow (instead of Jack, let's see if it works for 80 mins).
Piss Lovodua off back to Ron Massey Cup & give Bailey Hodges an opportunity at dummy-half in rotation with Murray.
A lot of changes but we need to try these for the development of our players & squad into next season.
