ChrisE said:
ill say that the st george players were the ones that had the poorest games. all of them either were quiet or were off their game except for small bursts of goodness in the second half.
1) Luke Bailey: 43 tackles and 13 hitups (this was updated on NRL site today). He has never been known as a game-breaker, and he was selected to do this exact job.
2) Trent Barrett: His first half was poor because he didn't get the ball. It was only when he DID get it in the second half that NSW started to look likely. And it showed, with 20 points in 20 minutes. For all the people that bagged out his bomb which caused King to go into touch, give yourselves an uppercut. I'm sure he's sorry for the one terrible kick he delivered in the regulation 80 minutes. Good old Brett Kimmorley is also very sorry for the 14 poor kicks he delivered last night. For all his kicking brilliance, NSW did not get one line drop out last night.
3) Jason Ryles: He was, frankly, very disappointing last night. For anyone who knows Ryles's playing style, though, they will understand WHY he was poor. I shall wait and see if anyone does understand why he played badly.
4) Matt Cooper: The best defensive centre in the NRL, with a total of ZERO missed tackles. He wasn't selected to make line breaks, but Kimmorley obviously thought he was, because he never stopped directing play down the left side.
5) Mark Gasnier: The best offensive centre in the world, and he wasn't allowed to show it until Barrett took over. When a player who is SUPPOSED to get the ball is starved of it, how can anyone say the player was good? He showed what he is capable of in 15 minutes of rugby league. If he is not fed with the ball in SOOII continuously, NSW will have as good as lost the series.
Random_87 said:
What about the ineffective centers?
Explained above. If your beloved Brett Kimmorley had actually realised that Mark Gasnier was on the right side of the field and he has actually moved the ball out there, NSW would have won the match. Alas, it took Trent Barrett to realise that the ball should be on that side, and in the end, it was too little too late. (And for whoever it was who referred to him as BK, you will find that BK is actually Ben Kennedy. Kimmorley's nickname is Noddy.)
Constip8edSkunk said:
yeah exactly! thats why selecting simpsons wasnt really a top idea. he did ok this match, but it would have been much better if there was a specialist prop backing up bailey and ryles when they go AWOL.
The problem for NSW for SOOI was that there was no other props to choose. Clinton is playing crap. O'Meley is injured. Tell me who NSW could have selected as a bench front rower.
AsyLum said:
One of the most potent backlines and it was hardly used, rather it ended up being a battering ram.
Bailey has always been a workhorse, Ryles an offloader, but there just wasnt any push at the beginning. We didnt have someone who could step up and just take someone head-on, someone to really rally the forwards.
Kennedy did it a bit towards the end, but that was what someone like Clinton, just a character to pull the rest in.
Ordinary performance from the Blues and almost stole the game, good job queensland.
And FINALLY someone who knew exactly what they were talking about. It seems that my challenge to understand why Ryles couldn't dominate last night was answered here.
Sorry for the relatively long post.
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