NRL 2017
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And another. This game has completely turned on its head. Freaky offload. Knights have fallen in a heap. Errors and missed tackles.
20-8
Wait Luke looks hurt. Fucking hell.
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A bunch of very ordinary ladt play optiond not building any pressure. Luke off means we're fucked at dummy half. Mannering missing as well.
SJ needs to sort his shit out, completely outplayed by his junior partner
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Pathetic "effort" by Johnson on that grubber.
Warriors completely passive. Our forwards are outpowered except for Lillyman
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Who cares - we won.
Some thoughts:
- Loving the new big screen at Mt Smart Stadium. Very similar to those at NFL stadiums.
- Two injury scares for the Warriors. First, Isaac Luke appeared to injure his ribs when kicking a conversion at the end of the first half. This means we might have no Luke against the Storm on Friday night, and both Nathaniel Roache and Jazz Tevaga are injured....
- The second injury was to Simon Mannering. Some bizarre neck injury when a Newcastle player stepped on him.
- When Mannering went off the forwards started going backwards. Lost complete control of the middle of the park.
- Ryan Hoffman played a smart game, as did Sam Lisone and Jacob Lillyman. Need those guys to lift if Mannering and Luke are out.
- Give some credit to the Newcastle Knights. This team isn't as bad as its 2016 version with nice additions to the forwards like Mitch Barnett and Josh Starling (although Jamie Buhrer is still shit).
- Speaking of Jamie Buhrer, it was rookie Ata Hingano who won the game with his MMA move on Buhrer's arm which forced him to spill the ball. Also started a big brawl which was cool...
- Even if Foran leaves after this season the Warriors are fine in the halves. Ata Hingano is a great talent. Imagine the flair of Lolohea mixed with Josh Reynolds. Guy isn't afraid to do a little defence out there either.
- David Fusitua is the legimate scoring threat for the side (along with Kata), although I feel Fusitua is better used on the wing so to return kicks.
- Some of the younger forwards need to just charge ahead. There was too much running sideline to sideline for my liking.
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@Sneakdefreak said in NRL 2017:
Who cares - we won.
This. It was pretty ugly viewing in the second half but a first up win for the first time since 2009? I'll take it
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Man, that was an up and down game to watch today. Agree with all your sentiments Sneak. Will be interesting to see how Erin Clark goes if Luke is injured. He was named in the wider squad but didn't make the final cut. As an aside, how do you injure your ribs kicking a goal?
A few thoughts of my own:
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l said in the Warriors preview last that I was pretty happy with our back rowers and today really cemented that. Mannering isn't flashy, but boy was he everywhere on the park. Likewise with Hoffman's gritty try. Mannering is such an honest player - no sets off, no hiding from the action.
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When Vatuvei leaves, presumably next season, we'll really miss that big back who can take a few hit-ups during the game. Kata does it a little bit, but it's still quite nice having Manu run it up as well.
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How did Lilyman end up on the field after only 18 minutes. Our props appeared to do sweet F.A for the first 20 minutes anyway, so I couldn't see how they'd be tired.
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Shaun Johnson looked really good when he held the ball today and the Knights looked like they struggled to contain him. If he can remain injury free, and coupled with Foran, this could spell danger for opposition teams this year.
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Most of our problems today didn't appear to be coach problems. Running at 50% completion rate in the first 30 minutes is ridiculous for a first grade team on a sunny day. If you can't catch or pass the ball, that's not Steve Kearney's fault.
Overall, a pretty scratchy performance, but to quote a wise ferner - "Who cares, we won". I think the Warriors showed good grit to hang in the game when things weren't looking good. To go from 8 - 0 down to 20 - 8 up in a short time was quite impressive. Last year that would have translated to 28 - 0 down.
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