“A rough match, against a superior opponent, who forces me on the back foot the entire game.

It is interesting, my opponent Coach StrangeFeller also says he feels uncomfortable for the game. Perhaps it is just words of comfort to me, but to my eye he had the answers to everything.

I cannot understand this Amazon team, and it is not quite to my liking. I will think more on if I will continue to learn them.

In any case, I must try to learn from this game.

Learnings:

1. FLAT LINE DEFENCE

Receiving kick is generally correct in mirror match of this kind, but Amazons have superb defence (when not coached my me) and we had many headaches.

The flat line defence of my opponent was impenetrable. T2-T3 we have opportunity to push into backfield, but play a reserved game. A mistake I think, as we are then forced into risky moves later on.

T5 we shift too far to side and allow 'L-Shape' compression on our position. T6 we have poor position which results in 2x stuns, one badly hurt, and a surf on our Blocker.

Things are desperate. We make a silly 65% play to break the defensive line. There is nothing else open to us, and must rely on a 22% play failing from my opponent to continue. Lucky.

2. POOR DEFENCE

T1 we do not space our flat line defence correctly. A 30% POW result would have split us. Lucky it did not happen.

T4 we fail to win the game. Leaving a 74% chance open to pull clear into the backfield. Perhaps we could have screened off the option better? Poor coaching on one side, brilliant vision from my opponent to punish us.

T7 we had a 53% play to attempt the winning score. It is maybe some nice thing to take from the game that we could find it. But it fails.

3. POOR PRESSURE

In overtime, the game is beyond us. We are defending, and down on numbers. The SOLID DEFENCE event is a trap, as we position poorly and punished with additional LOS blocks.

This was an attempt to apply some pressure, hoping for a fail. Poor coaching.

T3 we attempt to push onto ball for a scatter. On reflection, it could have been 2db, however it would increase the catch prospects of the surrounding 3x opposition. Still, I think that should have been the better play taken. Poor coaching- 1db are rarely a good option.

It is this turn, where we apply poor pressure, spending resources no longer on back field defence, where we lose the game. Silly. From there it was a routine score, with minor pressure able to be applied, with no method of recovery.

This is a testament to the coaching skill of my opponent, who played Amazons (for the first time ever) like a master. I was strangulated and unable to compete.

These are always frustrating games, when there is little to no agency, however we will look to take these lessons forward.”