Quote: PopTart "I really don't see what the moaners see.
I saw a team completely outclassed yesterday, but certainly not beaten for effort.
Korki and Amor as said above ran hard, tacled hard and came off knackered. They also had to do longer stints than they would have because we are carrying Hickey.
I didn't see Semi's debut but yesterday I thought he did well for us. He ran hard, he tried to get things going with his cross field runs, he looked for the ball. He is no messiah but he is not a bad signing.
Lee and Rinaldi, although not able to get the attack working tackled harder than players twice their size. Rinaldi in the middle and Lee with some cover tackling plugged gaps all over the place.
Murphy was stronger than I've seen him for a while. One tackle when he shot out of the line was great to see.
Hendo was outstanding in his own way. He made ground when being a prop. He stopped players when he was a centre. He was aggressive in attack and defense.
None of that smacks of lack of effort, just lack of real talent.
Not a bad summary that
We are too slow with the ball, which means the opposition can pick the runner out with ease. When they ran there were 4-5 options and it was blisteringly fast. That is a talent thing not an effort thing.
But equally, when we got the ball and gave it a go in the second half it was entertaining. They threw the ball around just to get one chance, even though the game was well out of reach.
On the negative side....Hickey.....well I thought at first people were picking fault too early but he is dead weight to us right now. I'd rather have Hendo in the front row. He should be fitter by now. I know JK has said one of the problems is the lack of reserve grade games because of the 9s but to be honest, no one has stopped him dieting and running up and down Heath Common. Time is ticking for him. He wouldn't play again for me until he showed some level of fitness.
I didn't rate Johnson's effort (winger not forward). Thought he gave up the chase too early sometimes.
Blaymire was well under fire at the back but personally I'd rather have Vievers or Tony. Tony looked out of his depth by a few years at LF but he'd add some experience at FB so assuming we have some back row replacement I'd switch him back.
Ultimately, when you saw Graham's tantrum with his players for letting the try in you know they came to do play, not just to win. And with that in mind, the score was not nearly as bad as it could have been. The players who put the effort in to do that deserve some credit.'"
