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Great day out at Belmore today guys. And I didn’t get my car stolen which is always a bonus. I saw SG Ball, NYC, Newtown and NRL and saw a lot to like about the Roosters in 2012. Bit of an essay but I’m sure a few of you will appreciate the read. I’ve done it player by player so if you were only wondering about one or two you don’t have to read the whole thing. I’ll also post a report in the lower grades discussion on notable players in NYC and SG Ball. Enjoy!!
Backs:
Loxley – Played whole first half at fullback. Safe under high ball, great return metres and looks elusive in general play. No sign of Alofa today but this young guy looked very comfortable in all facets.
Tagive – Played left wing in the first half and right centre in the second. Always made good metres from dummy half. Took some great high balls in defence. At centre he appeared out of his depth up against Morris who put a good fend on him to pass out to Goodwin for a try. But from then on improved and shut down Morris a couple of times.
Tupou – Played left wing first 20 mins. Very impressed by this guy. Always gave us good metres from dummy half to start sets. Seemed solid in defence also.
Henry – Played right wing and centre for the first half. Again, very good dummy half running. Got on the outside of his man a few times to create half chances. Made a break and gave a beautiful flick pass to Carney to sprint upfield.
Carney – Played right wing and centre first half and left wing 2nd half. Solid defensively as usual. One line break assist for a Moga break. Scored a try off the back of it. But also terrible with his hands today. Dropped a ball over the line after Moga went high to collect a bomb and shrugged a defender off to offload over the top to Carney unmarked only to be dropped as he went to put it down. Also dropped a cross field bomb trying to catch with his hands above his head. This led to a penalty as Moga was forced to pick it up in an offside position. Should not be in the first grade side round 1.
Moga – Played left centre all game. Read the defence well all game and tackled solidly (with his shoulders). Only blemish defensively was his inability to hold up a Bulldogs player over the line after coming in slightly late to cover his inside man who was beaten. Went very close to saving the try though. I actually thought he’s held him up. In attack he was about as good as you could have realistically expected. Make great dummy half metres and was constantly throwing defenders off the tackle. Started the Adam Henry break with a half break of his own the play before from a 20 tap from memory. As mentioned, leapt high to take a cross field kick and offloaded to Carney only for it to be bombed. The highlight though was the last try. The ball was spread left and he was covering Carney on the wing (who’d had a scoot earlier in the set), Carney passed out to Moga who beat his winger down the sideline with pace and then fended the covering centre, ran for about 30 metres and drew the fullback to pass back to Carney to score. It was reminiscent of his long range efforts in the 20s which is a very encouraging side. He was very comfortable all game even when Canterbury put their best side on.
Perrett – Solid dummy half running as usual. I’ve posted another report in the lower grades discussion mentioning his brother Lloyd who played SG Ball and looks like one of the best allround front row prospects I’ve seen in years.
O’Sullivan – Did not realise until the end of the game that it was actually him. Thought it was RTS backing up in different boots (they look very similar). Beautiful overhead no look tip-on try assist to Tupou for the first try. Largely unsighted for the rest of the half. Came back on for the last 10 mins at fullback but was really sighted much other than struggling to clean up a Dogs grubber and giving a line drop out.
Littlejohn – Played about 35-40 mins at 6. Solid game from LJ. Passed out to O’Sullivan after a Bosden offload for the first try. Looked good in defence. Did make two errors however. Never really had any opportunities to run unfortunately.
Kheirallah – Played almost the full game. Halfback in the first 40 and five-eighth for a good chunk of the second half. Was the pick of the halves for mine. Exceptional kicking game which I was not aware he even possessed. Opted to kick deep to both corners of the in-goal instead of hoisting up mid field bombs from 50 out. Forced two line drop outs. Chipped over the top one set at the 50. Regathered himself from memory and was only stopped by the fullback metres out. One back kick that barely came off his foot he kept composure to regather and put a 2nd kick in that had Barba/Goodwin caught just outside his tryline. Scored a try after good work from Dumbrell feigning the front men and giving out the back to Kheirallah to stroll over. Good support play off the props. Did drop the ball twice, one off a tough pass trying to support though a hole. Running game was a bit limited but did take the line on once or twice and looked lively. Looked confident directing play. Very impressed by this kid’s persistence.
Mortimer – Played first 40 in the halves. 30 mins at fullback second half. Solid in the halves. Looks to have worked on his organising a fair bit. Went close to getting a 40/20. His long kicking was much better than I’ve ever seen it. Made one half break (caught at the last sec) which looked much more like the Mortimer of 2009, not the one that got swallowed in ’10 and ’11. Did not do much for me at fullback. Did not make any errors (but did not receive any difficult bombs to defuse) and his talk seemed sufficient but his return were very half hearted and he’s often pass to support rather than take the line on. Did support very well though as expected. Followed FPN through to the line and received a try for his effort after a brilliant offload. Also defended with great doggedness. Loxley played far better at the back though in my opinion.
