That Winning Feeling Back
After 2 disappointing losses you couldn’t help to think at halftime that the trend was going to continue. Only down by 6, but conceding 22 points. Once again the resilient defence that we saw for the first 11 rounds was nowhere to be seen.
Scoring points didn’t seem to be an issue. We had scored 16 of them despite having less ball. Last week against the Raiders we struggled getting out of our own end. This didn’t seem to be an issue at all this week. Just our defence was letting us down. Too many soft tries.
The Best First Half Team
Yet this was the Titans we are talking about. The best first half team in the competition. However, the worst second half team. We on the other hand are the best second half team in the competition. Certainly down there when it comes to first halves though.
This trend continued this week. In the blink of an eye the game was turned on it’s head. Within the first 10 minutes we went from being down by 6 to being up by 4 after tries to Campbell off a beautiful kick from Blake Taaffe and Alex Johnston from a pass from Cody Walker that left everyone in awe.
Cody, Richie & Hame
Further tries to Cody, Richie Kennar and Hame Sele with a penalty goal in there gave us a huge lead and put the game beyond doubt. A soft consolation try to the Titans was the only blemish in the second half.
We had that winning feeling back.
That energy looked to be back. The effort areas were there. If there was a loose ball we had someone there at least competing for it. Something that was missing the last few weeks. The defence was turning up for each other. Stopping any threat.
Led By Keaon
After being dominated the previous 2 weeks the forwards stepped up. Being lead by Keaon Koloamatangi. Again showing his versatility by going from the left edge to lock to fill in due to injuries to Jai Arrow and Cam Murray. Even his ball playing in setting Hame Sele up for a rare try.
Junior Tatola after a couple of underwhelming performances looked to be back. Especially the second half.
Cody Magic
Cody once again was the magician. Almost every try had his finger prints on them. I would go as far as to say right now he is the form player of the competition. There is no other player in the competition that ball plays like he does.
The Kennar try gave us flashbacks to our Flegg winning halves combination back in 2020. Lachlan Ilias and Taaffe working together to create a try.
Taaffe Energy
Blake Taaffe may not put the fear in the opposition defence like Latrell does, but he plays with plenty of energy. He isn’t going to break tackles, but the last 2 weeks he hasn’t let anyone down. He was very safe at the back. Wasn’t great with his online defence, but not many would stop Tino there one on one.
Lachlan Ilias had a much better game as well. He does dig in the line very well and create the room for his outside men. An area he struggled last season. Was also good to see him kick early for a change. Something I hope we see more of for the rest of the season.
Tass Owning The Left
Isaiah Tass is really making that left centre his own. He quietly does his job. Many have been critical of him not passing out to his winger. Sometimes justifiable other times the criticism is harsh. Saturday evening he was spot on with his pass selections. The work he does early in the tackle count can’t be underestimated in helping out the forwards.
AJ3
Alex Johnston keeps breaking try scoring records. Another hat trick and now moves into 4th of all time. He is only one away from breaking Ken Irvine’s record of multiple tries and 2 away from the record of hattricks held by Irvine and Frank Burge.
What is even more impressive is AJ’s scoring rate is very similar to Ken Irvine’s. Ken scored 0.89 tries a game compared to AJ of 0.87 tries a game. Considering AJ played multiple seasons at fullback if you’re talking about on the wing then AJ is well over a try a game.
Defence Concerns
Another win yet still concerns about our defence. We have gone from conceding 13 points a game in the first 11 rounds to conceding 32 points a game the last 3 weeks.
Once again we leave Cbus Stadium with smiles on our faces. Once again it was made to feel like a home game. The crowd was certainly dominated by Red and Green. Only ever lost there once and that was our first game there in 2009. It is also our 8th win in a row against the Titans.
The injuries to Arrow and Murray was a bit concerning. News on Arrow since not that great, however it doesn’t seem as bad for Murray.
We now play the Dragons this week who pushed the Panthers all the way last week. Despite being last on the ladder do have some fight in them. A game we need to make sure we win if we want to get that important top 2 spot.
That Winning Feeling Back.
By Josh Kemp for Bunnies TV.
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