R6's RLWC2013 Rooster Reviews

[ROC181]

Roger 'Sheik le Freak'

Have you noticed how much bigger he's become in the past months

Yes I was also noticing how much bigger he's gotten. I thought that maybe the jersey made him look bigger but all round he's put on some weight. Will be good on the 'right wing' next year and ready when Mini has a game off at FB.

[Rooster_6]

Week 1 Final

Fiji 22 defeated Samoa 4

Kane Evans - 7.5/10

Much, much better performance from Evans. A lot more commitment in defence, not just contact but wrestle, coming in 2nd/3rd man to cut down the legs, kick pressure and cover tackles. Exactly what you want form your middle third defenders. His hitups were a lot better too, good leg drive when he was going up the middle and showed his mobility when he took some wide ruck runs. Played the near perfect game for an impact prop, just a shame about the two penalties. Looks like he's taken a while to get back into the swing of things since his injury & will get the chance to improve again on this performance against the Aussies next week. Got about 40-45 minutes all up in the end.

11 runs, 116 metres, 25 tackles, 1 offload & 2 penalties conceded.


Semi Finals

Australia (Cordner & Jennings) Vs Fiji (Evans)
England Vs New Zealand (FPN, SBW, Moa, RTS & JWH)

[Yak]

Week 1 Final

Fiji 22 defeated Samoa 4

Kane Evans - 7.5/10

Much, much better performance from Evans. A lot more commitment in defence, not just contact but wrestle, coming in 2nd/3rd man to cut down the legs, kick pressure and cover tackles. Exactly what you want form your middle third defenders. His hitups were a lot better too, good leg drive when he was going up the middle and showed his mobility when he took some wide ruck runs. Played the near perfect game for an impact prop, just a shame about the two penalties. Looks like he's taken a while to get back into the swing of things since his injury & will get the chance to improve again on this performance against the Aussies next week. Got about 40-45 minutes all up in the end.

11 runs, 116 metres, 25 tackles, 1 offload & 2 penalties conceded.


Semi Finals

Australia (Cordner & Jennings) Vs Fiji (Evans)
England Vs New Zealand (FPN, SBW, Moa, RTS & JWH)

Yeah I was critical of Evans last week but he was excellent today. Makes a lot of metres from kick offs due to his speed. What really impressed me was his defence. The past few games he's looked lazy with arm grabs and just weak efforts in general but in this game as you say he really wrestled well and got the tackled player into good ground positions. Also made a heap of tackles in a row, chasing from marker plenty of times. I think he only got pemalised once and the second was counted wrongly against him. First one was a bit silly but i think that was his third or fourth tackle in a row. It does now appear that he just takes a while to warm into his game after injury. He was the best prop in NSW Cup mid season once he got his fitness up so this is good signs for next season. I really would like to see him play the Nines tournament. Imagine having him and Willis Meehan on either side of the field. More than anything it would just ensure that he maintains the improvement in his fitness before the trials. Looking forward to seeing if he can improve again against Australia.

[Rooster_6]

I still don't like how he gets the ball midfield then drifts across field to run at the halfback if metres up the middle look too hard to gain due to a fast moving defensive line, it breaks team structure and can be counter-intuitive to the halbacks construction of the set. Positioning yourself on a short side like Fifita or Tamou do so well is one thing but picking up the ball midfield and then floating across the field is a whole other thing. I don't think he's trying to shirk his duties as a front rower I just think he's so used to dominating that it has been his go to play in the past and given his stature and mobility he's had great success but I don't see him having the same success in the NRL against superior defences & like I said earlier it can be counter-intuitive to the halfbacks construction of the set.

Maybe I'm wrong but I think it's something that Robbo will try to coach out of him. There's still a few things he needs to sharpen up on before he hits First Grade.

[theGman]

Yeah I was critical of Evans last week but he was excellent today.

Played injured in that game against England. Was named 18th man & wasn't expecting to play/didn't want to play but got drafted into the team due to one of the Fijian based players getting injured.
It's probably not widely known because Kane has been coming off the bench but up until todays game Rick Stone has had him coming on playing lock instead of his up the middle role. I expect Stone to play him tight against the Roos. He played well against them a couple of weeks ago.

[Guest]

Well said Gman, & I know that for a fact as well......he was injured in mode since the start of the WC, but was a lot worse playing against England. He played a lot better against Samoa.I was told he still wasn't to happy with his game & said he could of played a lot better, the kid is to hard on himself considering coming back from a major injury. He will play FG next next year & he'll smash it!!!

[Guest]

Australia (Cordner & Jennings) Vs Fiji (Evans)
England Vs New Zealand (FPN, SBW, Moa, RTS & JWH)

I think Jennings might get a shot now. GI to fullback leaves open the left centre, and we know Sheens likes specialists...