It's very easy to see the problems we are facing as a club. I'm getting very tired of hating reading about how crap the Tigers are all the time. I am always guilty of looking for the positives.
Papali'i was very effective at #13. Actually, the best individual performance at #13 from a Tigers player all season.
Sullivan was reasonably good. He's a player with flaws. But he did enough to be an effective player today.
Api is so much better at defence than I ever gave him credit for.
Samuela Fainu will really benefit from having players inside him that can create some space. Very imposing body type that likes contact. I'm very excited to see his development.
Bula was probably as good in attack this week as we have seen. The more involved he gets, the better we look. He is clearly an important cog going forward for us.
For all the whining, we got beaten based off a few small parts- the injuries to To'a & then Bateman caused reshuffles that never let the team settle. Naden, Sullivan & Staines were asked to contain 2 hard running opponents are are incapable of doing so. If better defensive players are in their positions- I think we win.
I think we really missed Bateman on the edge when he went off. It will be interesting to see who replaces him if his pec injury is bad.
As a team, the Tigers don't seem capable of maintaining momentum. I'm going to assume this is due to inexperience in too many spine players at this stage. I expect Luai will go some way to helping with that.
We played Faatape early in the season. Put him back in. His defence was solid. Naden is an incomplete player, Faatape is the better option. It might be time to play Kepaoa on that wing now..
Galvin is starting to look ineffective. Not being critical. But Benji could even look at moving him into Naden's centre spot & having Faatape outside him, and playing Latu Fainu when fit. I thoroughly believe Galvin will be most effective playing an edge, using his height & length to create mismatches. I still think he's a second rower in the making- similar to what Schuster SHOULD be.
Matamua on the bench for mine. And let Simpkin play some #13 as well as #9. Or even on the edge as a defensive guy. What Simpkin DOESN'T do is play badly, or dumb. I think he could be converted into a Cam McGuiness type.
I had very high hopes for Pole this year. Last couple of games have made me less excited. Twal was ok today & Seyfarth was actually competing hard. We just lack any real impact, which makes our starters less effective as a whole.
