Big turn out at Crosby Park for the Brothers Ladies Day against Easts. Despite the overcast weather, the surrounds of the field was packed.
As much as I hate Brothers, I cannot help but like the viewing set up. Great ground to watch the footy from. I set up shop on the hill, where I fortunately found myself amongst East supporters, meaning I didn't have to tone down my vocals.
Meanwhile, the Brothers Colt Corner was met by a rowdy (and obviously drunk) group of travelling Easts supporters. The noise generated from both these groups was unreal. Great to see such vocal support for a Premier Rugby game.
For the game itself, it was a pretty standard Brothers vs Easts rivalry. Some agro early on, with Sam Fattal lucky to stay on the field after unloading a few right hooks.
Easts adopted a kick based game, and surprisingly Brandon did not feature as much in this as you'd expect. UJ and Krelle did a lot of kicking, and for the most part, did it quite well.
It was fairly even at the breakdown, with a lot of physicality in defence. The game was set apart by the back-lines. Brothers back three was pretty devastating on the counter, and Sam Greene ran the show perfectly, whilst Easts struggled to get momentum, and too often looked flat in attack.
Two of Brothers tries were very opportunistic, which says something about Easts alertness, because it was very similar against GPS last week. Greene's try was a prime example, as there was a turnover, yet no Tigers defender covered at fullback, allowing for the kick-chase try.
The Tigers scrum was decimated by the Filth towards the end, which was to be expected with Parakka and Kimmance out of the side.
Overall, Brothers were the deserved winners, and Easts really have to look at their consistency. I would argue they are just as good as the competition front runners at the moment, yet they are not putting in the all round performances they need, with way too many handling errors.
For Brothers, Sam Greene was my stand out. He looks very calm at 10, and his kicking game is outstanding. Really runs the show well for his age.
Others that impressed were Luke Beauchamp, who has seriously bulked up since last year, the tighthead prop and Pierce Fitzgerald.
For Easts, Michael Gunn was in a league of his own. Everything he did was a class above. He tackled like a machine, ran aggressively, was effective at the breakdown, and his last try was just a show of how talented he is. I cannot back this kid enough, he really has some serious talent and I hope the Reds are paying attention.
Andrew Ready continued from his good game last week, while James Moore and Manasa Rokosuka were very effective in the contact area.
UJ Seuteni looked very good second game back. He is running hard, kicking well and ball playing very effectively. He does however need to work on this "shoot defence" he tends to do. Fair enough you put pressure on the ball player, but too often he misses the tackle.
All in all, frustrating to see the Tigers lose, but another entertaining Ladies Day infront of a packed crowd.
All I ask is for that Brothers supporter who yells out "AND AGAIN BROTHERS!" every two seconds to shut up. After a while all you can hear is "SJFJNFKSJFNKJSN BROTHERS!".
