Just finished watching the replay so here's my full report,
Attack
I was really disappointed in our attack over all, mainly the attacking strategy and game plan. All week, the players and JD had been talking about sticking to our processes and not going away from that. While I agree with that, you have to be willing and able to adapt on the run. It was pretty clear in the opening 10-20 minutes that our conservative strategy of rucking it out from our own end wasn't working. It works against the majority of the NRL, but not against Penrith. They lap it up and contain it easily because it allows their line speed and ridiculous wrestling tactics to come to the fore. As I said, this clearly wasn't working as it meant we were just coming out of our end for most of the game and couldn't get into many positions to really attack. However, the boys didn't change, they didn't adapt, they didn't deviate from that.
Look at how we played in the last 15 minutes, it wasn't until the game was nearly too far out of reach that the boys actually started playing Footy and throwing it around. Penrith found this really hard to handle to be honest, hence our comeback at the end of the game. It was clear as day. They struggle to keep up and contain our shifts because it doesn't allow them to get line speed and wrestle. Thought we learnt this last year to be honest.
I just find it really disappointing because we've known this for a couple of years now and we knew it after not long in this game, so why didn't we start to play Footy earlier? I really feel the result could have been different if we did. That's on the coaching staff and senior players in my opinion, we need to be better a going to plan B. We're one of the best at throwing the ball around a bit, so why not use it more against teams like the Panthers? Also, we had five regular forwards missing, why did they think that was going to work with an under-manned pack? Just doesn't make sense to me.
Aside from all this though, far too many errors. The boys kept constantly putting themselves under pressure with a 68% completion rate. You're never going to beat them when you're giving them that many opportunities. Very disappointing. The thing is too, I could somewhat understand more errors if we were playing smart and moving the ball around as there's more of a risk to that, but when it's simple dropped balls and loose carries from hit ups, I won't cop that. Need to be so much better in that area. It was a bit of a flaw in our game in 2022, can't have a repeat of that in 2023.
Defence
Our defence in general play was pretty poor I thought. JD put it perfectly when he said we didn't 'step in enough.' For mine, he's mainly alluding to defence there. Hardly had any line speed all night, we weren't aggressive enough with this, nor was our first contact aggressive enough. Often we struggled to put them to ground and generally, we failed to slow the play-the-ball done, which is a result of not doing all these things prior. This was a huge reason for their insane roll on throughout the game. We hardly had a defensive set where we held them inside their 40 meter zone which had another big bearing on the result I feel. 42 missed tackles is simply not good enough for a top side and that's another sign of not 'stepping in.'
Despite this, our actual goal line defence was by far and away the highlight of this contest for me and on a bit of a rough night, certainly the most pleasing thing and a big positive to come out of the game. When you consider all the parts of our game that I've mentioned we got wrong, when you consider how good Penrith were playing (they looked incredible), when you look at how dominant they were in the stats, when you consider we were away from home, the fact that we kept them to just 16 points is simply incredible. We still might not have got the result but honestly, that's one of the best defensive performances I've seen from a Souths side in a number of years. The Panthers were so on and they threw absolutely everything they could at us, yet our lads stood up, played for one another and just kept turning them away and turning them away. They spent so much time down our end over the course of the game and we just lapped up so much of the pressure. Of course, we cracked a few times but that's always going to happen with that much ball for the opposition. And in saying that, their first try was somewhat lucky off that bomb, and the second shouldn't have stood.
So pretty damn happy with our goal line defence, a huge warning shot to the comp and a positive sign moving forward.
Player by Player
L.Mitchell: Gonna be honest, pretty disappointed in his performance to be honest. A huge game like that, we really needed him to stand up and be dominant but he didn't. Went missing for 65 minutes with hardly any involvement at all. He did come up with that try saver on Garner, so credit to him for that as that was a massive play but aside from that, not much to write home about. He did come alive with a big hand in our comeback though. A couple of huge carries where he threatened, great play for AJ's try, and then that incredible flick pass to Tass in the build up to his try. That was simply amazing. But it begs the question, why can't we see more? I love Latrell as much as anyone but I have to admit, I am becoming a bit concerned with his involvement as in his last four games for us (2022 Prelim, Charity Shield, Rounds 1 and 2), he hasn't done much. I'm concerned he's starting to talk the talk but no walk the walk. Need more, simple as that.
Johnston: I thought Aj had a pretty solid game. His carries were all pretty decent, as was his work rate. 12 runs for 129 meters is great from a winger! Can't ask for much more there. Found himself with a bit of room to move a couple of times though and I would have liked to have seem him back himself more and really go for it, looked a bit hesitant. Great finish for his try, had a hand in the lead up to Tass' try too. Defensively he held his own but did get caught out once however, that wasn't soley his fault, our left edge was too compressed. Not a bad night for AJ.
Tass: Impressive. He wasn't perfect or dominant, but he did still impress me at times. Very solid coming out of yardage and got through so much work. 168 meters of it in fact! The most of any Souths player. Did pose a bit of a threat on attack but he did kill a few moments. I counted 3 times that AJ was open, yet Tassy couldn't get the pass away so that's a work on for him. Brilliant, and I mean incredibly brilliant work for his try. Amazing skill to be able to kick ahead like that and score, play of the game for mine. Pretty good without the ball too, made some huge tackles defending the line.
Graham: Fantastic again was big Stretch, he has really gone up a level and proved it once again against the best of the best. Pretty dominant on his side defensively, barely anything got past him and he shut down plenty of Penrith's work. Inspirational in that area. His carries were pretty inspirational too and he managed to crack the 100 meters. Up there with one of our best I think.
Thompson: Bit of a mixed night for Izaac. He did some really great stuff, particularly his carries to get us out of trouble. He's such a great runner of the ball and proved it again on Thursday night on his way to 109 meters. However, there was some negative points to his game and it mostly involves his handling. his handling isn't great, dropped a fair bit of ball which you just can't do. That's a bit work on for him.
Walker: Disappointed in Cody too, much like Latrell. Needed him to step up and lead but he failed to do so. Instead, he fell into the trap again. Penrith baited him, he got angry, the red mist descended and put him off his game. It cost us a lot as he made errors, gave away penalties and as a whole was just largely ineffective. Great pass for AJ's try and his defence was really good but that's about where the positive stuff ends. he needs to be better. He's a senior player and a leader so don't get caught up in the silly shit. Simple as that. Calm Cody is what we need to be at our best. Needs to pull his head in a bit.
Ilias: After being brilliant last week, he didn't really back it up this week. He wasn't bad by any means, just solid that's all. His kicking game was good, apart from the out on the full, some of his bombs were really high. Solid defence and tried his hardest attacking their line. Aside from that, there's not much to say as he didn't get many chances. It's hard for a half to get into the game when you're being dominated through the middle. Same goes for Cody I guess.
