Well I must admit, I was vocal around our backwards step this year, however after watching last night I’m full of optimism and suprise, hodgson was MOM and really impressive and sharp. Badrock had a huge 2nd half, we look full of pace all over ground which is a pleasant change! Armstrong looks so classy! Ethan Oneil looks gangly and weak, he hits hard and punches lines ball in hand, lui just took over the Asiata roll and we didn’t miss a beat, for some reason trout has come under fire, I thought he was good all last year and he had a huge first 30 mins last night, it’s a friendly yes, but Warrington had already played and kept first team out there a lot longer than us! Stick a top class 6 in there and we will be right up there pushing everyone!!
There were definitely encouraging signs. The front row of Trout, Davis and Pene held their own against Vaughan, Walker and Yates and there were some encouraging debuts as well.
I don't agree that Liu stepped into the Asiata role though. He had a good game, but more like an extra prop rather than the role Asiata played to get the ball to Lam on the edge and in space. Was also surprised to see Halton switch to the left, maybe the coach trusts O'Brien and Hanley's defence more than Lam and Niu's? The attack was quite clunky, and didn't really create many openings to use Armstrong's pace, but hopefully that will come with more games played together.
But the competitiveness of the front row, with Amone gone and Ipape and Mulhern missing outweighs those areas to work on for me.
There were definitely encouraging signs. The front row of Trout, Davis and Pene held their own against Vaughan, Walker and Yates and there were some encouraging debuts as well.
I don't agree that Liu stepped into the Asiata role though. He had a good game, but more like an extra prop rather than the role Asiata played to get the ball to Lam on the edge and in space. Was also surprised to see Halton switch to the left, maybe the coach trusts O'Brien and Hanley's defence more than Lam and Niu's? The attack was quite clunky, and didn't really create many openings to use Armstrong's pace, but hopefully that will come with more games played together.
But the competitiveness of the front row, with Amone gone and Ipape and Mulhern missing outweighs those areas to work on for me.
I thought Leigh struggled with sets starting in their own 20 metre area. Yardage was very hard to come by, and it is going to be a long season if we are only kicking on the 5th from our own half. Pene is not a grunt type of forward, and it is going to add pressure on Mulhern to make more from the hard yards. Alec looked better in the second half, winning contact in the middle of the park.
Liu struggled with decent ball and the passing from Matt Davis was rank bad, head and shoulder height, behind the player is just not good enough from a dummy half. I will concede he walked into acres for Wilde's try and the champagne moment.
Badrock and Hodgson had a whale of a time in the second half, and will have moved themselves closer to the starting line-up.
It must be stated that the lethal left was missing all the components from last year - Charnley, Leutele, O'Donnell and Moylan. With only Josh left it is going to take some time to make the left whole again.
I thought Leigh struggled with sets starting in their own 20 metre area. Yardage was very hard to come by, and it is going to be a long season if we are only kicking on the 5th from our own half. Pene is not a grunt type of forward, and it is going to add pressure on Mulhern to make more from the hard yards. Alec looked better in the second half, winning contact in the middle of the park.
Liu struggled with decent ball and the passing from Matt Davis was rank bad, head and shoulder height, behind the player is just not good enough from a dummy half. I will concede he walked into acres for Wilde's try and the champagne moment.
Badrock and Hodgson had a whale of a time in the second half, and will have moved themselves closer to the starting line-up.
It must be stated that the lethal left was missing all the components from last year - Charnley, Leutele, O'Donnell and Moylan. With only Josh left it is going to take some time to make the left whole again.
To be honest, I thought the main difference between the teams when going set for set, was the kicking game. They were able to turn us around and have us starting from deeper, while Lam persists with the same kick to the winger, regardless of where he was kicking from. We desparately need a better kicking game, with some ability to find the ground and turn a full back around when kicking from deep. At the moment, the kicking game undermines anything the pack can do, when up against better teams. As it did last year, even with Amone and Mulhern playing.
Well I must admit, I was vocal around our backwards step this year, however after watching last night I’m full of optimism and suprise, hodgson was MOM and really impressive and sharp. Badrock had a huge 2nd half, we look full of pace all over ground which is a pleasant change! Armstrong looks so classy! Ethan Oneil looks gangly and weak, he hits hard and punches lines ball in hand, lui just took over the Asiata roll and we didn’t miss a beat, for some reason trout has come under fire, I thought he was good all last year and he had a huge first 30 mins last night, it’s a friendly yes, but Warrington had already played and kept first team out there a lot longer than us! Stick a top class 6 in there and we will be right up there pushing everyone!!
For me, Trout slightly under performed for the majority of last season when in the 17 but came on strong towards the end and started to look the part. I really liked what I saw and have always believed he has way more to come. I fully expect a strong season from him this time around, and he will be a player the pundits are talking about come mid season.
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