WOW!
That was one of the best tests I have seen in a long time.
The lack of respect for the Aussies was great.
We usually get caught up trying to slow their ruck speed, but we came out in the first half letting them play it at their pace, and just played faster. I think it helped that the boys were treated as laughing stocks midweek.
I think the Aussies went into this game with no genuine plan. Just see what they dish up and we will dominate them. Smith was spooked when he called the team in for a midfield meeting. They were a bit of a rabble at that stage, and he needed to give them guidance. The were always going to develop a plan by half time.
I think
Kearney made a mistake in using John in the halves.
Johnson was thriving on the pressure, but when we got options, he went into his shell again. I would have liked to see him put under pressure again with John reverting to the bench. I have always been a major critic of
Johnson, but his first half was near perfect. He avoided the 40 metre bomb well, and his kicking options were awesome. I thought the penalty kick in the second half that was ruled out in-goal was crap. It was manipulated by the Aussie player and the touchie just went with it, even though he was going to rule it went out in the field of play. I didn't realise we got it back from a 20m dropout, though.
Benry was astonishing, considering he was basically asking advice from anyone who had ever met a hooker. I thought his very first pass out of dummy half showed that he is the best kind of footballer. He will do whatever job is required of him. He will learn the skills he needs to do the very best for the team. He looked better than he has in his usual positions. His pace was up, and he was focussed.
Havili was great. He handled the step up from basically reserve grade hooking to test arena well. If we could get him some serious time at 9 in Warriors colours soon, we will be ahead.
I thought we were looking a real chance at scoring late when Benry scooted and was brought down a couple of metres short, but up stepped Captain Mannering, when anyone else should have played dummy half and gave a volleyball pass to kill our attack. Can we put a (Michael Luck-type) rule in that he doesn't touch the ball in the opposition 20m?
Our forwards were monumental. They hit harder than I have seen a Kiwi hit in years. Our go-forward was fantastic. Sam Moa was awe-inspiring at times, and I was pleased to see him come back after heading up the tunnel. Bromwich was great. Tapau had some powerful runs.
I was concerned with
Hiku, especially after seeing him at the base of the scrum with Aussie attacking inside our 20m, twice. You could see he knew where they were going, but was never going to give us any chance of stopping it, so why put him there?
Though Nighingale had a typical Warriors-type defensive showing, I think he kept us in the game (mentally) by getting back up and keeping going. I thought he was a goner. It appeared that Cory Parker reacted like he heard his knee go pop. I guess we had good depth to cover for him. We could have moved
Beale to wing and slotted benry over there. And it may have even cleaned that side defence up a little.
I was amazed that in the first half, you very nearly didn't even know that people like Smith, Thurston, Inglis and Boyd were even playing. But it was only a matter of time before one of them took it upon themselves to try to spark something.
Ray Warren, its time to retire. You are becoming a blithering, dodery old fool. He spent 10 minutes pointing out that "we now have our 3 halves on the field in Cooper Cronk, Jonathan Thurston and Daley Cherry-
Evans, so thats now 3 halves on the field. So with Cherry-
Evans coming off the bench, it means we now have 3 halves with Cronk, Thurston, and Cherry-
Evans..." It went on for far too long, and we already knew without him filling the air with pointless, obvious bullshit. Gould spent the last minutes of the first half preparing his excuses for why they lost, should he need them. And was very careful until late in the second half to prepare for a loss.
I disagree with a few here, who believe that Foran and Luke would have given us the win. I think that
Johnson would have kept his head down with Foran there. He only steps up when he is forced to, and other options make him lazy (not to be insulting). I think Benry and Havili actually offered a point of difference that caught the Kangaroos off guard. Luke may have brought a more predictable game with him. It was the EXTREME underdog tag that got us so close. I love the fact that our "stars" were put in their places, and that passion for the jersey has been recreated. JWH has had an arrogant air about him for a while now, believing he is the Kiwis, and SBW has not set himself up of late to even be a chance in this team.
Harris sent a big fuck-you out to old $BW with his try.
I would have loved to see us with an entirely new gameplan in the second forty. Aussie were always going to come back more prepared, but if we tested our original plan for a few minutes before changing to plan B would have had them clueless again.
I am looking forward to the future of the Kiwis with the amount of heart and passion shown last night. Lets keep it going.
