For me 1 thing that kept the reds defence on their toes was Cubelli taking a few snipes from the ruck in the first half. We don't do it often enough and Ian becomes very predictable with what he is going to do after a while.
For me 1 thing that kept the reds defence on their toes was Cubelli taking a few snipes from the ruck in the first half. We don't do it often enough and Ian becomes very predictable with what he is going to do after a while.
I've been saying Cinelli needs to turn his shoulders upfield for four weeks now.
Hopefully he's learned that blokes will follow him when he does now
Miotti needs to do the same he's virtually facing the sideline when he receives the ball, his second step is directly sideways or backwards. Actually all our 10's do it which then makes the next receiver a great target for the defense.
what do we think about the swinging arm on olowefela?
https://youtu.be/JxQiTYpG2eg?t=144 ( this is the highlights video from the game)
set the playback speed to 0.25 to see it clearly. at about 2:25
Just did the player voting and it was pretty interesting. Watching them live at the ground gives a much better appreciation of the work some of them do without being the ball carrier or next to him.
Thrush was outstanding as a player and a leader.
Kuridrani is known for his explosive attack and, while we've not seen a lot of that (mainly due to the respect the opposition gives him), the runs he does make are telling and his defensive work is excellent.
Godwin seemed to be right where he was needed for most of the game.
Pulu was busy, even though the ball didn't get to him as much as he would have liked.
Cubelli has either grown in confidence or adapted to how to play against the other Super teams.
Miotti was pretty good but I wonder how much of a team man he is. Maybe the communication barrier is a factor?
Stander ALWAYS gives his all. Is he one-dimensional? Can he adapt to what's in front of him?
Anstee has become pretty consistent and was outshone by Koteka, I thought. Koteka was awesome. Again.
Timani - awesome. Again.
Front Row was also great. They are becoming a fantastic unit and the tight 5 are creating big problems for any other scrum.
Great to be at the match. Shame about the timing of SuperMark's announcement as a huge crowd should've been able to witness that match.
EDIT: I forgot Jack Mac. He is very reliable and has great rugby match vision. He is no threat when trying to run, it seems. He is not out of place at 15 and gives different skillset to Irish Rob.
Also I wondered if the reserves (Bomb Squad) could have been on 5-10 minutes earlier in the match.
Top summary Ecky.
Very insightful particularly wrt those players who are relatively quiet achievers (Kuridrani, Godwin and Timani)
I'm not sure that the number would have been too much higher. If we only got 9,250 to the Waratahs match on a Saturday night, then I wasn't expecting any more than the 7,500 we got for the first two matches for a Friday night match, even one with a finals appearance on the line. So 6,300 is only ~15% down.
That would be awesome. I reckon that apart from us tragics that turn up no matter what; there's probably another 10,000+ who'd turn up if the boys were winning regularly. Didn't we start out in 2006 with 23,000 paid members? That figure now would better all but the top 4 NRL clubs and a couple of the AFL "expansion" clubs". Wouldn't it be great if we could get back anywhere near that.