Not flawless at all but I thought we were a bit unlucky for the Riley interception as he was clearly offside the same as Briscoe was and Monaghan clearly took the ball out of play off Whiting. We got one with the drop out mind when Tickle kicked it.

One of the heroes of Cardiff 2005 (the 'tip-on' to Motu Tony and then accepting Marcus Bai's in-goal offload to score). Too versatile for his own good at time, but a great servant to the cluba and, as others have mentioned, he has a great rugby brain.

Thought exactly the same, if Shannon was still on that would have been a try.

Maybe maybe not but with Shannons speed waterhouse wouldn't have got his try in the 1st.
Rich has done a good job for us yet again but full back isn't ideal for him now.
We really could do with Shannon back for the final. Gonna be hyperbaric chambers, intense rehab, specific diet n everything in the book to get back for that though. Looked a bad one on 1st impressions.

Oh yeah don't get me wrong I'm not slagging Shannon off I like him, they both bring different qualities to the role. I guess we're just really lucky we've got a player like Rich in the squad who can play in so many positions to a decent standard.

Hero.

Not sure about the RIley one, he wasn't in shot when the ball was played. There probably was enough time for him to get up in our line from an onside position, but whether he was or not I have no idea. As I said on another thread though, the frustrating thing was that the pass was not at all necessary and would only have played Arundel into trouble if it had made it anyway. We were 8 points in front with 5 minutes to go, Whiting has more than enough experience to know that respecting position was more important and should have just gone to the line himself.

I thought it came off Monaghan, too. I think the error that could have been costly was Whiting letting the kick bounce in the first place, however. He should have at least made an attempt at it, Tickle had already gotten him out of jail with one earlier.

Like I said, don't get me wrong, he did a really good job stepping in. I just think people are going a bit far and making it sound like Billy Slater should be crapping himself. On another day those 2 basic errors in the last 5 minutes could have cost us the game.

Riley didn't need to be in shot I called it at the ground at the time as I was in that end near the line - none of their backs retreated behind the line on that play and I was annoyed after it correctly being given against Briscoe. I think you've perhaps misread the talk about Whiting - I think it's more to do with the fact that as a second rower he can come on when we lose a centre or fullback and do a job which whilst not perfect there would be no other second rower in the squad or possibly the league (at FB at least) who could do the same. Don't think anyone has suggested that Whiting got anywhere near the level of Billy Slater but then Slater wasn't on the bench ready to come on.

I will definitely be supporting his testimonial as much as i financially can - great servant to the club and one that I will rememeber fondly

Well he needed to be in shot for me to be sure, I wasn't there! Can't call it if I didn't see it. I'm happy to go on your say-so.

A bit hard to misread a list of MOM nominations. I didn't think he was one of our top 3 performances, nor particularly close. Did very well in the circumstances in which he found himself, but quite a few players outperformed him IMO (just about everyone in the pack for a start).

The most underrated player in super league, as some have already said he is probably too versitile for his own good. An amazing servant who i hope finishes his career at our club. Will be donating generously to any testimonial events that he has.

Unthinkable that he might not. Unless he has one last season at Fev. Legend.

Whiting was in my top 3 (3rd) because he was a second row rotation who came on after 7 mins and played full back for 73 mins to a decent substitute standard. The alternative options of shuffling the back line would not necessarily have offered a more effective FB and likely would have caused greater disruption. He wasn't perfect in the specialist position but there were few perfect players out there and the fact he is able to do what he did makes him a very valuable player. Maybe it should be renamed the top 3 most valuable players award. The pack was excellent with Ellis (1st) the stand out but I couldn't really split the other forwards they were all that good.

Am I the only one who really rates Jay Pitts? He does some immense work in the middle, especially defensively.