GAME I New South Wales Blues Vs Queensland Spirit

Because otherwise I might come on here and say stupid, ignorant shit like "QLD didn't receive a single bad call" and then someone points out that hey, Yow Yeh got tipped past horizontal. Or that the NSW pack broke about 5 seconds before the ball was out of the scrum after Ennis's error. Or other things of this nature.

 

1.Josh Dugan - Safe as houses, as I knew he would be. I don't blame him a bit for the Thurston try; there was Jason King and 15m of open, unguarded goal face beside him. What was he supposed to do? All night he did an amazing job to clear NSW's in-goal of danger. Saved a certain try from Gallen's ridiculous pass, took high balls with ease, made the tackles that needed to be made, and even played a vital part in some back line movements - 8.

2.Akuila Uate - Solid debut. Wasn't really noticeable but he did what he could from his own end and came up with a very important hit on Tonga in a two-on-one. Was given little opportunity in good field position. Definitely worth persisting with. His speed is stunning - 6.5

3.Mark Gasnier - Like Uate, hardly spotted. He too came up with an important tackle to cut off an overlap early in the first half. Got little to no opportunity in attack but was solid enough in defence - 6.5

4.Michael Jennings - Not as impressive as most would have you think. The space he found himself in was exactly that. He didn't create it. He was just fortunate to be on the edge where Lockyer was chasing his own tale. Don't get me wrong, I thought he was good, just not as good as some others. Had Slater taken him, he would've looked like an idiot not passing to Morris. Good metres from his own end. Solid defence. His best game to date - 7.5.

5.Brett Morris - Very ordinary night. Did virtually nothing to help out his forwards from his own end. Horror mistake which ended up costing NSW dearly. Starting to real doubts about his ability to play at this level - 5.

6.Jamie Soward - Really never looked comfortable. He kicked a lot but none were very effective. Two in particular were rather poor. The worst being 2 minutes before half time, 40m out from QLD's line and he puts in a nothing cross-field stab to Boyd. In that situation, down by 6, you have to attack. He really didn't look like creating anything, though mind you, he and Pearce could only do so much with the way their front row played - 6.

7.Mitchell Pearce - Seemed to have a fixation with cut-out passes all night. Throwing one off a kick-off is retarded. Kicking wise, I thought he was much better than Soward. And he did give good early ball to the left side. Still didn't take the line on and still didn't take control when NSW were on the attack but after watching the match again he certainly played better than I had originally thought. Nice support play to convert Bird's try, and some nice contributions in sweeping set plays - 7.

8.Jason King - So out of his depth it wasn't funny. Everything he did signalled a complete lack of the prerequisite ability and class to sustain or even sporadically ascend to this level. The inability of he and his two front row partners to make simple tackles early the match without being driven backwards was most concerning - 5.

9.Dean Young - I thought he was poor. Ordinary service to his runners is excusable given his inexperience. His defence, along with the defence of Snowden and King, in the first 20 minutes, is not. Didn't move up and when the opposition runner hit the line he was pushed back far too readily. The ease with which QLD made metres through the middle was striking. A fast ruck interpretation and it would've been even more evident and costly - 5.5.

10.Kade Snowden - Make that two woefully inept performances. Biggest run he made all night was his first hit-up; made about 15m (across field). Somebody said they thought he looked tired after the first 10 minutes which is absolute nonsense. He looked tired after the first 3 sets - 5.5.

11.Beau Scott - Quality effort. Missed a few two many simple fringe tackles for mine but he racked them up and contributed good metres each time he took a run (which probably wasn't often enough). I can see merit in his retention - 7.

12.Greg Bird - A persistent and worrying threat to QLD's right side all game. Tormented Lockyer, not so much physically as the papers were predicting pre-match, but rather, positionally. He cut back on an inside line and then used footwork and body position to rout Thaiday and Lockyer and open up space for his outside men. Reminded me a lot of Harrison from years gone by before he moved to lock. He also used this mid-field to set up the try that got NSW back into the match. Defensively, he was ordinary. Mind you, a lot of his misses weren't of the costly type, and several were covering attempts that Pearce missed - 7.5

13.Paul Gallen - Was aided by a very lenient ruck interpretation and also threw a horror pass and missed an important tackle. Other than that though he was easily NSW's best forward. Racked up 40+ tackles and over 120m. At one point, he and Bird were the only ones going forward. Had a hand in some back line movements and also moved a little wider at times. That sort of work rate, especially defensively, was extremely exigent in a side with no workhorse defenders - 8.

14.Michael Ennis - Horrible. An error, penalty, dud kicking game, particularly the one before Slater's try. Ran once himself all night. And tackled as poorly as Young did - 5.

15.Ben Creagh - How anyone (Colesy) can say Creagh isn't an impact player I do not know. As soon as he got on the field he looked 2 paces faster than everyone else. Made 4 runs for 10m per run, and did a solid amount of defence (by his standards) for someone who only played half the game - 6.5.

16.Trent Merrin - Barely noticeable. Didn't provide any impact. Defended fine but really not the sort of player who should've been picked - 5.

17.Tim Mannah - Came on after 15 minutes and did more than Snowden and King could in their 35. Why he wasn't chosen over the aforementioned two I do not know. Looks the goods but is yet to be tested as a starter. He should be promoted. Defensively he was also much better than the starters - 6.5.

 

LMAO. Not an objective bone in your body. You, like Stormer, are a mendacious cunt.

They broke waaayyyyyy before the ball was out and everybody knew it. Differential penalty to QLD, not called by Archer, end of story.

Yow Yeh got tipped almost upside down. Give yourself an uppercut ya fuckwit.



It was soft but so was Dugan's. If his is a penalty then so is this.

 

You're confusing the cost of the call with the call itself. Either that or you didn't convey what you actually meant.

 

Its not funny. I conceded, after rewatching the match, that they didnt. See, unlike some weak cunts I am capable of admitting a mistake.

 

Lmao, this from the cunt who couldnt even pick out Nielsen in his own team, and the cunt who said Harrison was "very ordinary".

Hahahaha....

 

Couldve made lots of errors or penalties. I agree the way I did it was logically incorrect and congruent with the way journos do it but...meh.

 

What are you going to think of him if he keeps Snowden and King? Please dont tell me you think Snowden should be persisted with.