On the rewatch, I don’t think we do too badly tbh. The opening 20 we matched them well. And it was a game in the balance. It was a very tough game.
I think we played into their hands though, lots of ball in play, and we fell into a set for set grind. That’s not our game. We don’t win that battle atm. Maybe with Safs and Mooney and Crossland we could hold our own, but I think it fatigued us. (Additionally on the back of that game vs Penrith with 12 and 2 days less rest)
Cody Hopwood. Bloke lines up Whyte for the first contact of the game. Didn’t take a backward step all night. I thought he had a brilliant game. He was brave. He threw himself around like I haven’t seen him do. Took the first carries after points as well - ran strong. Huge future. I reckon he will have a massive 2027. Another preseason and a bit of size, he’ll be running harder and hitting harder. Looks to have a good ethic/motor too. Such good signs. Also gets his head under the ball when Collins goes over in the dying moments. Last ditch plays.
Ponga was great too. He tried to own this game. That’s what I want our big players doing. He took responsibility and tried to get us the win. Almost. He was lucky to stay on, probably saved by the fact his shoulder ‘grazed’ Radley instead of hitting flush. Regular season game I think he’s a good chance of getting binned.
That effort play to get the try is so underrated. Involved on the near side, sprints across to cover, anticipates the free ball, grabs it and goes! Showed some good pace too - held my breath for that hamstring though. Surprised it was only DCE within earshot. Roosters just contained him and defended his runs on the edge well.
McEwen was good. Francis too. They kind of come in and out of the game. When they come in, boy do they come in.
Think we got out of jail free when Croker got smashed. Not much illegal about it. Looks like Croker’s shoulder hits Collins. We score off the next set.
Brilliant run from Francis. On the replay you can see him spot the gap and he goes untouched. Great run.
Thought Collins was lucky to escape with no hip drop comments. Nothing on Fox. Maybe I don’t know what a hip drop is anymore. He looks to grab, loses his feet, swings across the back and lands on the legs. immediately you see multiple Knights throw their arms up. Smith and Ponga are livid. Smith to his credit keeps going. But as we’ve been told - it’s not the injury, it’s the Risk of injury….right?!?
Some things I thought we didn’t do very well:
- last tackle options. Idk if we thought we could catch them wide on the 4th, if that was a gameplan we had or what, but we kept getting caught on the side kicking. No space and maybe that’s why it looked easier to pressure the kick.
- releasing the pressure valve. Few moments we finally get the ball, and we turn it over cheaply. Dom catches in goal, we start on the 20 and roll. Good field position but Smith gets caught close to the sideline and needs to kick across field and pulls it. Poor end to the set. Similarly when we finally get some ball in their half, Sharpe thinking about what he’s going to do next and drops it cold.
- sideline awareness. Whether it’s running down a dead end and having to throw a Hail Mary back in field. Or ended up there on the last having to kick from the edge. I guess it’s the price we pay for potentially sending Young or Marzhew away down the wing.
- kick pressure, line speed and chase - I get we are gassed but I think it kind of exacerbates things a bit. Tedesco getting an easy 20m every kick return. DCE has an eternity to place his kicks. I thought Roosters were 10/10 in that regard. They pressured kicks, chased hard and line speed kept us inside our corner and half.
Some things I was proud of:
- our defence these last few weeks has been immense. If we can keep this moving forward, or at least keep it in our repertoire when needed, we will be well positioned. Some of the last ditch try saversa were impressive.
- we gave it our all, as always. Everyone looked spent. Great effort. The way we threw the ball around in the last 10, that’s what we needed to do. Easy to say, I know. But the energy it brought to get some half breaks did us wonders. Got us a roll on.
- Greg. He kept competing. Never shirked his responsibilities. Not many wingers have a good night against Marky Mark. Sure, we was beaten in the air most of the night. But he kept competing and got a try at the end. We wouldn’t be where we are without his yardage out the back, helps allow us to play the way we do. Bit rough to call him for a tackle in the air as well. He makes a play at the ball and somewhat dislodges it.
Great year for the team, the club and the supporters. So proud of their efforts. We had no right to be there on Grand Final with last years wooden spoon, but we overcame the odds, put in the hard work and overcame a lot of adversity to be there.
I’m hoping next year feels easier compared to the setbacks we faced this year.
One thing that’s stood out, Holbrooks comment that he wished there were more games so he can keep this group together. Makes me think they know they have something. Hopefully they get a good few weeks rest, miss eachother dearly and can’t wait to get stuck back into it.
Bring on 2027!
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