I watched it again last night. I'd echo Jack's points - defence much better than against Leigh, actually forcing errors through pressure (who'd have thought?), and the attack had a better structure.
On the downside, mistakes and our lack of size will still lose us games. Goudemand and TNW were ineffective off the bench. Maybe a bit unfair on TNW, but I struggle to see him as a SL player long term at his size. We also still go passive in defence occasionally, as there aren't enough players who are naturally aggressive in defence, and I don't think that will be fixed until we get new players in.
A downside/upside is what that game tells us about Cam Smith. The attack functioned perfectly well without a ball handling 13, which shouldn't surprise anyone as that's the way its been in the NRL forever. I'd imagine Arthur will want him back for his workrate and bulk, but he's awful as a playmaker and I'm not convinced he'll ever make a decent prop as he's not really big enough or dynamic enough for that. We'll see I suppose.
I may be alone in this, but I thought Sangare was surprisingly good in his first stint. I'm not saying he's a long term solution, but his sheer size at least forced the defence to put multiple players into the tackle, and he hit hard a couple of times in defence. But he just doesn't run in with enough aggression or speed, and I can't remember a player with that problem ever fixing it.
