George Rose led the Indigenous side’s pre-match war cry in the NRL All Stars game, and he ended the game with the Preston Campbell man of the match medallion in a 20-6 victory.
There are many great characters in the game and Rose is one of them. Dragons fans can look forward to seeing him wearing the Red V in 2015.
Greg Inglis was also an intimidating force and is one of the best in the NRL. He was a stand-out in the match and stood tall during the war cry as his teammates crouched around him while he glared at the opposition.
It was a low-scoring affair with lots of penalties and not too much free flowing play. Johnathan Thurston produced the best moments with some pin point attacking kicks. Matt Moylan demonstrated his progressing talent, with good quick hands and some brave catches at fullback.
It remains to be seen what kind of a year Ben Barba will have at five-eighth for Cronulla. He was fairly quiet as he was overshadowed by the presence of Thurston, who was brilliant. Barba made no glaring errors and there were glimpses of his electrifying speed.
The Cowboys’ Jason Taumalolo was near unstoppable at times. A young forward in the same mould as Paul Gallen, I can’t imagine a more perfect pairing if Cronulla are successful in signing him. It’s unknown where he will be at the end of this season and Gallen has stated 2016 will most likely be his last year in the NRL.
Gallen has escaped sanction from the match review committee after his fourth minute tackle on Kyle Turner sent the Rabbitohs youngster to the change rooms for medical treatment. The aggressive front-on hit was a controversial one but the left elbow which collected Turner in the head while he was on the ground was ugly and perhaps best described as overzealous.
Ryan James was another who showed plenty of promise for the upcoming season. He was hard to handle and ran well, as did David Fafita, twin to the much more acclaimed Andrew.
It was a great contest full of passion and skill, and a brilliant prelude to the action that awaits us in the NRL.
planko
Roar Guru
I love old Georgie Rose but ffs George start skipping one of you 10 meals a day.
Walter Penninger
Roar Guru
Had a second look at the video and can see why George Rose got MOM as he really stood up in the 3rd quarter when the game could have gone either way and the rest of the team followed.
ScottWoodward.me
Roar Guru
Can we also have a change of commentator next year?
crackaShaun
Roar Pro
I do hate seeing block play after block play. (The outside runner running the angle in and the ball going out the back to the inside runner swooping out wide) I think the Storm were one of the first sides to run it. Now they all do. But the Storm were so successful at it and we see so many tries from it in the corner. Definitely miss seeing more ad hoc footy. I hope to see players like Barba and Benji creating things not just sticking to set plays.
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Perhaps it was just the players being relatively unfamiliar with their team mates keeping it simple in the early going, especially the NRL All Stars who were basically a typical Bennett team playing typical Bennett football. With that said relatively few players do play a lot of ad hoc football, Tyrone Roberts injected some into the game when he came on though.
The Barry
Roar Guru
I think it's a great pre-season fixture. I was a little bit alarmed at how much time James Graham was spending on the field in the first half :-) One thing out of the game is that I'd expect it to be played in more of an attacking fashion like the Barbarians games are in rugby. Has rugby league become so formulaic that it's impossible to break out of the predictable and play more ad hoc footy? Or is it because the players are a bit rusty? Or is it because the intensity of the game is so high? It loosened up in the second half but was very tight in the first.
Walter Penninger
Roar Guru
While I am looking forward to seeing George Rose take the field for the Dragons I think he will need to spend more time on the field for the Dragons than he did for the All Stars.