Despite being terribly hungover, Kiwi Sports Blog spent hard earned dollars on child tickets to the Upper East stands. Upon arriving, we were excited to hear that 'musicians' Dane Rumble and J Williams (aka "The douchebag who wouldn't give me his triple-A pass at Highlife" and "The guy that doesn't notice one of the dancers in his break-out video is sweating all over the set") were playing after the game finished. But "Cruel" is a pretty fly song, so we briefly flirted with the idea of sticking around for it. In the end we decided that the Fastcrew version of Dane was better and he wasn't nearly as enticing as an after-match feed at Wendy's.
But back to the game. As I said, the Beasts were hungry, and showed it as Manu tried to eat Fijian Flyer Flavour of the Month Akuila Uate three times. Uate was powerless in the face of a charging Manu. It was KSB's opinion in the heat of the moment of Manu's third try that no other winger in league can simply drop a big shoulder like that and not be budged sideways, not even a little bit (he did the same thing for his first try). In hindsight after checking the tape, maybe a few others players can do it, especially since Uate's 'tackle' for the third try is as weak as a wet paper bag. Mini Beast's try was more luck than anything else, but it was sweet because it made Wes "Cheating Scum" Naiqama look like a fool.
From the stands it looked like Lucky was having a typically great game, and getting more involved in the offence than usual. However, a perusal of Dream Team scores revealed a paltry 37 points, courtesy of 37 tackles made, and down from his average of 44. But pretty much every Warrior played well today, even Lance Hohaia, despite his moment of stupidity when he tried to trap a kick with his foot and missed it, conceding a line drop-out. The only question marks were why Ben Matulino didn't get more minutes, why Joel Moon got any minutes, and whether Sam Rapira's form will return with more minutes. So not very worrying stuff. Ian Henderson limped off near the end of the game, and hopefully he didn't blow out a knee, but putting Lance at hooker and Ropati/Locke at fullback wouldn't be too much of a downgrade.
As for the Knights, if this is what they are like without Jarrod Mullen, then they may be in bad shape not just this year, but for a few seasons. It just seems like after three years of trying we have established that Mullen is not the type of player you want to build a franchise around, and is certainly not Andrew Johns. With Kurt Gidley (pictured above losing Origin), Ben Cross, and Mad Dog getting old, the Knights look to be heading for a rebuilding phase with only exciting/promising young'uns like Uate, Isaac De Gois, and Zeb Taia to keep crowds buying tickets.
We now move to sixth place on 28 points with three weeks to go, supposedly the magic number required for finals footy. But with the Eels and Raiders hitting a bit of form (both on 24 points), another win or two ahead of the playoffs wouldn't be bad. A home semi-final isn't out of the question either, we could easily slide into third or fourth place. But our remaining games are Sea Eagles away, Broncos at home on Friday night, and Eels away. That's a schedule as tough to tackle as Manu.
I'll leave you with my favourite Youtube video to complete a nice Sunday.
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