Round 5 V Storm

[Panther Pete]

I actually thought there wouldn't be much in this game but it just highlights how far off we are from being premiership favourites. We never, ever looked like winning tonight and are now 2 wins from 5 games. I would love to be as confident about our chances this year as many of you on this forum but tonight showed me where we are really at.

 

[PenrithPanther45]

He's been good but he's not a centre and Blake sure as f**k isn't a winger

I don't know about him not being a centre, he has looked very comfortable there albeit for a couple of defensive lapses. But I 100% agree that Blake is not a winger.

 

[Pomoz]

My five points from the game:

1. We should just give the Storm a set of Panthers jumpers and be done with it. They spent more time in our attacking line than most of our players. They spent most of their time offside and when they weren't doing that they lay all over us and wrestled us like Hulk Hogan. The ref's gave them so much time to lay on us we just could not generate momentum.

2. If anybody questions the value of Cartwright, tonight is why we need him. Run straight, pop an offload, play a short ball. We so needed that.

3. Peachey maybe a great ball runner but he butchers so many tries because he won't pass. He had Blake outside him 2m from the line and tried to go himself. They should get his eyes tested, maybe he can't see other players because he is short sighted.

4. Too much touch football, running sideways and not enough straight runners. Corey Parker said it best. You need to run through Melbourne, not around them. Moylan tried too many cut-out passes which only work if you are going forward.

5. DWZ is in great form and so is Blake, although Blake would love to get the ball every so often (hint, hint Tyrone). They did us proud against two of the best wingers in the comp.

 

[PenrithPanther45]

I actually thought there wouldn't be much in this game but it just highlights how far off we are from being premiership favourites. We never, ever looked like winning tonight and are now 2 wins from 5 games. I would love to be as confident about our chances this year as many of you on this forum but tonight showed me where we are really at.

I personally think tonight's game wasn't a reflection of how far off we are but more so how far off every team is from Melbourne. They are just simply class.

 

[TheFrog]

He has been one of our best in every game so far. That was one bad game from him.

He needs to pass to his winger when the winger is in a better position than him. Blake would have scored for sure.

 

[PenrithPanther45]

He needs to pass to his winger when the winger is in a better position than him. Blake would have scored for sure.

I do admit that is certainly true.

 

[Rowdy Panther]

Peach isn't a centre and Blake isn't a winger......I wonder what changes could sort this. Simple f**king stuff

Agreed. You are the missing link. A simple, not bright and eager drunk - you are the answer to all our problems. LOL

 

[PenrithPanther45]

TMM is continually proving to be a fantastic buy. It is great to see both our halves consistently taking on the line. All he is missing now is a short kicking game. One concern from that game which has been alluded to is 5th tackle options. We really struggle to force goal line drop outs.

 

[umina panther]

Agreed. You are the missing link. A simple, not bright and eager drunk - you are the answer to all our problems. LOL

Even drunk my team selections make far more sense

 

[Panther Pete]

I want to know what Griffin is bringing to the team. We have the raw talent, but when you see a game plan in which the fifth tackle play is either (a) midfield bomb if we are over halfway or (b) run it and hope the opposition knocks it down if we are inside the 20, then you have to wonder.

We need someone who can take this talent and make it smart and consistent. At the moment all I see is a team with no real direction - the lack of structure can help to blow away shitty teams, but as soon as we turn up against a smart, well-drilled team, we flounder.

I don't think this is our year anyway, never was. But we HAVE to have a coach that is molding the team to consistently improve in terms of work ethic and in-game tactics so that we can challenge from next season on. Anyone seeing this yet?

I believe this post sums up our situation perfectly. Now I know the usual suspects will come out and attack us for blaming the coach for a loss but what appeared to be be a game plan of not kicking in goal for a repeat set is surely questionable.

 

[Port Panther]

they are coached not to kick to the in goal area as griffen thinks its too risky may give away 7 tackles .

 

[chrisD]

Disappointed in the result but not the effort or football. Maybe one other team would have been in that game after 70mins like we were. That's as good as goaline defence comes and their first half was the best of any team this season.

Some defensive lapses, they caught us napping a few times and we need to learn to be switched on all the time. Peachey specifically needs to iron out those reads. Dropping the ball over the line, don't know what you do about that, hold the ball. Get some more minutes and earlier minutes out of Kikau and Latu, put Mansour in there and especially Cartwright and otherwise continue playing like that and we'll stroll into the four.

 

[Thirsty Panther]

Hats off to the Storm. We had 56 tackles in their 20m zone and came up with nothing in the 2nd half.

We went wide on just about every occasion rather than hit it up the middle. I assume that was to nullify the Storm defenses tactic of getting multiple players in the tackle and slowing the play the ball down. Unfortunately it didn't work.

 

[Pomoz]

I would like to offer a sense of proportion here. We dropped the ball over the line TWICE! We made more metres, missed fewer tackles and we were not at full strength. Our spine has an 18 and a 19 year old. The Storm have 3 future immortals in their spine, one of whom is easily the greatest hooker ever to play the game, daylight second. In spite of that, we gave them a tough and difficult game.

We didn't get the bickies but you can see there is a great team developing, with toughness and commitment running through them. There is still growth in the team, they just need experience. They will have learned from this. Our halves have played five games together. Five. This was worth 10 games of experience alone.
[EDIT] Make that 20 games!

 

[umina panther]

Moylan looks terribly out of form for the first time ever.

 

[PenrithPanther45]

Moylan looks terribly out of form for the first time ever.

He was a bit off tonight but to be fair he was very well wrapped up by Melbourne.

 

[Pomoz]

The Storm had Moylan's number alright, he will probably check in the boot of his car when he gets home to make sure Chambers isn't hiding in it.

 

[umina panther]

He was a bit off tonight but to be fair he was very well wrapped up by Melbourne.

Not just this game. TMM and Cleary are asking for more ball and doing pretty well but Moylan is by far our best at this point. We need to find the balance.

Carty is also the one we need to break these top defensive teams

 

[chrisD]

Moylan's fine, they just read our backline and tackled superbly all game. He's as dangerous as ever, well besides when he had Cartwright to work with in a ball playing role.

We went side to side so often and so flat because we struggled to make inroads in the middle. It's the Storm, that's somewhat likely to happen and we weren't terrible in the middle, but I've no doubt we could offer more by using our impact forwards better.

 

[umina panther]

And its ok to have a game plan to bomb a player but to do it over and over with no one chasing it?