Round 20 v Titans @ Pepper Stadium

[GongPanther]

Post match conference:

http://www.nrl.com/rd-20-press-conference-panthers/tabid/10959/tab/6/contentid/926789/default.aspx

 

[TheFrog]

Matt Moylan: The hammy is alright. It's a bit tight. The coaching staff said it would be a good idea to come off.

Exactly what Greg Alexander said on air. He must have got a phone call (or made one perhaps). But he is one of the coaching staff isn't he?

 

[TheFrog]

Cleary playing better without Moylan can easily be overcome, should just be a matter of the coach indentifying the issue and chatting to both players.

Edwards is too good at the back to not make it work.

If Cronk and Thurston can exist in the same team so can these two.

 

[kinghippo]

We strung together about 50 minutes of good play, which obviously was enough.
I loved the try Edwards layed off to waqa. It looked a lot like Moylans pet play from last year, it needs to happen more.
Great games from RCG and latu they really helped steady the ship when they came on.

 

[herbert henry1908]

We must find a way to get Blake more involved, such a weapon and whilst he still has an occasional mistake he's much better than what it once was.

 

[Pomoz]

....

RCG pff the bench has been a beast. But hes replacing by far the worst front rower in the competition... it doesnt take much to bed an upgrade from Browne.

I think you are being unfair. Brown is a tradesman. He soaks up the tough stuff for the first ten and does his job. Then RCG come on when the defensive sting has been drawn and is just steamrolling them. I am going to go out on a limb and say that it was good coaching from Griffin and has been very effective for the last two weeks.

The bench plays today were very timely and changed the games momentum. The Moylan situation is why its good to have a Katoa type player on the bench. Wallace slotted into half and we didn't miss a beat.

Wallace looked a bit short of breath at times and will be much better for this run. JFH better for the run as well. He also isn't there yet with his match fitness.

Meanwhile in ISP Cartwright played well and got plenty of game time so we could be getting another troop back soon.

I would rest Moylan against the Dogs. We don't need his flair for that game. It will be fight in the trenches and Cleary is more than capable of handling the team. Wallace can play half and Rein or Katoa hooker. Preferably Rein because the Dogs are tough up front.

Mansour still not back to his best but still rolling the sleeves up and doing his job.

The refs missing the trip was disgraceful. The video ref should have his pay docked and should have told the ref about the play as a reportable offence.

I think it would be fair to say our forwards got on top today and against a tough old pack that has been playing well. Well done the grunts.

 

[Blues Riff]

Ha, just noticed the Titan's back of jersey sponsor- "Trip"aDeal. lol.
But yeah, no way Moylan should back up after 5 days.

 

[PenrithPanther45]

I'm happy with Moylan not backing up as long as they don't rush Bryce in as his replacement. Bryce needs to return at lock or at least in the forwards.

 

[umina panther]

I'm happy with Moylan not backing up as long as they don't rush Bryce in as his replacement. Bryce needs to return at lock or at least in the forwards.

Asking Bryce to play 5/8 again doesn't help anyone. Play May again and Carty on the bench

 

[OldPanther]

I have to say our attack was better. A few less drop balls and it would have been a bigger win. They were running deeper in attack, hitting the centres more with the second rower as a short option. Don't know if that is Hook or Brandy's influence though.

 

[martielang]

Another tough win. Our execution is still average at best but our attitude has improved tremendously and our forwards have been fantastic over the past couple of months. Titans have a tough pack but we controlled field position for the most part today. Latu, Tamou & RCG all great.

Moylan can be a great player but it seems pretty simple to me, he's just not playing straight enough. Seems to be running a lot of the sweeping lines he was when he was at fullback which limits the space for Edwards and the outside men.

I know we won but I still think we got found out a little with Wallace at 9. Got beaten on the outside a few times defensively and we just didn't have the same zip around the ruck.

What about the meltdown if we keep going the way we are & make the 8 & Griffin gets an extension lol

 

[billypilgrimnz]

Tamou was not great. He was 12th in the team for meters gained. Agree on RCG though. The bench suits him. Merrin and Tamou (assuming he starts earning his money) as starting props and Cartwright in for Leota at 13 and we will be humming.

 

[OldPanther]

Tamou was not great. He was 12th in the team for meters gained. Agree on RCG though. The bench suits him. Merrin and Tamou (assuming he starts earning his money) as starting props and Cartwright in for Leota at 13 and we will be humming.

I honestly don't think Tamou is there for run metres or anything. To me it looks like he's some experience while we develop our pack. Hope he isn't signed too long though.

 

[billypilgrimnz]

I honestly don't think Tamou is there for run metres or anything. To me it looks like he's some experience while we develop our pack. Hope he isn't signed too long though.

