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Thanks TC. SAFARI on iPad.


I bought the iPad for myself last Christmas
I bought for the missus an iRon,
She wasn’t happy.

blazza18 wrote:59% possession and would’ve been flogged with better goal kicking. We were honestly very poor.

Great debut for Drinkwater however.

Little harsh, we had a few unlucky moments with a completely new team all playing out of position, Drinkwaters no try, Olam twice just being out as he scored, Maloney’s kick just clearing Olams fingertips, the 12 point swing when Crichton intercepts Blair’s pass ... I think Scott and Hughes were awful defensively on that right edge, but I saw enough to think with Slater, Vunivalu, Chambers, Munster, Croft, NAS, B.Smith and co start to come back in the next few weeks we will be a force again, agree Drinkwater looked great and supposedly he is a good #7 as well which makes things interesting, I thought Hughes and Jacks were both poor tonight so I think Croft and Munster get first crack in the finals.

Anyone else excited by Drinkwater's debut?

We do have a vacant #1 jersey next season ...

I was disappointed with our play today but yeah ya can’t be too upset considering who we were missing. Drinkwater was great, a couple of blemishes but a very good debut. I think with Croft and Munster playing then we win that game comfortably. I agree our right side defence was terrible, Chambers can’t get back soon enough. I’m still not happy with how our forwards are playing. Olam can’t seem to buy a try, he’s gone so close so many times these last two weeks, I hope he stays in the team next week when Vunivalu comes back

Mattpoet wrote:Anyone else excited by Drinkwater's debut?

Very much so!

Could he be our new half back?

Great debut by Drinkwater - where has he been all year?

Some good toil up the middle but the left edge was pretty hopeless (Jacks-Blair-Stimpson) - didn’t look dangerous or like giving JAC any opportunities.

Olam is a trier but you can also see he is a centre who lacks the touchline awareness of a winger. I do think he could put pressure on Scott or Chambers for their shirts though.

Plenty of effort from the pack but the missing guys esp Slater, Munster and NAS just blunted the pencil too much. Still we’ve done enough to clinch top two and we will be better for the guys back next week. Bring on the finals!

It was a pretty frustrating game to watch, but I can't recall a time this year where I have jumped out of my seat like I did when Kenny offloaded to Drinkwater. That try was remarkably satisfying after Maloney lied around like a little bitch.

If you ask me, and nobody is;
We played a forward oriented game in the first half with limited involvement from our "playmakers" (when the ref's allowed the game to actually flow) with many, many time the forwards playing the ball before or at the line and taking many hit ups. (I wouldn't say bending the line) In the second half the forwards didn't make any go forwards and the "playmakers" were getting more involved, with little consequence, oh how we needed the big boys to lift in the second half.
On the subject of playmakers I seriously hoped at the start of the game Bellamy would swap Hughes and Drinkwater at half time. Hughes has a lovely pass that can be quite deceiving, when the receivers are on the same page and has a good running game but had little opportunity, he is a fullback, not a half. When Drinkwater finally had a chance in the second half on the final tackle he had a lovely dummy kick then run and pass (albeit to the wrong person) but showed something, he is a halfback, not fullback.
Poor Olam and Scott, being terrorised by that monstrous number 11, most would struggle with him and Waqa Blake and Mansour. They probably did pretty wel considering they were outnumbered a couple of times (and the quick hands for one of the Panthers tries was pretty special). Olam's misread of the cross field kick was pretty ordinary, going up before acceptances you could say.
The other side of our field, Jacks was limited to putting up (ineffectual) bombs.
Would it have been any different if Slater was there, I think not, not in attack anyway, maybe in organising the defence? I'm not sure Munster, Chambers or Croft make much difference either. B Smith and his spark, yes. NAS (off the bench) absolutely. I think we're not getting enough out of our forwards.
The other thing I notice, and I'm noticing it too much is us making tackles and leaving one of our defenders laying on the ground whilst the ball is being played and leaving us a man short in the defensive line.
Penriths first sin bin, was it there, no, was it harsh, yes. Was our disallowed try harsh, yes. Penriths second sin bin, why did we take the two? WTF?
Anyhoo, let's see how we progress and lets see who we play from here on.

We’ve been a bit unlucky in a couple of recent games. The Cronulla and tonites game we didn’t get the bounce of the ball or were just out when touching down. I think when this bounce changes and we get that piece of luck we will be hard to hold out in the finals

As they say there’s always next week...I think the boys did well

Would we rather finish 1st and play Cronulla or hope the Roosters get up by 28 points and then we play South's.

Given their awful record down here I would love to play South's and avoid the sharks at all costs

Anyone know how it works if roosters end up on same points differential as us?

Whoever score the most points for.

So not head to head?