I haven't commented much this season, but I do still read this forum, and enjoy watching TT slowly go insane talking to himself. But I have felt like there has been a big increase in quality in the Premier Comp this season.
What are everyone's thoughts on it? I can only comment on the Easts games I've watched, but my view is that areas such as physicality, game structures, and general skills have increased overall.
The top 5 sides in particular (Easts, Bond, Uni, Brothers, Sunnybank) seem to have benefited significantly from having large amount of players in the NRC.
Also a note on Tigers vs Bond. I thought it was a very tight game, and I enjoyed the armwrestle.
Parakka & Sanday won that game for Easts. On the day, all other aspects of play was pretty even between the sides, but the Tigers scrum absolutely demolished every scrum, and in the end that proved to be the difference.
The Fuiamano brothers (Lock & 8) for Bond were very good, as was Sam Cox at fullback, who seems to be having a ripper season. He was always such a consistent performer when he was at Easts, and often flew under the radar. I always felt his brother Sean got more praise, when Sam was performing just as well. Anyway, great to see Coxie going well.
For Easts, as mentioned Parakka & Sanday. It also helps having Campbell & Horomia playing first grade. I cannot remember the last time Easts had 4 high quality props at once.
Toby White keeps dominating, and Johnny Wilder had a strong game on the wing. Hagen has been outstanding, and was again on the weekend.
Final thought on the match was, shit, how good is it to have a strong team on the Gold Coast! I said to a mate that I cannot remember ever watching a strong Bond/Breakers side. They seem to have a very committed coaching team (judging from the verbal barrages delivered from the goal line by the 6 or so gents in coaching gear!). They have not had a big influx of new players (Fattal & Cox aside), but it is clear they have developed a great structure and team unity. Their team song is also quite catchy (from Reserve).