Pearce – Solid game from Pearce. Directed the team well and steered us on top when up against the Dogs’ best line up. One poor kick after poor dh service. Support play was good as usual. Wasn’t quite in the groove with Aubusson unfortunately.
Forwards:
Masoe – Nothing too spectacular from Mose. Played about 35 minutes in the middle of the game. Consistently made around 10 metres per run and was a wall in defence, however a bit slow around the nippy halves. Scared the shit out of Josh Morris by coming out of the line and creaming him in the second half.
Waerea-Hargreaves – Played a lot of minutes. Some impressive carries but starting to agree with people that he needs to be played wider.
Tasi – Sent a few defenders flying while he was on. Great leg drive after impact and footwork at the line. Looks set for a big one!!
Arona – One of the best forwards on the field. Was great in attack early, really bending the line. Made a good half break in the first half. Scored an excellent solo try in the second half with good footwork and power. Was not expecting him to be one of the standouts.
Tago – Got a run ahead of Kane Evans which was interesting because Evans was destructive in the 20 mins of NYC he played earlier in the day. This is going to sound like I’m hyping but Tago was dominant during his time on the field. His first carry was off a kick off and he set someone on his arse. Made 3 or 4 hit ups in his 15-20 minutes but bent the line and hurt defenders with each of them. Swallowed someone with a massive hit in defence too. This was when the Dogs’ best line up was on the field too. For a kid who is only 18 to be dominant over a line that included Graham, Tolman and Eastwood was super impressive.
Nuuausala – Did his job well without mistakes and penalties. Looked super keen in defence, sprintly back the 10 and coming out on his toes ready to smash heads. His last 10 mins were his best, he started giving offloads including one for Mortimer’s try that he back-hand flicked as he was going to the ground.
Bosden – This lock position is going to be a tough one to pick for Smith. Bosden, along with Arona was probably the most dominant looking player out there in the first 20. He only played about 30 mins all up coming back on with 5 or 10 to go. But this kid looks like he was born to play league. Great body shape, looked almost as big as Hargreaves but with better mobility. His first stint he looked dynamic with good footwork into the line playing on the left edge. He created the first try with a half break standing in the covering tackle holding the ball like a potato and giving a no look offload straight to Littlejohn while he was being spun around. Looks a prospect guys! I totally understand now why Bennett wanted him at Newcastle so bad.
Guerra – Solid game, no breaks but was always there to hit the ball up out of trouble.
Takairangi – Largely unsighted. Was getting shifted around a lot and did not get that much game time.
Dumbrell – Promising talent. Came on late in the first half after Blackman. Good quick service. Was held up over the line after a good dart close to the line. Did not seem dominated in defence as much as usual. Still always first man into his tackles much like Friend. Good dummy half work to give Kheirallah his try. Sold the front men brilliantly before going out the back to Kheirallah. It was so good it looked illegal actually, the Dogs fans were up in arms but it was definitely legit.
Mitchell – A couple of good searching dh runs. Service no better than Blackman or Dumbrell. Better in defence though. Saved a certain try with a tackle on Pritchard.
Blackman – Provided accurate quick service in the first 20. Held his own defensively. Looks like a good buy and with be very good in the 20s.
Aubusson – Played second half only (came on with Perrett, Pearce and Guerra who did not warm up with the rest at the start). Played right second row and was tidy without making any incisive runs. Did not get much ball close to the line though. Played left centre for the final 5 after Moga came off and cleaned up a kick nice and followed it up with a 20 metre half break down the left side. Looked fit.
Liu – Limited time in the first half. Did his job well bringing the ball from kickoffs (to the 20 once) and drop outs (30m). Weather did not suit his natural offloading game.
Ailaomai – Dropped one cold early in the second half with his first run (?). They seemed to go after him a bit, but he came back solidly and was gaining good ground with his last few hit ups.
Cordner – Looks to have improved enormously from last season. Last season I thought he was solid without looking overly dangerous. But today he looked in great form. Awesome runs with great speed and footwork to get to holes before the line. Made a few brilliant leg-chopping tackles which looked great and stopped the Dogs’ left edge players in their tracks. Should have maybe gotten more time as he looked very sharp. Went close to scoring once in the second half. He’s be in my starting side on what he showed today. Maubs might have to step it up in the Foundation Cup.
Apologies if I've mixed up some of the players with what they did (bit tough to recall when you see 4 games with 25 players in each game), but hopefully that has given all those who couldn’t make it today a clear picture of how individuals performed. All in all we look 100% better than what we did this time last year. We finally have speed out wide, and more options in the halves than I thought we had a week ago. Handling needs work. That was something that could have cost us today but it looks as though the young guys have started off where they finished last year and some have even improved noticeably. I don’t think it’s all doom and gloom this year guys.
