Having rewatched the game, I think this was one of our better performances all year despite the recurring heart attack. I think we started off a bit flat, but that was to be expected given the brutality of the Raiders game last week. Canberra also started flat last night against the Chooks. That game really took it out of both teams. But when we warmed into the game, we did demonstrate that we are superior to Souths. Latrell was the only reason this looked close. Having said that, 7 tries to 5 should have made for a more convincing scoreline if Luke had kicked a few more of his goals.
On the negative side, yes, we leaked 30 pts. But we've shown all year that we can defend well, so the real takeaway was that we actually have points in us. 7 tries and 36pts. With better kicking, we'd have put 40+ on Souths, a team that coming into this game was in the top 5 defensively. Erin's fast ptbs and powerful runs from our back five really set the scene for Wade to come back to his 2023 form. LM feeding Marata damaging lines on the edge on the front foot. Demi and Leka's footwork and late offload troubling the defensive line. Was also great to finally see some fine attacking shape starting to emerge with 2 wingers who can finish. RTS coming back to the form we were expecting last year: 3 tries in 2 games now and 170ish meters in this game.
On the improve note, we need to manage our interchanges better. We do struggle when Erin comes off around the middle of the second half, which is when teams tend to make a late run against us. Also, it looked like we were pushing Marata to prop when Leka came on. Marata played almost the full 80 yesterday which I don't really like because he really doesn't have Ford's motor. He is damaging in limited, controlled spells like Royce Hunt at Wests or Talakai at the Sharks. That's how I prefer we use him. Probably was a result from Barney's injury though.
