Monday, 22 April 2019

Rankings: Hull KR 6-54 Warrington

A tremendous team performance score nine tries and 54 unanswered points at Craven Park as Warrington bounced back from two defeats in style. Here are my player rankings from the game...


1 - Daryl Clark
What a player this guy is. He's at the top of his game every week without fail. Another great performance here. Involved in a lot of good passing and creative play, as well as a good defensive shift, capped off by an unbelievable last-ditch tackle to deny a certain try in the first half. Given that the scores were level at that point, that was a big moment.



2 - Blake Austin

Austin's just a joy to watch, isn't he? Whenever he has the ball in his hand you feel like something is going to happen. He scored today for the sixth game in a row, which means he stays joint-top of the league scoring chart, with Charnley. As well as his nice try, he created a lot of good Warrington play too, including Charnley's try. Top quality player.

3 - Stefan Ratchford

Vastly improved today after two awful games recently. Caught everything he had to, passed the ball well, carried well and put on a wonderful exhibition of goal-kicking - nine from nine. This was the Ratchford we know and love.

4 - Josh Charnley

His potency in front of the tryline is his most obvious strength, but there are so many elements to his game that were on show here. A superb display defensively, putting in a number of good tackles including a try-stopping one early on, as well as a few safe takes from high kicks. Nice finish in the corner for try number 12 for 2019.

5 - Tom Lineham

Back in the team and back with two tries - identical to his last visit to the city of Hull. Interestingly, both of his tries mirrored the ones at Hull FC - one forcing his way into the corner and one interception full-length. A solid defensive shift too, with plenty of good carries from the back line.

6 - Joe Philbin

A great impact from the bench which perhaps shows that it is stints as an interchange that is how he is best fulfilled. Scored his first two tries of the season today, both of which were really nice efforts, particularly his first one where he had to acrobatically finish.

7 - Bryson Goodwin

This was one of Goodwin's best displays in a Wire shirt. He worked hard all game, tackled well and carried the ball brilliantly, with two or three really good runs. His try was nice too, cutting his way through the defence before crossing over. The back line was excellent today and I thought Jake Mamo would come back in at the weekend, but Goodwin will be hard to drop after that.

8 - Sitaleki Akauola

All season there have been calls for Akauola to play a part, which I hadn't really subscribed to, but he did really well from the bench here, in his first appearance of the season. He ran hard and made up plenty of ground, and scored a nice try which was all about determination and drive. Could be involved again at the weekend now, because that was an impressive first game of 2019.

9 - Ben Murdoch-Masila
After a shocking display last week where some questioned his effort, Murdoch-Masila was very good today. He started the game - his first start of 2019 - and worked hard. His carries were good and his metres were better than last week. He also played the vast majority of the game, which is rare for him.

10 - Toby King

King had quite a shaky start to the game and wasted an opportunity to score when he opted to go for the line rather than pass to Charnley, but from there on in his performance was excellent. Some good defensive work and he got his reward with a nice try in the corner. I'm a big fan of King and I think we missed him against Salford - for me he's definitely our best centre.

11 - Chris Hill

A solid display from Hill. Some good carries which got the team fair metres. Didn't do much spectacular but kept his game simple and effective, and got a rest in the second half when the game was won.

12 - Matt Davis

Another decent showing for Davis. He set up Akauola's try with a good ball from dummy half late on, which was the highlight of his first Warrington start. Maybe he is the answer to our loose forward conundrum?

13 - Jason Clark

A pretty quiet afternoon for Clark, who didn't get on the field until later than usual. He did okay with the ball though. He's always a decent option from the bench in my opinion, though sometimes he doesn't have enough impact on the game.


14 - Lama Tasi
This was easily Tasi's best game. Starting at prop, he worked hard and made up a fair number of metres, as well as making a line break! Seriously! If he continues this I'll start to think of him more positively.

15 - Jack Hughes

Not his best game, purely because he didn't have much impact on it. His best moment of the afternoon was a pass to King which was well collected for a try in the second half. Hughes isn't in great form but is still a definite pick. Dealt with an issue with BMM and the referee in the second half.

16 - Declan Patton

Weird one. Patton has numerous assists to his name from this match yet his overall performance wasn't great. A few weird decisions in the attacking areas of the pitch. I still think decision making is Patton's biggest weakness.

17 - Harvey Livett

Barely remembered he came on, to be honest. Didn't do anything wrong, just wasn't on long and didn't have much impact.

A very good team performance from Wire today. Hopefully we're back on track now! Check out my match report and let me know your thoughts on my rankings too. This week on the blog I'll be building up to the Huddersfield Giants game at the weekend too.

It's always our year.

Daniel (@aloosewire)

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