First up, does anyone have links to any stats for the game? I'm pretty desperate to go over them.
Quote: Lockyer4President! "England is competitive with Aus, they just lack the self belief.'"
In recent years, I would agree, but not this tournament. They've got the belief now, but their 80 mins still needs a lot of work. The signs of fatigue were there in the last 10 minutes of the first half, and were obvious in the last 20 of the second half. That's still 30 minutes where they couldn't compete. It's a huge difference, hence the scoreline.
The fact is the NRL is not full of players who can play intense footy at a high level for the full 80 mins. Those elite players are in a minority, but we have enough to make 4 or so teams, which are distributed between Australian and New Zealand. SL has maybe one team of these players, and not all of them are English.
I thought that was easily the best English/GB performance i've seen this decade. They played better than in their 2004 and 2006 wins against us. We provided much better competition this morning than in both those other games and they totally matched us for 50 minutes.
I hope people can realise the English pack is overrated. Not by any means am I calling them poor, they are very good, but they clearly fatigued. The constantly underrated Australian pack absorbed everything, and looked shaky at times, but prevailed in the end not by bashing their opposites into submission, but by simply being consistent over the full 80 mins. Stamina and consistency is underrated, and our forwards have got it.
Burgess is a massive, massive talent. What a signing for Souths. If he doesn't stay in the NRL for 10 years (and I wouldn't mind if he does), he will return to SL almost a legend. His game will move to another level over the next few years and it's honestly scary to think about. He will learn consistency and workload. Workload is something he did not display tonight, but his impact was immense.
Crabtree is farking huge, and was much better contained tonight, but should absolutely be a main-stay in the English squad for years to come. Personality comparisons aside, he has reminded me of Willie Mason.
Sinfield, despite getting a bit of flack after the Final, has made me change my mind about him somewhat. I think we can all now agree that he will never be able to bring his club form and leadership to the international stage (obvious prior to this tournament, in my opinion), but he showed me more than i've ever seen of him, and it mostly came from hooker.
Eastmond. Is he really any better than Burrow at the moment? His running game is his biggest threat by far. He can pass and kick somewhat, but it's a long while, if ever, that he can rely on those skills from what i've seen. That puts him in the same category as Burrow for me.
Tomkins. This kid impressed me. Very nice step, there's a hint of an early Benji Marshall there. Marshall lost that sharpness of stepping (he's still very good at it) as he put on muscle (weight), and it's quite outstanding when you watch his highlights from his first 12 months in the NRL. Tomkins' skills did not stop at his feet. He showed a creative mind with the vision to match. He's got great slight of hand for his age, his short balls are winners. Same can be said of his short kicking game. Long passing and kicking still needs to be developed a great deal, but he's very young and got a lot to look forward.
I don't really want to suggest Morley's time in Tests are up, he doesn't deserve that, but you've got to face reality and say he's becoming a bit of a passenger.
I think that's all i've got to say about the English players. The rest performed as I expected (which is positive and negative, from player to player), or were anonymous.
Oh, one thing did surprise me was England's success with the high ball. It was clearly a planned tactic and paid dividends most of the time. Well done on that, I would never have thought it would go that way.
[EDIT] England's major flaw was the almost robotic refusal to spread it wide. A few times the forwards earnt space for the backs and it was wasted. I was worried during those moments but that was unfounded as nothing happened. Our backs are amazing players, but pretty much for their attack, not defence. Why so shy?
For Australia, I thought Gallen was epic. If i'm not mistaken, he went the full 80 and both his attack and defense was immense. AND, no penalties or errors (again, it's for things like this that I really want to review game stats, because I could be wrong)! Apart from his debut year in Origin, i've been mostly disappointed with his performances in rep games, but he did us proud today. Best forward, easy. Respect.
Luke Lewis also stood out, mostly for his defence. Great technique and great scramble to pop out of nowhere for more than one try-saving tackle. His run-on selection was rubbished by many, but he proved them wrong.
Lockyer. Despite a knock-on and a hilarious mid-field bomb that went backwards, he was excellent. He's not done yet as a player, even if he does hang up the boots for Test footy now. I personally thought he was better than Thurston. It would've been great to see him score a try, earning him a hat-trick of breaking long-standing Kangaroo records. For that reason alone, he has to play the ANZAC Test next year, even if he doesn't play in the Four Nations again. He's not really one to glory hunt, but i'm one of many, many fans who want him to do it. He deserves it.
Hayne's involvement was much better. About time, Jarryd, but you were by no means outstanding.
Slater, Slater, Slater. 8 tries against England in the last 3 games. Great stat. Fact is, he doesn't do this against the Kiwis. I don't know what to think of him as our fullback. Some may think i'm mad, but I still don't think he should be there against the men in black. They know how to silence him and prove it quite consistently.
Farewell Hindmarsh. Great service to the Green and Gold, and Sky Blue, and this tournament has not tarnished that legacy one bit. One of my favourite players to play the game. I'll be delighted to see him win a Premiership, so long as it's not at the expense of the Raiders.
While I was watching the game and following commentary on here, and while reading post-match comments, I felt like arguing over certain refereeing moments. Now, i'm just gonna leave it. We won handsomely, no need for debate.
Well done, Kangaroos, we're back on track.
