Two more points. Love it.
The Knights were tough, especially at the start of the game, but they will be black and blue after this. Look forward to a cold Auckland night in the ice baths! Papali’i tackles are really dominant. He is so strong and when his body bulks up I think we might see a massive change in the impact he creates offensively.
I think our long kicking has been underestimated this year.
Shaun Johnson and Green find a lot of space. It wasn’t so long ago that we seemed to be getting dominated inside our 30/40 followed by a kick down the opposition’s throat set after set, week after week. Our long kicks are hitting turf and giving us time to get up in their face.
Night games at Mt Smart don’t really suit us anymore (apart from the power of some of our backs of our line). Especially when the ref tries to keep the game running by not blowing the pea out of the whistle, as the wrestle kills all momentum in heavy, greasy conditions. Just thinking about that, I wonder how different
Shaun Johnson’s career might have been if he played his home games on some of the dry fast tracks of Australia. I think
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has struggled with this in his time here. It just shows you how fantastic he is as an all-round player that he can be so elusive and strong in other ways. For this reason it wouldn’t be a total disappointment to play finals in Oz.
I love how angry Ken is at the moment, seems to have a bit of niggle in him. A long time coming.
Also noticing plenty of man love between Green and Mannering. I hope Blake will be alright next year!
Jazz is throwing a few pesky offloads.
It would be really great if we could start contesting offensive bombs.
Surely
Lawton would be more versatile as an injury-only 17th man? Would rather have another big boy myself, but I guess that depends on whether our forwards are setting the platform for
Jazz to play as the rangy forward that
Kearney wants.
