A few minor negatives first....
Our right edge looked vulnerable for most of the game.
Barney at second row perhaps not quick enough now to defend in the edge?
Capewell was a big out
Jazz and his errors. Brings energy and passion but don't think that he is needed when everyone is available. Good depth and perhaps a good player to have in the Nsw cup side to help bring the young guys through.
Latrell and Cody
Walker must be two of the biggest grubs in the NRL. Love seeing them beaten and so convincingly.
Now for the rest...
Don't know why but I had a lot of nervous energy before the game and that first 20 minutes. But we slowly strangled our way in to dominating the contest.
Lots of good performances and hard to pick my MoM. I went with
Tohu just marginally over
Egan. In that first half he did a lot of the 1%ers cleaning up, covering, tackling. Thought he made sure we stayed in the contest early.
So sweet seeing a couple of tries with our 1, 6, 7 and 9 all involved through the middle. I think
@MrFrankWhite said it best about that first
SJ try - that wasn't rugby league, it was a masterpiece work of art. For me, that is easily our best spine we can put on the field.
Egan is just phenomenal,
TMM played his hand to perfection,
SJ controls everything and
CNK is the perfect modern day fullback. With all 4 we play straight and direct. Gives everyone their own space to work in and creates so much for the opposition defence to worry about.
Forwards were great again.
AFB immense,
Bunty possibly his best game from him,
Ford tireless,
Barney is intimidating as hell,
Tohu my MoM,
Ale strong off the bench, Laban looks like the dynamic second rower I have been waiting for - hopefully he gets eased into first grade and could be a very useful impact player at the back end of the season,
CHT limited time,
Jazz hands.....
RTS looks to me like a guy who feels like he has to prove something to someone. I hope he settles and can just focus on playing his role. Switching around positions in the last few games probably hasn't helped. Berrylicious - kick chase, runs great lines, good hands, great smile.
Montoya is just energy and enthusiasm which you can't put a price on.
Pompey gets a lot of grief which I think is unwarranted. He is a really good player. Strong defensively, deceptive attack. Very handy player to have in the squad.
Love how we absorb what teams throw at us. Our defense, excluding the last 10 minutes against the Storm has been top class. The scary thing for me with this team is that you can still see there is a fair bit of improvement in them.
Webster is a magician. I never thought I would ever be as proud of a Warriors team than I am at the moment. And we are already starting to see the results of our development with some of these juniors coming through and the depth we have. We are set up for sustainable success and man it feels good!
If our spine can stay injury free and we can get
Capewell and
DWZ back in the side there will be some very nervous teams this season watching for when they are playing us next.
Don't usually do this but A+ this week.