Marzew probably came up second best in 10+ contested bombs. Might not be a popular opinion but guys like mark, sualli, Folau, Coates etc do a lot better than the really short guys. Both have their strengths but really need to develop our squad to be competitive at that level in my opinion.
Ok so I’m going to be critical of a few guys in this post but I’ll point out I’m still quite proud of this brave outfit honestly… even if it reads like I’m filthy so apologies in advance.
Thank guys like Folau, Gasnier and Inglis for the current ideal format for a winger. Before those guys they just needed to be fast and catch a ball, didn’t matter that you could smell their s*** through their ribs. Marz I feel sorry for. His strength is his insane strength and that’s no secret to anyone who has watched him play. Put him one on one he wins every time and makes a large chunk of the yardage just by running it hard. He isn’t a jumper but when he and Bradman work well together it doesn’t matter what he can’t do as their opposite men have no answer.
I will be a bit critical however of Bests game last night. Everyone including Ponga on the opposite side of the field could see what the freaking game plan was as it’s the same that they’ve used non stop the last two seasons. Use their giant forward pack to storm up the middle, get inside the red zone, put up a kick to Marky Mark and watch him get the ball 9 times out of 10 and score. It’s a cheat code in a video game essentially, if it works you may as well keep spamming it. Where the hell was Best for most of that? Why not assume their winger (both wingers very capable) is going to catch the ball, so be ready to smash him the millisecond his studs touch the turf? He was Johnny nowhere when a guy who wants the better part of a million bucks a year should have been their biggest road block, not their easiest passage.
Maybe it’s unfair, you maybe think I’m wrong which is ok, but he had such a massive finals series, played his skin out for NSW and came up a long way short for the biggest game of his life IMO. I guess we expect more when we have guys like Cant who gets written off the second he is named and he absolutely lifted last night. It actually went to **** after he left the field but he was gassed. That’s a guy who rises when you need him to even if he isn’t the super polished million dollar man with the gold chains and monster ego.
Graeme was very brave I thought. I felt very sad for Croker who has been there every game this season and moments of panic or lapses in concentration will be what he’s remembered for by many which is unfair but it’s football. Gags deserved a better send off but was kept pretty quiet and couldn’t seem to break a hole in defence. Second rowers played out of their skin by punching well above their young weight. I thought Lucas would have a much bigger impact off the bench but almost didn’t notice him.
I guess we didn’t have the same elite Hollywood superstars those other **icks had but you need the few you do have that ask for the most coin to show in those games more than any other why they get that money too.
Ok end rant.