I went to the game and watched NSW Cup match also.
Player by player, some thoughts..
Fusitua - Looked pretty good at fullback when carrying ball back, thought he needed to get more involved on attack as
Shaun Johnson was really struggling to find anyone with any sort of impetus on attack.
Wright - Unable to convert a couple of what looked like certain tries. Tried to get involved a lot, and other than that awful drop coming out of our end was relatively solid.
Ayshford - Didn't do a huge amount wrong from where I was sitting, nothing spectacular either.
Kata - Seems to be reverting to bad habits. Charged out of the line without reason to try smash Dugan and if the Dragons hadn't been so inept they might've taken advantage.
Allwood - Took his chance well, and a few handy runs off the wing. No worse than any of the other wingers we've fielded in recent times.
Robson - Easily his best game in Warriors colours. Made a few great tackles and allowed
Shaun Johnson to roam, a few very good kicks to get repeat sets.
Shaun Johnson - Better than he was against the Storm, took the line on for a try. He looked a little frustrated at times as his backrowers just weren't going anywhere on attack. He mixed up first and second receiver which worked well I thought.
Lillyman - Other than his early (unforgivable) errors, really strong game, seemed to always have his hand up for a carry.
Tevaga - Played 80 minutes, 20 as hooker then 60 as a backrower. Defended strongly and made a few good runs given his lack of size.
Gavet - Strong carries and was usually able to bend the line.
Lane - Thought he was really really average. Got hooked after 20 thankfully, because he's all arms in defence and put us under pressure with a dropped carry. No combination with
Shaun Johnson whatsoever.
Hoffman - He runs hard but that side of the field never ever looks like it's going anywhere.
Palavi - Is the absolute definition of a journeyman. Looks so laborious when he's running, and is another in the 'can't break a tackle to save my life' brigade.
Luke - Watching him live gave me a sense of just how unfit this guy is. Was gassed early in the 2nd half despite coming on after 20 mins. At one point he was just standing in the Dragons defensive line as we made our first 3 hitups because he simply couldn't get back to our side. His runs were okay and set up a nice try but he has a looooong way to go fitness wise.
Gubb - Another spirited performance but man he HAS to start going higher with some of his tackles. Grass cutting people in league only serves to let them get up really quickly and play the ball which puts our entire defensive line under pressure.
Sipley - Big run and looked like he could be useful in first grade. His issue might be fitness and agility.
Lousi - Looked pretty devastated re his injury when he came off, but really...biding time with him surely, offers nothing on attack or defence and must be moved on.
Make no mistake, that was an incredibly low quality game of league. It wasn't a whole lot better than the NSW cup game earlier. As good as it was getting the win, there's no way we can just name that same side against the Panthers, they looked like they just had no options on attack at times. Watching
Shaun Johnson try get guys like Hoffman, Palavi, Wright, Ayshford etc to try break or even bend the line was frustrating. The side NEEDS guys like Matulino and Bodene back to provide some sort of option. At one stage there
was an edge of Robson Palavi Ayshford Wright...and the Drags were not even bothered one bit. Truly NSW cup standard. If this side travels to take on the Panthers it will get soundly beaten, and the honeymoon re 'guys that want to play for the club' will come to an abrupt end.
