Don't want to comment much on the game itself, take the win no. matter how you do it in the NRL. Its a brutal competition and you try and keep your head above water most of the time. 2 points is 2 points.
I don't think the defence needs much focus right now, yes a few lapses, mainly by Shaun imo who was just not there. I thought most players competed on a short turn around, to give up 0 points in second half is commendable.
The attack on the other hand is really disjointed. There are some reasons for it but its overall ineffective.
Firstly the incomplete sets are demoralising, i can see the halves are frustrated not being able to reach the end goal of what they want to achieve by tackle 6. The amount of incomplete sets and errors at the wrong times has been messing with our ability to get into a flow. It comes back to patience in playing the ball, the basics. Take those errors out and you might have some better results that see out the complete plan of the set.
There are too many what I would call survival sets. One outs with a kick at the end. by tackle 4 they are starting to do something with the ball but you really want to be doing something by tackle 3. Its a field position thing but its also laziness on the halves part and hooker. Those sets are ultimately time wasters and trying to survive as opposed to being a constant threat.
Service from hooker.
Egan is very Shaun focused. Shaun gets what he wants most of the time but sometimes its the wrong option. Im not sure if
Egan is reading his numbers right or if he only views Shaun as the option. The
vailea try was off of 2 back to back plays down Asi's side. Asi played very direct and it proved effective. I would like
Egan to really start trusting the other halves. We cant keep giving Shaun the ball each tackle.
Shaun and Reece. The out the back from Shaun to Reece isnt working. They are really out of sync and do seem to work well together. The
Pompey try although simple had Reece at first receiver, he made a simple pass to Aitken but I think him playing first receiver down a short side or in general would be much more effective. The other option is to just play it flat to Reece from Shaun and let Reece make the cutout or the short ball. I think teams are reading Reece when out the back as easy to defend. Hes much more dangerous as a triple threat. In saying that he makes some very rushed decisions which lead to errors so its hard to justify it, i just think hes better as a first receiver and allowing him to chos to play flat or out the back. Either way Reece needs more time with the ball in hand. Out the back gives you less time and most times he gets jammed by the centre coming in.
I seriously dont know how this offence has been able to win games over the past few weeks. Its seriously basic and ineffective for the most part. I will credit the defence for holding but its not going to cut it against the top 6 sides.
