source?

HP

Not sure how Burgess was to blame individually for any of the Souths tries to be fair.

One high kick landed at his side and his centre got outjumped by a second row in front of him - the only criticism could be that he should have looked to make a tackle/help out rather than get involved in the kick itself. For another the whole defensive line was compressed when Reynolds kicked over his head - had Burgess been on his wing he would have been 20 yards away from the next defender. The try scored by Hunt should have been stopped by the two defenders who hit him first. Burgess could have done better possibly but its hard to blame him failing to stop a player with momentum a yard from the line when the first two defenders fluffed it.

He looked to have oodles of pace and clearly needs to improve running out of defence, but he took the kicks that went his way with ease and looked a potential very high class player to me.

I suspect Trent Robinson was far more concerned with how poor his forwards and halfbacks went, especially Hastings who had an absolute nightmare.

Yeah, I agree with all of that. Burgess's two tries didn't take much scoring, but he did OK, and there were plenty worse in Roosters' shirts.

Considering it was his debut, he did as well as anyone could have expected. He caught the ball well and was severely tested by Reynolds. Also did very well for his second try and showed some pace. Not sure you could put any try down to him. Souths first half performance was the epitome of Michael Maguire. Like a juggernaut. But if Reynolds is out for any length of time that will be a massive problem.

Thought Mike Cooper was pretty solid for the Dragons. Did the hard yards from inside the 20 on a number of occasions plus tackled like a monster for his 50minute stint. Made 30 tackles, the most of the Dragons.

Joshua Hodgson had a great game for Canberra Raiders against the powerful Sydney Roosters. Joshua was moved to half back after Canberra lost their five eighth Lachlan Croker. With the scores locked at 20-20, Joshua kicked a massive 40-20 in the final minutes, which gave his team possession five yards out from the Roosters line. In the ensuing play Samuel Williams (formerly with Catalans) kicked a field goal and so Canberra won 21-20.

The plucky Englishman Joshua Hodgson has flourished under the coaching of Richard Stuart, and is regarded as one of the best buys Canberra has made in recent years. He certainly deserves to be the England hooker.

Richard Stuart