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Did we need a bad win just before the finals? I am sure we will take a lot from this one. It will be a tuff one v the eels next week but will definitely prepare us for round 1 of the finals.
Congrats to NC for being the second youngest player to score 1000 points.
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On this roundâs form, the Eels have a right to feel supremely confident. But can Cleary play as badly again?
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Hey Falco! with Cleary, probably not.
The telecast showed he was putting the cart before the horse.
He was looking where he was going to move the ball before catchin the dam pill. Is it just a matter of timing on his part or have our runners got to play a role as well?
the winning was never in doubt, it was about how we won.
Our performance could be best described as clunky and much of what i had hoped to see was absent.
We neither improved in attack and at times our defence was abysmal as highlighted by the Little run from dummy half right through our middle.
Tigers to their credit tried hard but were never a real threat. Again we highlighted our indifferent starts.
Good to see the Cleary milestone and he of all people would not be happy with his game or that of our team
Too was our best on field and his return was superb, running many metres and hopefully pulls up ok after the game.
With all this, we are getting key players back and we have another week to work on our game and Eels will be a great test and measure of where we are at in round 25
With key players all back on deck, we are superbly placed to make a real statement in the finals, if we can click we will be unstoppable.
To make this happen is now the real test because Bellamy will have his team ready and is who i see us playing in the GF.
The great thing is we have plenty of upside to our performance.
Maybe they should do a measure. Perhaps they made it longer to compensate for being narrow, based on the number of times we were stopped just short!
The tiges benchie was onto it - he planted the ball short of the line & then rolled it forward for the âtryâ.
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My concern is the number of errors once again. Since we have got our team back after SOO, injuries and suspensions, itâs as if we thought ok, the gangs all here and it would just revert to the early season form & it doesnât work like that.
We have a a couple of weeks to get it right. At our best we can win this damn thing.
As I said at the time, the tiges played their GF last time we met & they are well short of being a top 8 team. Playing them in round 24 is not ideal as a lead-in to the finals, but we got the 2 points and move ahead. The tiges have too many chips on their shoulders & too many excuses - I can see in 2050, when 40 seasons have passed since they played finals & they still will be blaming Ivan Cleary.
Bring on the slimies & then the finals. Canât believe we wonât be able to be there to watch 
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A good forward hit out. I think NC shoulder is a bit tender, certain times in the game he has favoring it and those sitters he dropped were horribly abnormal. Might need a week off and concentrate on more rehab to build the muscles around the injury.
I thought Yeo was fantastic and if TPJ keeps his course he will be handy. No heroics, just hard running and tackling.
What about that take by my man MOSES - what a BEAST 
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My immediate reaction after the game that it seemed disappointing, even though we won. So, Iâve tried to find some positives, like :-
We have had such a fantastic couple of years that now a solid win in a grudge match disappoints. In the past there are far too many years when I would have taken a win, any win, no matter how close or scrappy.
Despite our completion rate being abysmal (20% less than Wests), three tries being stopped on the try line by desperate Westsâ defence, their second try being highly dubious (funny they checked Kikauâs try but not the Wests one), an overwhelming dominance of field position, Cleary playing the worst game that I have seen for ages and Wests scoring two late tries to make the scoreboard look better, we still registered a comprehensive victory. Also, I canât think of any player who had a shocker and, after a lethargic start, we saw good or very good games from the likes of Kikau, Pangai, Martin, Yeo, Fish, Leota, Toâo, Edwards and Burton, with the rest being solid. If we had clicked, Wests would have been butchered, such was the difference in class. So that is the silver lining on the cloud.
What is it with Jacob Liddle? He seems to break our line with ease (both games this season).
Well I was absolutely amazed with Leotaâs try. 9 out of 10 players would have knocked that on with the speed he hit the in goal. I couldnât believe it on the replay when I saw it was Moses!
Was Cleary under the weather, headache or something? His lack of concentration with ball playing was obvious.
Welcome back Toâo! What a beast he is. Am I the only one who sees him moving to the front row in 4-5 years time.
All our forwards played well. We have the best pack in the comp.
All in all it felt like a trial game, what with the trick plays and all.
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TĂło in the forwards 
Iâm sure it wouldnât bother him but the defensive effort needed would nullify his running impact.
I think Moses was a bit surprised himself. It just popped up perfectly for him and he just ran into it. Not to discount his pickup (it was amazing), he stayed in the fight for the ball and came up with a try. Amazing effort all round.
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I heard TPJ after the game saying he is learning the little 1%'s away from footy through Yeo and NC, which is great, but I reckon he is getting so much more from Fish and Moses and the way they approach their work up front. No mess no fuss, they donât worry about the niggle, no-one is going to F with them anyway and they reap the rewards by allowing our backline to play eyes up footy. That is a front rower in my eyes!
Spencer still hasnât learnt yet and unless his attitude changes, he will continue to be 19th man.
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