Penrith 3 2 1s

[Valheru]

Argh another loss to these guys.

I'm actually not too down on the team after that. Penrith the better team but I saw enough to suggest we are on the right track and things can be different in 6 months (we don't pay them again this season).

The first half Penrith dominated in the middle and we just couldn't get momentum at all. Any time we defended well we followed up with an error and you just can't do that against this mob. The Second half was better in that aspect but then we let two soft tries in on the left side defence so communication needs to be looked at that.

It's somewhat similar to the manly game in that solid defence kept us in it despite losing the posession and field position battle.

In attack I thought they were good, any time we got a chance we looked likely. We just didn't spend anywhere near enough time down their end of the field. I also like the fightback at the end, too little too late but at least they played the 80 and kept going which is something we did not see last year.

Finally, I though Robbo put in a great performance in the presser. Recognised that Penrith were better and didn't get drawn in too much to the bunker stuff. He also said they are on the right trajectory and will continue to improve.

3 Rads
2 Manu
1 Angus

Overall 2-2 against Brisbane, manly, Souths and Penrith is fine and I personally would have taken that at the beginning of the season. F/A is healthy and importantly we are relatively injury free. Two games coming up against teams we "should" beat now, so the team needs to concentrate on that and bounce back.

 

[Captain Apollo]

Penrith win because they can stay in the grind and strangle the life out of you. Make any mistakes and they often exploit them for points. For example, they exploited Suaalii's penchance for rushing up and in defensively which Penrith exploited twice to score, the most noticeable being for Turuva's try in the second half.

I think having Lenui and Collins unavailable really effected our ability to get go forward in the middle. Not saying either JWH nor May were poor, but the punch was a bit missing when they were having a rest. Whyte is ok, but Egan Butcher plays better in the second row than in tight.

 

[Babyface O'reilly]

No points, Captain? You’re a hard man.

Like last week, giving points is difficult but for the opposite reasons. We weren’t terrible - just weren’t allowed to be good such was Penrith‘s class. I’m not upset, it’s early days but just a little disappointed in that ‘best of the rest’ might be the best we can hope to achieve although admittedly, hard to mark us given our outs.

We failed to work the ball our of our territory all night. Can only hope things would’ve been different if Spencer and Lindsey were playing. Having said that, it was still a bloody decent roster going in so that’s a worry. Our hands (seemingly our forever problem) let us down once again which killed any momentum we might’ve gain.

Nobody looked like they had given up despite knowing they were beaten which is a positive. Sammy’s long game may have been kept in check but his short kicks gave Penrith a few worries. Some neat steps too. Toops’ late try looked pretty special, especially liked the tap-on from Suaalii.

Manu gave us one of the best groundings of a non try I’ve seen in a while, the ruling of which still sucks.

Also, Keary should never be the last man standing in defence. I blame the boys there not Luke.

3. Joey
2. Rads
1. Cheese - They all tried but Brandon gave us a glimmer near the end.

 

[Captain Apollo]

No points, Captain? You’re a hard man.

Like last week, giving points is difficult but for the opposite reasons. We weren’t terrible - just weren’t allowed to be good such was Penrith‘s class. I’m not upset, it’s early days but just a little disappointed in that ‘best of the rest’ might be the best we can hope to achieve although admittedly, hard to mark us given our outs.

We failed to work the ball our of our territory all night. Can only hope things would’ve been different if Spencer and Lindsey were playing. Having said that, it was still a bloody decent roster going in so that’s a worry. Our hands (seemingly our forever problem) let us down once again which killed any momentum we might’ve gain.

Nobody looked like they had given up despite knowing they were beaten which is a positive. Sammy’s long game may have been kept in check but his short kicks gave Penrith a few worries. Some neat steps too. Toops’ late try looked pretty special, especially liked the tap-on from Suaalii.

Manu gave us one of the best groundings of a non try I’ve seen in a while, the ruling of which still sucks.

Also, Keary should never be the last man standing in defence. I blame the boys there not Luke.

3. Joey
2. Rads
1. Cheese - They all tried but Brandon gave us a glimmer near the end.

Points tbd. Want to think on it for a bit longer.

 

[Captain Apollo]

3 points: Victor Radley.

2 points: Joseph Manu.

1 point: Terrell May.

 

[H.H]

3 - Manu
2 - Rads
1 - Cheese

Panthers are relentless. Hard to see where we beat them, but let's hope we continue to improve as season goes on and who knows. But again, they are definitely the team to beat.