Walker: A bit of a weird arvo where I feel like we attacked decently, but Cody was still barely involved and didn’t really do much at all. I mean, he gave early ball with a nice pass to Jack for his first try, then had a hand in the movement for his second, but I wouldn’t really say Cody was creative? He didn’t really create anything at all, and it feels like we hardly saw him? I dunno, it feels weird to say Cody was hardly involved after a win, but he wasn’t. This isn’t to say he played badly though. Defence was very good for him too. Hopefully it’s one of those games that sparks him a bit and he can build back into form off that.
Hawkins: A mixed bag for sure. Defence was near perfect, can’t fault him there, and I liked what he did in attack and one of the touches he had. However, his kicking game left a bit to be desired upon my second watch. A lot of his kicks were just so vanilla. No real height or length, it was pretty poor, and I don’t think it was any better than Lachy. I expected more here from Hawko to be honest. Kicked two dead and both changed the game in the Dogs favour which we just can’t afford to do. So, I’m not sold on Hawko yet at all. I’d still give him next week, but he needs to be better.
Tatola: A little bit of a quiet game for Junes. I do think he played less minutes so that probably contributed to it, but he certainly didn’t have the big, noticeable impact he normally does. Just 9 runs for 67 meters.
Cook: The best game I’ve seen him play in a while for sure. Finally, something came of his running game! Finally! He tore the Dogs to shreds a couple of times. The first was his run during our long break in the lead up to Jack’s first try. He showed some good speed and some nice footwork to beat a couple and run about 30 meters, that was nice. He had a couple of other darts throughout the game but the most notable was in the second half where he went from dummy half, just put the foot down, went for it, and went straight through. Haven’t seen him do that in a long time. I thought his service was better and his work rate in defence was immense as always. A massive 48 tackles with just two missed. Wow.
Burgess: brilliant game Tommy! One of our best for sure. He looked really good starting. Dominated the middle in both his stints. Barnstorming carries and a lot of them, he just kept charging. Really helped lay the platform and I think his impact on the game was most felt when he went off because we kind of lost the middle while he wasn’t there. 12 runs for 118 meters is great. His try was awesome! It looked like he was going to be a decoy runner for Cody, but he just exploded into the hole and got the ball down. I love seeing Tommy score!! Hats off to him after a quiet start to the year, he certainly returned to form in this one.
Koloamatangi: Looked a lot more comfortable over on the right I do have to say, and he probably played his best game of the year so far. Nothing of note that really stands out, but it was a bit of a tradesmen-like performance from Keaon where he just kept putting his hand up and just kept toiling. He actually topped the run meter count for us with 165 so that’s nothing to scoff at. Defended really well too, there was no lazy efforts so well-done Keaon.
Host: Well done to Hosty as well!! He put in a really good performance in his 100th game. A game that he should be proud of. His work with the ball was great, very solid there but I think it was his defence which really stood out to me. Nothing got past him and there were a few crunching shots defending our line, one of which led to a massive error from the Dogs. Great stuff Hosty!! Credit where credit is due.
Murray: Literally just a typical performance from the skipper. He was fantastic yet again and continues to be up there with our best week after week. Again, in this one, he was at his tireless best with a mountain of work through the middle. He only made 96 meters, but they were all decisive carries where he poked his nose through and got a quick play-the-ball. That was massive for us. Came up with a big play for our first try where he showed some great vision to identify that the defence had come up past the ball, creating a hole and he made the spilt-second decision to go short to Tom which was just brilliant. Cam worked himself to an absolute stand-still in defence and being at the ground, you could see how often he struggle to walk, he’s done that much work. Take a bow skipper.
Chee-Kam: Not really much to say about Cheeks as he came on late and didn’t really get the chance to make an impact. He did get caught napping on that last try though and it was him that conceded the penalty which caused that.
Duncan: Great game from Tallis!!! So good to watch, I was a little bit in awe of the kid. He said in the Pre-Season doco that his mantra this year was to win every collision. Well, he certainly did that in this game. Running the ball, I was amazed at how he askes questions of the defence in just about every run. So often, he’d be like Cam and accelerate right before contact and poke his nose through. It’s brilliant. Great on defence too with a couple of massive shots.
S.Mitchell: Really good from Shaq all game!!! He provided some really great impact. I especially loved his kick returns.
Moale: I was a little disappointed in Davvy in this game. Just didn’t really notice him which isn’t a good thing for a bench forward.
Conclusion
Just a great day! So much relief to get the win and you simply can’t knock the boy’s effort in this one.
I really hope this is a gritty win that somewhat sparks things, and we build off it from here.
First win baby!!! And I was there in person to see it! Yewwwwwwww!!
