I thought he was running around lackadaisically on defence. seemed to be that kick whos ‘it’ in keep away games thats over it so just slowly jogging after the person with the ball.
Re Hooker being on Watts, at the game you see how often the matchups change during play, depending where the ball is and whether you have a spare back. At various times we were swapping and changing to try to free up Hooker or Hurley, and Hooker was opposed to Watts at times, and Marshall at times, and a couple of times, even one of their smalls. It is a game of chess and not your traditional A played on B etc.
Majority of the time I seen Hooker playing as the spareman. It was actually great to see his leadership down there. He was sorting out the defenders the whole match.
He’s such a natural with his reading of the play and intercept marking. It’s really valuable.
I don’t think Hurley has the string to his bow. He is more of the “follow me” leadership style.
Zaka’s kicking has been poor all year. I remember commenting on how many times he failed to hit a target, or even kick to someone’s advantage, when streaming out of the middle in the last quarter of Rd 1. He misses targets way too often Heppell not far behind.
Our only real damaging ball user of our midfiielders is Zac. Goddard can be, but at times he turns it over.
Parish no, Smith the jury is still out for mine.
True. He is capable of loads better. But: Todsy was his best game for the year (not saying much, I know) and is moving closer towards his best form. He was very involved today. A big step forward imo.
Well, it was good to win, but it was as expected, a strong performance against a good team. Same as for most of the previous 15 years. So next week we should see another good effort (not necessarily a win).
However, the good thing is that players were played in their rightful position: Hooker, McGrath, Stringer, with JD having a run on the ball. The first two named stiffened up the back line, Stringer provides forward flare, and JD is freer when running around.
A thought about Daniher being below par: in the pre-season the emphasis with him was on improving his defensive play. When there is a change of focus, it usually takes time for the right balance to eventuate. But I often wonder if he has a bung leg, as I often see him limping.
Guelfi’s game suggests we have another midfielder. Nothing spectacular, but if he plays like that every week, he will be worth his place. And we can expect further improvement. Begley continues to improve, although still just worth a game. Fantasia is still running into form, as are Merrett and Myers. If the last named can have an injury free run, he might become an important player this year in the midfield.
Of course, this is a bit too much to expect, I fear.
How poor is the kicking of Heppell and Zaharakis, especially the latter. Neither of them have ever been as bad as this. Fortunately the latter’s handball was good.
I suppose the best thing, apart from the win, is knowing that they can play well this year. Now it’s up to how well they are primed each week. We need consistency from week in to week out. But I’m not optimistic that they will be any better in this department than for the past decade and a half.
ANZAC DAY, we can look forward to the game with some hope.
Decent four quarter effort overall with patches of brilliance and bits of the exact opposite. Pressure was terrific today. Liked that although Port got a mini run-on at the end of the third, we didn’t let them get any significant momentum swing in their favour.
Only one game, but we may have unearthed a gem today in #35. Plenty to like.
Quite apart from the win and the 2 out of 4 record and where we might finish, and all that…
From a medium to long term perspective, I am very pleased to see our midfield add Smith, and now Guelfi, with the attributes of hard nosed, pressure players, in the Sydney midfield mould (Parker, Jack, Hannebery). Let’s hope Clarke and Mynott continue with that, as it is something we have lacked since the days of JJ and Mark Johnson.