There's a doubt in my mind.There were so many positives to take out of this game, honestly.
I reckon it is the loss that wakes us up to go up a level. We've been playing well obviously but not really anywhere near our best. It took absolutely atrocious kicking to keep them in it, really we should have won it in the first quarter alone.
Ashcroft looked absolutely amazing, best he has looked since his injury return, that's a great sign. We also have hopefully Hipwood and Payne to return but perhaps even more importantly, in my opinion, Reville. He is fantastic as sub and gives us a class player to inject late in games with a cool head.
Our forwards worked really hard to help defensively and our kids took ownership of the game early.
Play that game again on any other day and I'm sure we kick more than half those misses and we win by 20+. This is our premiership if we want it, there is no doubt about that in my mind.
But I'm hopeful IF most things go right we'll be competitive.