Roosters vs Tigers - Foundation Cup.

[Guest]

You heard correctly.

All those calling for Carney to be axed, suspended, gelded etc need to get a copy of this game.

We were hopeless without him. Pearce was OK and tried but it wasn't happening for him.

Robert Lui was by far the best player on the field in my opinion. Looked dangerous every time he had the ball. I'm tipping a big year from him.

Kane Linnett was good in the centres. I like how he gets the ball and runs straight, giving his winger room to move when he gets the ball.

Minichiello fumbled his first touch of the ball.

Mose Masoe did some great things. Has untapped potential. Unfortunately he is very suspect around the rucks. The Tigers knew that.

Surprisingly, Riddell looked OK. He has a football brain and will no doubt do some good things for us throughout the year.

One thing that is certain, when SOO is on we will struggle big time. When Pearce came off we were five times as bad as when he was on. No.18 was either very nervous or is very limited.

SKD should concentrate on running straight and shelving his silly behind the back passes before he spruiks four year deals.

So, we've had a narrow win over a QLD Cup side, have lost to the Dogs and been comfortably beaten by the Tigers.

I'm not feeling it at the moment.

If I was a Souffs official at the game I wouldn't be too worried.

watts will be there for SOO

[Horry]

Good ole Robert Lui. What ever happened to his charges?

[stephenj]

if his wide didnt drop them hed belt her again?

[Rooster_6]

Myles's tackle on Mckinnon was a good rib tickler... unless they're talking about another tackle

Was such a dower performance from both sides to be honest. Khereliah scored a legitimate try but ref didn't have the balls to call it so went back for some imaginary knock on.

Mose pulled off a couple of great hits and some good runs, I reckon he played himself into the Round 1 team. Apart from that no real stand outs, amazing how much Pearce means to the side, came off with 20 to go and we made about 5 metres each set.

Was Cheyse Blair at fullback right? I like the look of him there, made his debut for the 20's there and never understood why he made the switch to centre.

[Juggler]

It was a trial. Smith took a lot of regulars off in the last 20. No wonder they were a rabble. Think Benji & Farah were on most if not all the game.

If anything, Im worried about the defence.

And if Archer is the best of the referees... Oh fcuk. Its gonna be a looooonnng season. Watch for Harrigan to become the 17th NRL coach.

[Guest]

Hello all,

My first post here.

I was at the trial and didn't come away nearly as disappointed as some others. It was quite a willing game. Tigs had come to play, and I consider them serious premiership contenders. It was two tries a piece until late in the game. We played the last 12 minutes with only one or two first graders in the entire backline. They did bomb a try when Farah (?) fumbled a final pass, but we had a try to Friend disallowed. We put ourselves under pressure at a few key moments with simple errors that had nothing to do with the general cut and thrust of play. Kheirallah put a kick-off over the deadline; we conceded a penalty from a line-drop out; and Kennedy dropped a ball cold in our own half on the second tackle of a set (though he otherwise went enormous).
Performances were pretty solid from our boys across the park, and I felt the lack of structure that has been mentioned was only periodic, and due to a combination of a rookie five-eighth and the fact that some shuffling was going on. Aubusson for instance started at right centre; SKiDs came off the bench, and then Maubs moved to second-row.
Tigs made some inroads when they shifted the ball, but it was always through quality play by their big guns. They can do that to any team. We scrambled impressively on a few occasions. Overall, I thought we were strong up the centre in both attack and defence. Only exception was a clean bust through our ruck in the Tigs first set of the game. I had just sat down, and I'm not sure what went on there. Fortunately we soon tightened up. I thought Kennedy, Friend, Leilua and Pearce (not dominant, but sharp for his first run of the year) were among our best. I have little doubt that in reverse circumstances--if Carney had played and they had been missing Lui or Marshall--we would have won far more convincingly than they did. I think we're shaping up pretty well.

[Guest]

Hello all,

My first post here.