Backs:
Loxley – Played whole first half at fullback. Safe under high ball, great return metres and looks elusive in general play. No sign of Alofa today but this young guy looked very comfortable in all facets.
Tagive – Played left wing in the first half and right centre in the second. Always made good metres from dummy half. Took some great high balls in defence. At centre he appeared out of his depth up against Morris who put a good fend on him to pass out to Goodwin for a try. But from then on improved and shut down Morris a couple of times.
Tupou – Played left wing first 20 mins. Very impressed by this guy. Always gave us good metres from dummy half to start sets. Seemed solid in defence also.
Henry – Played right wing and centre for the first half. Again, very good dummy half running. Got on the outside of his man a few times to create half chances. Made a break and gave a beautiful flick pass to Carney to sprint upfield.
Carney – Played right wing and centre first half and left wing 2nd half. Solid defensively as usual. One line break assist for a Moga break. Scored a try off the back of it. But also terrible with his hands today. Dropped a ball over the line after Moga went high to collect a bomb and shrugged a defender off to offload over the top to Carney unmarked only to be dropped as he went to put it down. Also dropped a cross field bomb trying to catch with his hands above his head. This led to a penalty as Moga was forced to pick it up in an offside position. Should not be in the first grade side round 1.
Moga – Played left centre all game. Read the defence well all game and tackled solidly (with his shoulders). Only blemish defensively was his inability to hold up a Bulldogs player over the line after coming in slightly late to cover his inside man who was beaten. Went very close to saving the try though. I actually thought he’s held him up. In attack he was about as good as you could have realistically expected. Make great dummy half metres and was constantly throwing defenders off the tackle. Started the Adam Henry break with a half break of his own the play before from a 20 tap from memory. As mentioned, leapt high to take a cross field kick and offloaded to Carney only for it to be bombed. The highlight though was the last try. The ball was spread left and he was covering Carney on the wing (who’d had a scoot earlier in the set), Carney passed out to Moga who beat his winger down the sideline with pace and then fended the covering centre, ran for about 30 metres and drew the fullback to pass back to Carney to score. It was reminiscent of his long range efforts in the 20s which is a very encouraging side. He was very comfortable all game even when Canterbury put their best side on.
Perrett – Solid dummy half running as usual. I’ve posted another report in the lower grades discussion mentioning his brother Lloyd who played SG Ball and looks like one of the best allround front row prospects I’ve seen in years.
O’Sullivan – Did not realise until the end of the game that it was actually him. Thought it was RTS backing up in different boots (they look very similar). Beautiful overhead no look tip-on try assist to Tupou for the first try. Largely unsighted for the rest of the half. Came back on for the last 10 mins at fullback but was really sighted much other than struggling to clean up a Dogs grubber and giving a line drop out.
Littlejohn – Played about 35-40 mins at 6. Solid game from LJ. Passed out to O’Sullivan after a Bosden offload for the first try. Looked good in defence. Did make two errors however. Never really had any opportunities to run unfortunately.
Kheirallah – Played almost the full game. Halfback in the first 40 and five-eighth for a good chunk of the second half. Was the pick of the halves for mine. Exceptional kicking game which I was not aware he even possessed. Opted to kick deep to both corners of the in-goal instead of hoisting up mid field bombs from 50 out. Forced two line drop outs. Chipped over the top one set at the 50. Regathered himself from memory and was only stopped by the fullback metres out. One back kick that barely came off his foot he kept composure to regather and put a 2nd kick in that had Barba/Goodwin caught just outside his tryline. Scored a try after good work from Dumbrell feigning the front men and giving out the back to Kheirallah to stroll over. Good support play off the props. Did drop the ball twice, one off a tough pass trying to support though a hole. Running game was a bit limited but did take the line on once or twice and looked lively. Looked confident directing play. Very impressed by this kid’s persistence.
Mortimer – Played first 40 in the halves. 30 mins at fullback second half. Solid in the halves. Looks to have worked on his organising a fair bit. Went close to getting a 40/20. His long kicking was much better than I’ve ever seen it. Made one half break (caught at the last sec) which looked much more like the Mortimer of 2009, not the one that got swallowed in ’10 and ’11. Did not do much for me at fullback. Did not make any errors (but did not receive any difficult bombs to defuse) and his talk seemed sufficient but his return were very half hearted and he’s often pass to support rather than take the line on. Did support very well though as expected. Followed FPN through to the line and received a try for his effort after a brilliant offload. Also defended with great doggedness. Loxley played far better at the back though in my opinion.
