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    AlwaysOptmistic said:
    Jackson ford has one error and no penalties conceded in four games which is great. Another 120m plus run meter game and led post contact metres, so he's doing alright in my books.
    Niukore was strong early but then gave up three pressure relieving penalties in a row.
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    Jackson Ford can do no right in some peoples books SMH.

    38 minutes for 147m, 8 tackle breaks. I thought he was excellent punch off the bench and it was taking 3 guys to tackle him almost every time.

    Im still all for keeping Halasima on the bench and bring him on as impact, lets not rush the kids development. Both him and Demetric still have some of those 'schoolground footy' antics to their game they need to shed IMO. But I haven't been this excited for a pair of homegrown forwards in a loooong time.

    Erin Clarke is like Jazz but on steroids (figuratively, but looking at him maybe literally lol).

    Also, for Metcalf - on one hand he still looks a little shaky and disjointed but there's also something there that makes me think he's going to turn into a really good half.
     
    tyrael said:
    Scores a try, gets 100% kicks, no errors, 1 missed tackle, ran the ball 15 times (we said he didn't run enough last week).

    It wasn't a back's game in that rain and yes there needs to be more improvement, but he's only going to get better.

    That last penalty kick while in front of goal would have been hard. Rain, pressure to win and fatigue.

    I said it 2 weeks ago, live in the moment bruv, be happy.
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    Reminded me a lot of the victory a couple of years ago against the sharks where SJ wanted the moment and slotted the goal. Starting to see little glimpses of SJ’s input into Metcalf. That try of his constructed from an Egan break also was reminiscent of a game against rabbits last year that saw SJ score with TMM close at hand backing up. Pompey is really starting to believe in himself now and is really deceptive with that left foot step. Just a great all round victory in my view with work ons. Thought the handling from the team in the conditions was exceptional
     
    Kakarot said:
    Metcalf done piss all bar a few easy conversion but we got the win so everyone's blinded by it
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    Scores a try, gets 100% kicks, no errors, 1 missed tackle, ran the ball 15 times (we said he didn't run enough last week).

    It wasn't a back's game in that rain and yes there needs to be more improvement, but he's only going to get better.

    That last penalty kick while in front of goal would have been hard. Rain, pressure to win and fatigue.

    I said it 2 weeks ago, live in the moment bruv, be happy.
     
    Had to go to bed straight after the game, was a little wired struggling to get to sleep lol. Agree with a lot that’s being written.

    First off, how frickin good is Leka. I’d give Niukore the Storm and Broncos games to get his shit together. Then replace him with Leka if he’s doesn’t improve significantly.

    I was confident our forwards would beat theirs and that’s pretty much what happened. Erin has been really good, I still think he should be our impact 14 it also gives a halfway option for hooker cover, but that’s just my opinion.
    The real test is coming in the next 2 games for our forwards. I’ll admit I’m not confident of our chances and we don’t have the halves to get us out of trouble.
    Hope Hughes is still out for the Storm. Makes our job a little easier.

    How long do we run Egan for 80? Our byes are pretty well spaced out unlike last year.

    I want us to just keep running out with Metcalf and CHT no matter what tbh. If they can have 35+ games together by 2027, I think we’ll be in a better place than other clubs.

    Ed was exceptional
     
    El Chuckie said:
    AFB is top of the pcm stats, but now we have five players in the top 25: Fish, Barnett, Clark, CNK, and Ford. And that's reverse order...
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    Ford’s been epic off the bench. Was really impressed by our ball handling in the wet apart from a couple of Barnett dropped balls. Had a good laugh at Laiataua in support of Halasima with a beaming smile until he shushes the crowd and his face dropped. Sort of looked towards the box and must have thought coach isn’t going to be happy. Stacey looked like he was saying some choice words. Amazing player and play though and deserved the moment. Thought Barnett hit the nail on the head, if Halasima stays grounded, he’s going to be special. Think he will be either way and confidence is important, but humbleness is good trait
     
    It looks like after this round, we are going to be leading the comp in total running meters, post contact meters once the stats from today's game are incorporated. Made essentially 2000m in this game again, like last week. That's more meters than what Manly made in that crazy game against the Raiders last week where they had 68% of possession over the whole game. So for all the talk about losing go-forward post -AFB, we seem to be doing just fine in that category.
     
    Tbf fair we’ve been pretty good for cnk- gave him a lifeline when Canberra didn’t want him, handed him the number 1 jersey and guaranteed he’d keep it even when rts came back- he was able to extend his career and reclaim his kiwi jersey.
    And he’s been great for us too- played his heart out- it’s been a mutually beneficial relationship and I don’t think there will be any hard feelings when the time to part ways comes.
     
    My favorite hobby is to go check out opposition fan forums (game day and pre-game) after an epic win like that. Many Tigers fans were all confident of a 13+ win and thought we would be a push-over as a bottom 4 team. Don't know of a single big NRL pundit who had us winning this game. So they can all go and pound dust. 2025 is starting to look like 2023 again.
     