I was at the trial and didn't come away nearly as disappointed as some others. It was quite a willing game. Tigs had come to play, and I consider them serious premiership contenders. It was two tries a piece until late in the game. We played the last 12 minutes with only one or two first graders in the entire backline. They did bomb a try when Farah (?) fumbled a final pass, but we had a try to Friend disallowed. We put ourselves under pressure at a few key moments with simple errors that had nothing to do with the general cut and thrust of play. Keirellah put a kick-off over the deadline; we conceded a penalty from a line-drop out; and Kennedy dropped a ball cold in our own half on the second tackle of a set (though he otherwise went enormous).
Performances were pretty solid from our boys across the park, and I felt the lack of structure that has been mentioned was only periodic, and due to a combination of a rookie five-eighth and the fact that some shuffling was going on. Aubusson for instance started at right centre; SKiDs came off the bench, and then Maubs moved to second-row.
Tigs made some inroads when they shifted the ball, but it was always through quality play by their big guns. They can do that to any team. We scrambled impressively on a few occasions. Overall, I thought we were strong up the centre in both attack and defence. Only exception was a clean bust through our ruck in the Tigs first set of the game. I had just sat down, and I'm not sure what went on there. Fortunately we soon tightened up. I thought Kennedy, Friend, Leilua and Pearce (not dominant, but sharp for his first run of the year) were among our best. I have little doubt that in reverse circumstances--if Carney had played and they had been missing Lui or Marshall--we would have won far more convincingly than they did. I think we're shaping up pretty well.

Good First post mate.......Welcome to the lunatic assylum

[Guest]

Hi all, i was at the game too.

I honestly haven't seen Lui play a better game. Not that I concentrate on Tigers games (unless its against us) but he couldn't have player better.

Smith really added a lot of our younger players, which weren't on the official list. The only omission being Justin Carney. In the second half, he put most of the younger blokes on- I guess because winning the game was not the most important thing- but observing what these blokes can offer under real game pressure.

I would have liked to have won, but its only a trial. Hopefully the run will clear some of the cobwebs and steady the nerves for the year ahead.

[Rooster_6]

Hello all,

My first post here.

I was at the trial and didn't come away nearly as disappointed as some others. It was quite a willing game. Tigs had come to play, and I consider them serious premiership contenders. It was two tries a piece until late in the game. We played the last 12 minutes with only one or two first graders in the entire backline. They did bomb a try when Farah (?) fumbled a final pass, but we had a try to Friend disallowed. We put ourselves under pressure at a few key moments with simple errors that had nothing to do with the general cut and thrust of play. Keirellah put a kick-off over the deadline; we conceded a penalty from a line-drop out; and Kennedy dropped a ball cold in our own half on the second tackle of a set (though he otherwise went enormous).
Performances were pretty solid from our boys across the park, and I felt the lack of structure that has been mentioned was only periodic, and due to a combination of a rookie five-eighth and the fact that some shuffling was going on. Aubusson for instance started at right centre; SKiDs came off the bench, and then Maubs moved to second-row.
Tigs made some inroads when they shifted the ball, but it was always through quality play by their big guns. They can do that to any team. We scrambled impressively on a few occasions. Overall, I thought we were strong up the centre in both attack and defence. Only exception was a clean bust through our ruck in the Tigs first set of the game. I had just sat down, and I'm not sure what went on there. Fortunately we soon tightened up. I thought Kennedy, Friend, Leilua and Pearce (not dominant, but sharp for his first run of the year) were among our best. I have little doubt that in reverse circumstances--if Carney had played and they had been missing Lui or Marshall--we would have won far more convincingly than they did. I think we're shaping up pretty well.

Forgot about Leilua, he was good. So many similarities to Sa, here's hoping he as the attitude to go with it. Shook off players with ease tonight.

[Guest]

My take on individual performances:

