Now that the nerves and euphoria of a first win has worn off, a few observations
1. Raiders are gritty as hell. Really strong forward ms effort by them and Fogerty got them out of trouble with his boot well.
2. We matched their intensity and effort on defence. That’s saying something given AFB looked a little sore after the neck roll tackle when going for the try which meant our rotations were changed up, and Tuauapiki got wiped out early in the second half meaning Capewell played right centre. Winning the grind was the most pleasing thing for me.
3. When our combinations click, we will score quickly and heavily on teams. Ford took a second to long to pass, Rocco made the wrong decision to not pass to DWZ and if AFB found a way to link with
SJ, that’s 3 tries we should have iced. This will come. And that’s a scary prospect.
4. Winning ugly against a Raiders team with 4 of our starting 17 out is huge. Walker and Egan provide so much in terms of linking, CNK provides so much value from the back in terms of power and meters, and I think we underestimate how much we miss
Marata Niukore. All teams have injuries - but I’m impressed in how well we are covering them. Our depth is great.
5. Really impressed with our bench this week - thought
Ale, Jazz and Bunty contributed really well against a tough forward pack. Delighted for them and Bunty in particular impressed me with his defensive work. Solid.
6. Bunker and Referee made some interesting decisions that impacted both sides. Can someone explain in the rule book what ‘jumping too early’ is defined as? And balance and control? Both dud calls. Raiders probably also got hard done by by the disallowed try after the bomb that Roger dropped - although Rapana should have been called for a knock on as he did touch it. Bewildering at times - but we have come to expect this every week. What was good was that our guys did not lose their heads - they stayed in the moment and got on with the next play. That’s the sign of a good team.
8. Metcalf is developing and you can see we are trying to turn him into another all round threat. I don’t mind the mistakes like him running Montoya into touch. We have to back him as if he is
SJ’s likely successor, the next season or two he has to take control. Watch him grow over the course of the season.
9. In the second half we were at 94% completion rate until Bunty knocked on from a CHT shocker of a pass. The lack of penalties and mistakes (like dropped balls) was a great sign given it was dewey on ground and a physical contest. Other years we would be writing about how annoyed we were at mistakes. Bar a couple of bad decisions, I thought we were very solid.
10. What changed between last week and this week re taking the two points? We kicked for goal against the Storm to stay close - but we turned down 3 at least against the Raiders. I know we wanted to put them away - but another 6 points would have made it an easier watch.
All in all a solid performance against a team that just won’t die. They are the Keith Richards of the NRL.
We move on to Newcastle at Go Media. I expect Egan, Walker and CNK back on deck. Another step up and another one we need to win.
This competition is tight so we need to win at home. I reckon after 10 rounds the leader will be 7 and 3 with a log jam of 5 and 5. This will be a tighter year than last year from what I have seen - and injuries will be the difference week to week.
We go again. UP THE WAAAAAHHHHHS!
