Perspective from a travelling supporter;
Great stadium; Rectangular stadiums make a huge difference to the atmosphere and enjoyment of the game.
Away support; 200 - 300 Nix supporters there - big numbers of families on holiday, "local" Kiwis and travelling school and sports teams.
The Beach; Small but very passionate group.
Culina; In a different league to anyone else on the pitch.
GCU >>>>>>>>>>>> Nix (last night).
Our mob;
We looked totally disorganised for all but the entire game - absolutely no pattern.
We were soft on the ball - same problem as a couple of other games this season - pushed off the ball repeatedly - often by smaller players - the 5ft nothing, 60kg African player (can't recall name) repeatedly physically embarrassed us.
We lack pace almost across right the pitch.
Ifill and Bertos - lost their mojo.
Discipline - poor again - this really worries me as it reflects a lack of leadership in the team.
4-3-3; As long as Ifill and Bertos are going to sleep walk through games 4-3-3 will be a failure.
Toto; Swimming against the tide I know but for the second time he has come on he looked OK to me - I'd rather have him than Ward start and give him a chance to see what he can do.
Pav; Rough and raw as but he is the most direct player we have and he has some pace and real physical presence - would like to see him play alongside Greenie and see what he could do with a bit more time.
I think Herbert, Dura and whoever (other senior players) need to sort some sh*t out - formation, discipline, attitude etc.
I've only just got back within distance of a computer and just want to add a bit to this good post by Whitby Boy about the GCU away experience, even though he posted almost a week ago.
Great stadium. I know it is not fashionable to bag Westpace/ROF but the shape is all wrong and it is a great shame that the 50 odd rectangle-requiring games played a year suffer because of 2 cricket games a year.
I also enjoyed the away support. I should really have introduced myself to some of you but I just went along with the chants as lustily as poss. Did it come through on the telly at all? I'm never sure how loud it really is - it seemed it when i was there. We, like the players, went totally off the boil in the second half though. Jet lag? I had only been in Oz two days and felt definitely a bit flat - or maybe it was just that I couldn't drink since needed to drive back to Coolangatta.
It seemed to me that when our subs came on, nothing in the game plan changed. Toto ran around quite hungrily I thought, but there was just nothing for him to feed on with those balls over the top constantly. Pav just had no touch at all that night. Credit to GCU though, I think they pressed the Nix really well in the second half. Disappointing for us fans too, because in second half we had been looking forward to seeing them down our end more often and it never really happened.
Anyone know the English guys who started the "Ten little children" chant? (Ten little children, walking down the street, Ten little children, walking down the street, And if one Clive Palmer, Should fancy one to eat, there'd be 9 small children, walking down the street"//No small children, walking down the st, no small children walking down the st, cos Fat Clive Palmer fancied them to eat, now there's no small children, walking down the street".)