The part in bold is concerning.

 

[mxlegend99]

I think you are being unfair. Brown is a tradesman. He soaks up the tough stuff for the first ten and does his job. Then RCG come on when the defensive sting has been drawn and is just steamrolling them. I am going to go out on a limb and say that it was good coaching from Griffin and has been very effective for the last two weeks.

This week he gained 52m and made an error. He makes no impact with his runs or tackles and the opposition have momentum when he is on.

Just ridiculous to have a player who offers nothing when we have guys like Sitaleki Akauolo available.

RCG was great yesterday and its nice to see Latu running at the line more often.

52m from Browne
21m from Leota

2 starting forwards who combined ran for less than our entire backline and halves.

Tamou was also shit. Merrin gets injured and he fails to even rack up 100 metres for us. RCG ran for twice as many metres as Tamou... who is withoit a doubt the worst value for money signing this club has made.

Tamou should be in our top 3 every week. Not bottom 3.

 

[billypilgrimnz]

Looks increasingly like it's going to be a shootout for us and the Dragons for 8th. If Manly win today, the top 6 are three wins ahead of us - no way we are catching any of them. The Eels may get dragged into the fight, though they will be 4 points ahead if they win today.

Both us and the Dragons have similarly easy runs home - and we play each other in Round 25. That could conceivably be a run-off for 8th spot.

 

[TheFrog]

Tamou was also shit. Merrin gets injured and he fails to even rack up 100 metres for us. RCG ran for twice as many metres as Tamou... who is withoit a doubt the worst value for money signing this club has made.

For a top line forward, he should be playing more than 43 minutes. He was OK without being anything special when he was out there.When running the ball he seems to stop just before impact as though he doesn't want to get hurt, unlike RCG who appears completely fearless.

It seems likely Cartwright will return to the side next game, most likely on the bench (if he's not at 6 that is). Normally you'd expect Browne to make way but it's against his old club, so Browne might be retained.

Looks increasingly like it's going to be a shootout for us and the Dragons for 8th

It looks like the teams below us can safely book tickets to Bali for September, and the Dragons winning will put them all 6 points out of the 8, much too big a gap to make up. Maybe if the Dragons lose they retain a glimmer of a chance, mathematical I think they call it..

 

[tripster]

I think you are being unfair. Brown is a tradesman. He soaks up the tough stuff for the first ten and does his job. Then RCG come on when the defensive sting has been drawn and is just steamrolling them. I am going to go out on a limb and say that it was good coaching from Griffin and has been very effective for the last two weeks.

The bench plays today were very timely and changed the games momentum. The Moylan situation is why its good to have a Katoa type player on the bench. Wallace slotted into half and we didn't miss a beat.

Agree. I have been critical of Griffin at times over the course of the year, but credit where credit is due - starting RCG off the bench has made a massive difference to the impact that RCG has, and starting with Brown is working well. Brown tackled hard in that opening stint and we leaked only 6 points in the first half. Compare that to how we were going even a few weeks ago, and our problem was always our slow starts (leaking a lot of points then chasing from behind).

 

[martielang]

I think some people put too much emphasis on the stats. Like someone else said we leaked 6 points (when someone not covering the inside) when Tamou + Browne were on the field & this was when the Titans were at their most dangerous.

I didn't know know the run metres but I did notice Tamou making a few good runs up the middle & getting quick play the balls away, as well as being solid in defence. That's what I based my opinion on.

 

[tripster]

Looks increasingly like it's going to be a shootout for us and the Dragons for 8th. If Manly win today, the top 6 are three wins ahead of us - no way we are catching any of them. The Eels may get dragged into the fight, though they will be 4 points ahead if they win today.

Both us and the Dragons have similarly easy runs home - and we play each other in Round 25. That could conceivably be a run-off for 8th spot.

I had a bit of a play with the NRL ladder predictor, and I agree - basically we need a lot of results to go our way to finish higher. However, I think we could also pip the Eels or even Manly given their draws.

Unlike past years there is much more of a gulf between the top 8 sides and the bottom 8 sides and a lot of the remaining games involve the top 8 sides playing each other, so it will take us winning all of our games save for perhaps 1, and a few upsets of the bottom sides beating the top sides for us to go much higher.

We also have some tough games coming up. Bulldogs will be fired up on Thursday night coming off a huge loss to the Broncos, and they did beat the Saints a few weeks ago. We should win but can't be complacent. The game against the Cowboys will be tough. The game in Canberra will be tough. Saints will be fighting for their lives when we play them and that will be a tough game too, and we finish the season playing Manly in Manly, who might also be playing for a top 8 spot by that point depending on results - all in all I think we still have a pretty tough run into the finals.