Mini: No highlight moments, but apart from one dropped ball was very solid, especially in fielding kicks.
Perrett: Didn't get many opportunities but gave his usual wholehearted effort. Aside from some trademark dummy-half hit-ups, brilliantly defended a crossfield kick on our line. (Not always his forte).
Aubusson: Started in the centres and moved to second-row when SKiDs came on around the 20-30 minute mark. Had a quiet game, but he should benefit enormously from the chance to play a trial. Great to see him back much earlier than anticipated.
SKiDs: Has a real presence about him now. Didn't really stamp himself on the game: dropped one (difficult) pass and tried one of those long crossfield excursions that didn't come off; but he was hard to bring down most times he touched the ball. He's in for a massive season imho.
Linnett: Played well. Classic-style centre who reads the game nicely and makes the most of any opportunities. Looks like he could develop an excellent combo with Leilua if Smith chooses to go that way.
Leilua: Beginning to look like the model modern winger. Powerful and skillful and good in the air. Diffused one kick brilliantly with both hands overhead, under plenty of pressure. I wouldn't worry about defensive reads. He's young and has great instincts for the game; he will continue to improve in this area. The one concern is that he has a slow turning circle and has been shown to be vulnerable to kicks in behind him. Tigs almost exploited this successfully on one occasion, with Mini having to sweep desperately.
Kheirallah: Not bad. Looked zippy early, and wasn't afraid to take the line on. Might have been guilty of trying a tad too hard. Was a little quiet after the first 30 minutes. Don't think he played the first 15 min's of the second stanza (or else he was hiding in Masoe's hulking shadow!). Felt sorry for him when one of his kick-offs (just) went dead. At least he was bold enough not just to play it safe; his kick-off to start the game was a beauty.
Pearce: Very sharp for his first game of the year. Outshone by Lui who was undoubtedly MOM, but still oozed class. I'm confident he'll consolidate himself as a genuine elite halfback this year.
Myles: Same as always. All guts and efficiency. He's not exactly agile on his feet in attack, but man does he fight in a tackle. Might be in a little bother over a lifting tackle of his own.
FPN: Came off the bench and added immediate spark. Love the vigour with which he runs onto the ball. He also got one or two nice offloads away. Very impressive.
Braith: Quiet game. Best moments were in defence, shutting down a couple of dangerous passages out wide with one-on-one tackles. The two conversion attempts he missed were both from the touchline, and he really didn't strike them too badly at all.
Symonds: Looked more confident than when he returned from injury late last year. Didn't make any of the clean breaks we know he's capable of producing, but did make some good surges out wide and contributed some solid defence as well.
Ryles: Typical no-frills stuff from the veteran. Looks to be up for at least one more strong season. One thing I like about Ryles is the way he uses his height to fall forward onto his chest when he's tackled.
Kennedy: Immense in both attack and defence. Made one unforced error, but forced a couple on the opposition too. Great to see him intimidate in defence as well as being a powerhouse with his hit-ups. He made some absolutely tremendous charges and looks likely to kick on from last year and live right up to the hype.
JWH: Looked more enforcer than footballer last year, so it was good to see him get away a couple of offloads (another went to ground, but was a bit unlucky). Would be great if he can add some skill to his game because there's no doubting his toughness.
Masoe: Seems to be over the niggling injuries which (I am led to believe) contributed to his missing out on our finals campaign last year. Every one of his hit-ups had the defence struggling to bring him down. He could be anything, but it would be nice to see him develop at least some ability to offload.
Friend: Just keeps getting better. Had a cracking all round game. Good service from dummy-half and knew when to run himself. Also very impressive with his support and linking play; he threw the key cut-out pass for our first try and it was a corker.
Piggy: Played the final 30 minutes and was very impressive. Definitely trimmer than when he last played NRL. Showed his guile and experience, and went a number of times from dummy-half himself, making good yardage on each occasion.

Didn't really notice anyone standing out among the late-game cameos off the extended bench.

[Guest]

Good First post mate.......Welcome to the lunatic assylum

Thanks, greedy. Didn't realise the chookpen was actually the cuckoo's nest, but sounds like fun.

[Guest]

two tries both from Tigers errors

The tries were good. The first didn't really stem from a Tigers error. It started with a clean bat-back of a high Pearce kick to their left-hand corner. We regained possession still well short of the tryline and there was plenty of Tigers defence. We spun the ball all the way across to our left wing, a movement which included at least one terrific offload and a ripper of a cut-out pass by Jake Friend. When the ball finally got to Leilua he still had some work to do, and he cut back inside for the try like a veteran winger.

The second try was not as spectacular, but still involved some good work. We did get field position for it from a turnover, but we created an overlap with some crisp play, again out to Leilua's wing.

[elo]

My take on individual performances:

You make it sound like we won by 40

Thanks for the in depth descriptions.

[fletch]

from the brief highlights on Foxsports, two of the Tigers tries were from horrible missed tackles from Masoe and Kheirallah which were more a lack of concentration/technique than any great play from the Tigers its these type of tries we need to rid from our play to become a more consistent side.

[Guest]

Thanks junglefowl for the match summary. After watching the highlights on foxsports, f**k that was a pis$weak attempt of a tackle by Mose on Lui, to allow Lui to go straight through him for a try. Mose would want to sort that out for round 1!!

I will be majorly pis$ed off if Nate gets suspended, the rules need to be altered so that you can not be suspended by an incident in a trial game unless it is something really major.