Pearce – Solid game from Pearce. Directed the team well and steered us on top when up against the Dogs’ best line up. One poor kick after poor dh service. Support play was good as usual. Wasn’t quite in the groove with Aubusson unfortunately.
Forwards:
Masoe – Nothing too spectacular from Mose. Played about 35 minutes in the middle of the game. Consistently made around 10 metres per run and was a wall in defence, however a bit slow around the nippy halves. Scared the shit out of Josh Morris by coming out of the line and creaming him in the second half.
Waerea-Hargreaves – Played a lot of minutes. Some impressive carries but starting to agree with people that he needs to be played wider.
Tasi – Sent a few defenders flying while he was on. Great leg drive after impact and footwork at the line. Looks set for a big one!!
Arona – One of the best forwards on the field. Was great in attack early, really bending the line. Made a good half break in the first half. Scored an excellent solo try in the second half with good footwork and power. Was not expecting him to be one of the standouts.
Tago – Got a run ahead of Kane Evans which was interesting because Evans was destructive in the 20 mins of NYC he played earlier in the day. This is going to sound like I’m hyping but Tago was dominant during his time on the field. His first carry was off a kick off and he set someone on his arse. Made 3 or 4 hit ups in his 15-20 minutes but bent the line and hurt defenders with each of them. Swallowed someone with a massive hit in defence too. This was when the Dogs’ best line up was on the field too. For a kid who is only 18 to be dominant over a line that included Graham, Tolman and Eastwood was super impressive.
Nuuausala – Did his job well without mistakes and penalties. Looked super keen in defence, sprintly back the 10 and coming out on his toes ready to smash heads. His last 10 mins were his best, he started giving offloads including one for Mortimer’s try that he back-hand flicked as he was going to the ground.
Bosden – This lock position is going to be a tough one to pick for Smith. Bosden, along with Arona was probably the most dominant looking player out there in the first 20. He only played about 30 mins all up coming back on with 5 or 10 to go. But this kid looks like he was born to play league. Great body shape, looked almost as big as Hargreaves but with better mobility. His first stint he looked dynamic with good footwork into the line playing on the left edge. He created the first try with a half break standing in the covering tackle holding the ball like a potato and giving a no look offload straight to Littlejohn while he was being spun around. Looks a prospect guys! I totally understand now why Bennett wanted him at Newcastle so bad.
Guerra – Solid game, no breaks but was always there to hit the ball up out of trouble.
Takairangi – Largely unsighted. Was getting shifted around a lot and did not get that much game time.
Dumbrell – Promising talent. Came on late in the first half after Blackman. Good quick service. Was held up over the line after a good dart close to the line. Did not seem dominated in defence as much as usual. Still always first man into his tackles much like Friend. Good dummy half work to give Kheirallah his try. Sold the front men brilliantly before going out the back to Kheirallah. It was so good it looked illegal actually, the Dogs fans were up in arms but it was definitely legit.
Mitchell – A couple of good searching dh runs. Service no better than Blackman or Dumbrell. Better in defence though. Saved a certain try with a tackle on Pritchard.
Blackman – Provided accurate quick service in the first 20. Held his own defensively. Looks like a good buy and with be very good in the 20s.
Aubusson – Played second half only (came on with Perrett, Pearce and Guerra who did not warm up with the rest at the start). Played right second row and was tidy without making any incisive runs. Did not get much ball close to the line though. Played left centre for the final 5 after Moga came off and cleaned up a kick nice and followed it up with a 20 metre half break down the left side. Looked fit.
Liu – Limited time in the first half. Did his job well bringing the ball from kickoffs (to the 20 once) and drop outs (30m). Weather did not suit his natural offloading game.
Ailaomai – Dropped one cold early in the second half with his first run (?). They seemed to go after him a bit, but he came back solidly and was gaining good ground with his last few hit ups.
Cordner – Looks to have improved enormously from last season. Last season I thought he was solid without looking overly dangerous. But today he looked in great form. Awesome runs with great speed and footwork to get to holes before the line. Made a few brilliant leg-chopping tackles which looked great and stopped the Dogs’ left edge players in their tracks. Should have maybe gotten more time as he looked very sharp. Went close to scoring once in the second half. He’s be in my starting side on what he showed today. Maubs might have to step it up in the Foundation Cup.
Apologies if I've mixed up some of the players with what they did (bit tough to recall when you see 4 games with 25 players in each game), but hopefully that has given all those who couldn’t make it today a clear picture of how individuals performed. All in all we look 100% better than what we did this time last year. We finally have speed out wide, and more options in the halves than I thought we had a week ago. Handling needs work. That was something that could have cost us today but it looks as though the young guys have started off where they finished last year and some have even improved noticeably. I don’t think it’s all doom and gloom this year guys.
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