Cowboys bench was superb I thought. Cooper, Ah Mau and Tamou all made excellent gains per run and tackled at good efficiency. Two line breaks and no errors out of them which is amazing considering the Cowboys made 18 of the bastards.
I never though I'd see the day... :P He got a leg injury early in the 2nd half due to the shitty surface, his leg got in a pretty awkward position. Hancock02 says it was cramping, looked worse than that when he did it though. He was all over Tonga like a rash imo, howver I feel he could have done better to prevent the Bolton break that lead to Bani's try but the inside defenders really should have been there afaic. Overall, I'm not too concerned due to the fact it is the 1st game of the season. It looked like they were too excited and were overcommiting and going in too hard in defence. Which led to misses and breaks. The game actually brought back memories of our 2nd round loss to the Raiders. Where we had a heap of possession but errors all over the shop. I've said it before, Beale is fucking awesome in that role. He is so quick out of acting half and he has very decent ball skills. If you saw one of our wins over the Titans las season he was great there. It was while Macca was injured, Hunt played 9 and Beale/Norman were the bench utilities. That was when we looked our best. Hunt and Macca were fucking woeful last night. Macca not sliding to stop the Bolton break and that WTF attempt at a grubber, he must be bipolar or something to do something that shit. As for Hunt, 3rd tackle grubber when we are on the attack and the Cows have like 5 guys onside... And dropping it from acting half. I am hoping Baptiste continues to develop, because he looks good. Doesn't have the defensive load that Macca does but at least he can pick up and pass a fucking football. Wallace is a gun defender, he could also be an option if they find another halfback.
Parker had an average game in defence (20, 6 missed 1 innef.), he was his usual self in attack though (175m). He'll bounce back though.
That miss on Tamou is exactly why he shouldn't play Origin . You'll never see Johnson or Myles rush up and miss one like that on their own goal line.
I just re-watched the second half then. There were a lot of mistakes made by both sides but I really didn't get the feeling that it was a sloppy game. Thurston was clearly a class above any other player on the park. I thought that the Cowboys ruck defence was magnitudes better than last year. Geez I wish Tate could be at right centre though. On another note, I found myself going for the Cows last ngiht. Partly because I'd bet on them, but I also think that I just like their team more.
Neither is Dallas Johnson yet he was a crucial in fact major part of the win. Hogan would slot in nicely. But they will likely bring Tariq Sims in, which I also think is gun.
Sad thing about winning is that Henry won't make any unforced changes now. Defo want to see Tariq and Kalifa.
I was watching this at the pub last night and i'd had a few so I could be wrong here but what was up with that scrum in the last 5 minutes or whatever were Thurston kept pretending to put the ball in the scrum and the Broncos would push? He did it twice in a row if I recall correctly. Is that legal? Seems a bit dirty.
Law 12.6 (d) The player putting the ball in shall not hesitate or dummy and after putting it in he shall immediately retire behind his own pack of forwards So basically it's illegal.
Law 12.4 It is permissible for forwards to push - except where the Safeplay Code applies, once the scrum has been correctly formed but if it moves an appreciable distance to the disadvantage of any one team before the ball is put in then the Referee shall order the scrum to reform in its original position.
Thompson was very disappointing in attack last night, however his defence made up for it. When you've got JT and Mango in your side you can afford to have Ray have an off day in attack. When is Tate back? Can't wait for him to come back into the side. Also, even though Bani played alright last night, still not comfortable with him in the side. If injuries keep away from the Cowboys they'll go very well this season IMO.
Just very quietly, I reckon that Ash Graham went ok on the wing. Just don't let him get any further in field, ever.