    Absolutely stoked with that win. We're a team glaringly lacking in certain areas but that was such a gutsy win against an improving side, full of confidence, at home in difficult conditions, in a week where we lost one of our main playmakers and a disrupted line up.

    Our pack laid the foundation (altho momentum swung back to the Tigers second half) and finished it off.....ugly but great all the same.

    Egan and Clarke have been our best all year. Loved how our halves jumped on the back of Egan when he broke them in Metcalf's try.

    We've only scratched the surface with Leka too i feel. We've still to learn how to best use him in shape in the attacking zone......once we figure that out god what a weapon we'll have.

    Clearly attack is still a work on for us. Particulary Luke with running the shape as well as option taking. Going side to side without squaring up is such easy fodder for defences.
    And some of our defence in the middle of the ruck defending our line was dodgy as heck and marker D will get some work over the bye week. Capewell seems to wlak between the raindrops a bit but another 9 missed tackles tonight.....2nd most in the comp i think....anybody else would probably get crucified by now.

    I dont fancy our chances after the bye week against some classy teams so that win was sooo important keeping us in the mix, and it would be nice if recruitment could pull off a miracle Dylan replacement signing as i think we definitely need another ball player in the mix to take pressure off the halves.

    Finally big ups Ed. Thats the standard now tho brother
     
    Worried2Death said:
    I reckon the 10% more grit is all Fisher-Harris's influence this year. No one messes with The Fush, everyone knows it. Why? Because he's baddest mofo in the game that's why.
    It's hard to sleep after a Sunday night game, I'm wired up like a crack addict after that. I'll be tossing and turning all night with visions of Leka running down the sideline like fukn Lomu and Ed Kosi smashing blokes, his turning arc is still a work in progress but can't fault his ariel skills, good game son, that's my boy. Gave it an A for sheer entertainment.
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    The turn around in mental toughness is all JFH influence for sure
     
    Well that's the way to end the weekend. Half way through this game, I was thinking that this match reminded me of the sharks game we played in 2023 in the wet. Claimed victory from the jaws of defeat with a dubious, but ultimately correctly awarded, penalty. That's certainly a game that we would have lost in 2024, which makes me believe that 2025 is looking more like 2023, rather than 2024.

    A few comments:
    1. Middles: For the most part, we dominated the middle. We fell away a little bit between minutes 50-70, but on the whole, the tigers were struggling to get into our red zone (we had 38 tackles in their 20, they only had 10). So we ultimately deserved to win that game. According to nrl.com, we outran the tigers by almost 600 meters (1985 - 1387m).

    2. JFH and Bench Use: Great captain's knock. JFH certainly doesn't provide the same amount of meters that AFB offers, but the intangibles are clearly priceless. He has got our forwards working as a unified whole: we aren't the one man band anymore. JFH, Barney, Ford, Leka, all 100+ meters. A 4 forward bench works well for us given our forward oriented gameplay. Though, I think we need to ensure that one of JFH and Barney is on the field at all times. That last try through the middle the tigers scored is on Bunty/Leka when the middle defense got a bit loose. I doubt it would have happened if JFH/Barney were on the field.

    2. Kosi: Poor bloke has copped it from all of us this week which we are all guilty of. 207m and really safe pair of hands under the high ball. Really happy for the bloke. He was clearly the right choice for these conditions.

    3. CNK: 238m. Despite all this talk about shifting him to centre/wing, this game highlighted the importance of his work rate and defensive work. He's a big body that is our best choice for handling the physical demands of the FB role. Even RTS I don't think would have pumped up numbers like this. Must admit, his diving for penalties does my head in sometimes as a rugby league purist. But it did win us the game.

    4. Leka+Ali: Leka is a beast in a 1-1 situation on the edge. Almost scored a similar try against the Dogs last year, so glad he pulled it off this time round. Ali was a big quiet tonight: he probably needs to go looking for the ball in games like this where we aren't actively going down his edge on attack. That's what RTS does really well that he should try to emulate.
     
    Ever Hopeful said:
    We didn't deal with the restructure well when Kosi was HIA. Got lucky a couple a times, conceded from a kick.

    I thought the ref gave them momentum we didn't deal with too well. But unlike last year we came over the top. 10% more grit this year.
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    I reckon the 10% more grit is all Fisher-Harris's influence this year. No one messes with The Fush, everyone knows it. Why? Because he's baddest mofo in the game that's why.
    It's hard to sleep after a Sunday night game, I'm wired up like a crack addict after that. I'll be tossing and turning all night with visions of Leka running down the sideline like fukn Lomu and Ed Kosi smashing blokes, his turning arc is still a work in progress but can't fault his ariel skills, good game son, that's my boy. Gave it an A for sheer entertainment.
     
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