Origin stars’ rest vital
Hard test with many out but all part of plan to be primed for big run home
THIS was always going to be a huge test for our team.
Todd (Payten, coach) and his performance staff had made the decision a few weeks ago that we would be resting our Origin players for this game.
Ensuring our players are fit and healthy for the back end of the year was a priority for us over making them back-up just two days after what was a brutal Origin III encounter.
The resting of our Origin players gave others an opportunity to get some more game time.
Todd has had the luxury of naming the same 17 for the majority of the season. This is a huge reason for the cohesion and consistency of our game.
However, last week there were mass changes.
It gave local junior Tomas Chester a chance to make his NRL debut.
Chester has had an incredible year. He brought a lot of heart and effort to his play during the pre-season and that is what Todd and the coaching staff love about him and ultimately got him the nod to make his debut.
It was a huge occasion for Chester and his family, with Fox League cameras capturing his father shedding a tear the moment he walked on the field.
We started off the game conceding an early try.
It wasn’t ideal but something we had to deal with.
Again, the Sharks scored and all of a sudden we were down by 12. We knew if we could maintain our game that we would get our chance.
I want to highlight Hamiso Tabuai-fidow’s try late in the first half.
Just before we went out for the warm-up Todd got all of the backs together to show some habits of the Cronulla Sharks outside backs.
He was very clear on Sharks centre Jesse Ramien’s habits of turning out and letting ball runners go through his inside shoulder. Just after we received a penalty we fell into the position where we could execute a play on Ramien. Hammer ran a great line and all I had to do was hit him with a short ball which saw Hammer go through untouched.
The level of detail Todd has given us this season with preparation has been something I have really enjoyed being a footy tragic.
Ultimately we lost the game. We were disappointed with letting in 26 points, however, some of the efforts during the game I was really pleased with.
I thought Peta Hiku and Jake Granville were among our best, as well as Luciano Leilua.
We will be welcoming back our Origin players this weekend fresh off a week off and full of confidence.
Seeing these guys have the success they did in Origin will be a huge asset for our side come the back end of the year and it will be great to have them in this week’s line up as we play the Wests Tigers on Sunday.