Watched it for the second time last night. A few (late) thoughts:
- we used the full width, chanced offloads and still completed at 89%. That should win you most games. Impressive.
- Our forwards did their job and played well but I don't agree with the consensus that our forwards dominated. Our back five rescued our forwards in the first 10 minutes of each half (especially the second half, watch that first 10 again) and weight of possession/completions are what got us on top after that. Dummy half service was slow all night. I though
Shaun Johnson and Niko did well to get our forwards running angles and some pass interchange between the forwards also helped.
- Tapau was amazing. Offloading at will.
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Dallin Watene-Zelezniak - its all been said. Legend.
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Shaun Johnson was brilliant in attack. Best half on the ground.
- That edge defence is a real worry. It was mostly the right but we got caught on the left once or twice too. Looking closely at the three breaks down our right in the first 10 minutes - On that first try
Shaun Johnson rushed in across the face of Proctor who clearly wasn't on the same page and I think he gave
Shaun Johnson a spray. Manu and Raps followed
Shaun Johnson in. Looked like Proctor and
Shaun Johnson not communicating. On the next break a few minutes later Keary and Teddy sweep right and that right edge just doesn't slide and number up,
Shaun Johnson gets caught in no man's land. Watching it slow I feel like maybe Proctor didnt want to slide out and expose Smith, who had some big men running decoy lines at him? The third one is a quick PTB from Cordner, only one marker (
Shaun Johnson) with Manu running back into the line and massive holes where
Shaun Johnson and Manu should be; Cook scoots, Teddy chimes in and Latrell and Holmes hit the hole. With
Shaun Johnson and Manu out of position the middles needed to close in behind the ruck.
Generally, I feel like
Shaun Johnson was too keen to rush in and Proctor and the inside guys too slow to move out; fault on both sides. Interested to know how better footy heads than me saw that problem.