Cows v Raiders

Taumalolo should've been promoted ages ago. Henry is a muppet.

 

80 minutes. 19 runs for 226m and 23 tackles with 1 miss. 2 line breaks, 0 errors and 0 penalties. He did bomb a try but FMD he's irrepressible.

 

First half - Despite the early 16-0 lead to the Raiders, like Ged, I didn't feel the Cowboys were playing badly or that this was ever likely to eventuate in a shallacking. They opened Canberra up left, right and straight up the middle - 5 line breaks in the first 40 alone. But their execution let them down. Very frenetic and a bit congested. Once they found some rhythm they looked very likely. Morgan's cut-out was a gem.

I'm not sure what to make of the Raiders just yet. Campese has looked quite good but I'm not convinced Wighton is at home in the 6.

It's a pretty high quality game by Rd1 standards with both teams over 80% completions. Some of the defence has left a bit to be desired but it's not horrendous by any means.

And lol. What a drop-out by Feldt. I think that number 2 jersey might be cursed though. He's been pretty ordinary.

 

Intriguing match. Canberra dropped their bundle a touch in both halves when they made some errors and the Cowboys capitalised. I was a little surprised that Thurston didn't back himself to pot that penalty goal from 40m out with only 8 to go but having thought about it, it certainly makes sense. Playing on winds the clock down in good field position, gives you a chance to seal it with a try and if you don't you can always slot the field goal. Good decision.

Some points of interest I thought were:

*JT's defence. He still missed too many but for the most part he did a good job on Papalii which is no easy task. Some nice legs tackles and a great shot on Robinson.

*Lui had some nice moments and a few well composed kicks. He changed the angles with distinction and seemed to have plenty of time.

*Green's decision to start Taumalolo does have its cons given how much impact he can provide from the interchange bench but it's a credit to the former QLD 7 for promoting him. Like the young Kiwis' opposite, Papalii, he's too valuable to be sitting on the bench for half the game no matter how much shit he fucks up when he's fresh against tiring defenders. The battle between these two is up there with SBW vs Burgess IMO. Loved every minute of it.

*Corollary to the above is the decision to shift Cooper to the right. Half of EWS's profits just disappeared overnight.

*Tate had some very classy touches. A great offload which lead to Cooper's try and a grubber kick for a repeat set. Seems you can teach an old dog new tricks.

*Wighton can throw a decent pass but that does not a five-eighth make. He did virtually nothing. I'm sure he'll warm to the role but I saw no evidence of any real ball playing nous. His contribution needs to be a lot higher. 22 touches isn't nearly enough. Campese is the compass of this side but the Raiders risk becoming a team of predictability if Wighton just stands out on the left twiddling his thumbs.

*With Mullen out I have Campese taking first blood in the battle for the NSW no.7 jersey. I thought it was a very impressive performance. For the love of god just stay fit this year.

 

Indeed. I said that in a post I deleted and forgot to put it back in my overall opinion of the first half. With blokes like Tate and Cooper inside him, he needs to show plenty of patience and faith.

 

I also thought the refereeing showed the essential flaw in the on-field opinion system as it stands. Three of the referrals were overturned quite simply because the referees had no view of what happened and were simply reacting to player reactions and the crowd and what they thought was most likely the case even though they were completely unsighted.

There needs to be a change IMO in which if the referee has no informed opinion he can say so. They shouldn't be constricted by the two options of yes or no. The notion that they always have an opinion makes them a hostage to fortune.