2021 season

[panthersam]

Front Row.

Jack, Tetevano, Ellis and our captain in Tamou all gone with a journeyman in Eisunhuth filling the gap.

We’ve always had three or four centres. The quality is the question.

Hmmm I can see your point, obviously Tamou and Tetevano both in our 17 from last year. I’d argue that Eisenhuth in a team like ours is already a better option than Ellis - never really saw what others saw in him.

Hethero has the potential but is already behind when it comes to the judiciary and discipline. Also the fact that Spencer is a chance to be better than all four of those props by halfway through the season as well as the opportunity for Capewell to get way more minutes than last season (albeit different positions, I believe he is of higher quality than the four mentioned also) I think our squad probably is in a little better shape now than last year.

Also if Leota can continue last years form he will probably be more valuable by the end of the season than last years props too - I’d say at the very worst our squad has gone sideways, but I see it as an overall improvement for sure.

 

[betcats]

Front Row.

Jack, Tetevano, Ellis and our captain in Tamou all gone with a journeyman in Eisunhuth filling the gap.

We’ve always had three or four centres. The quality is the question.

Ellis is a good solid reserve grader. We will have better players than Ellis outside our top 17 for sure.

 

[Kilkenny]

Ellis is a good solid reserve grader. We will have better players than Ellis outside our top 17 for sure.

No question.

Our number 1 front row rotation in 2019 was Tamou, JFH, Tetevano and Leota.

Our number 1 front row rotation in 2020 may potentially be JFH, Leota, Lenui and Eisenhuth.

I’m not sure the two compare and it could be a potential Achilles heel for us this season even allowing for the fact we would be hoping for Leota to improve and Lenui will almost certainly improve big time. I wouldn’t want too many injuries in our front row stocks though the depth is no longer there and would mean potentially playing players who in the front row who are not best suited there or natural front rowers.

 

[Aliceinwonderland]

I think it's 2021.....(I get caught out myself at times)

It's hard to tell but potentially if Lindsay Smith comes along well he is depth. I don't know any others off hand....(because of no cup in 2020)

Hetherington I have my doubts about. I see his cards being marked because of previous poor discipline. Tetevano and Tamou are losses. Although Tamou in previous years 2017, 2018 or 2019 weren't all that flash. So he did owe us.

 

[franklin2323]

Front Row.

Jack, Tetevano, Ellis and our captain in Tamou all gone with a journeyman in Eisunhuth filling the gap.

We’ve always had three or four centres. The quality is the question.

Not all those were starters here but lets break it down. You need to look at the overall squad not just gains and losses

Tamou - I see Yeo and Martin getting more time at prop in fact Yeo was at prop plenty to allow for May

Leinu is better than those 3 mentioned

On 1st grade games alone Eisenhuth and Sorensen have those others covered. Hard to say on Smith yet

 

[franklin2323]

Hmmm I can see your point, obviously Tamou and Tetevano both in our 17 from last year. I’d argue that Eisenhuth in a team like ours is already a better option than Ellis - never really saw what others saw in him.

Hethero has the potential but is already behind when it comes to the judiciary and discipline. Also the fact that Spencer is a chance to be better than all four of those props by halfway through the season as well as the opportunity for Capewell to get way more minutes than last season (albeit different positions, I believe he is of higher quality than the four mentioned also) I think our squad probably is in a little better shape now than last year.

Also if Leota can continue last years form he will probably be more valuable by the end of the season than last years props too - I’d say at the very worst our squad has gone sideways, but I see it as an overall improvement for sure.

plenty of young guys yet to peak in the squad. The potential is enormous

 

[franklin2323]

I think it's 2021.....(I get caught out myself at times)

It's hard to tell but potentially if Lindsay Smith comes along well he is depth. I don't know any others off hand....(because of no cup in 2020)

Hetherington I have my doubts about. I see his cards being marked because of previous poor discipline. Tetevano and Tamou are losses. Although Tamou in previous years 2017, 2018 or 2019 weren't all that flash. So he did owe us.

Leinu wasn't in the top 17 last year. Probably due to Tetevano's experience another off season. Hell he didn't have one last year will help.

Capewell can cover Tamou given someone will push up.

 

[Kilkenny]

Leinu wasn't in the top 17 last year. Probably due to Tetevano's experience another off season. Hell he didn't have one last year will help.

Capewell can cover Tamou given someone will push up.

You can’t put square pegs in round holes.

You make assumptions if something untoward happens to the likes of Leota or JFH you simply think we wave the magic wand and our current specialist back rowers can simply fill the void with no obvious drop in go forward or overall performance. It ain’t gonna happen mate, playing in the front row remains a specialist position I’m not sure you can simply think playing Liam Martin there or anyone else will do as good a job. It won’t happen.

 

[Kilkenny]

Not all those were starters here but lets break it down. You need to look at the overall squad not just gains and losses

Tamou - I see Yeo and Martin getting more time at prop in fact Yeo was at prop plenty to allow for May

Leinu is better than those 3 mentioned

On 1st grade games alone Eisenhuth and Sorensen have those others covered. Hard to say on Smith yet

Mate, you will say and do anything to justify the post Gus Gould era given you were so anti Gus.

You want to justify us not re-signing or letting go three quality NRL front rowers by suggesting all good Yeo and or Martin and or Kikau can just do the job. Well none of the above are front rowers, never have been and it is a big call to suggest they can step up if required. It just doesn’t work that way in the NRL, you need specialists playing in positions they are best suited and put any spin on our current situation you like but the fact is we are worse of in the engine room than last season and even worse we will miss the hard yards of Josh Mansour

 

[Aliceinwonderland]

Don't we have Lindsay Smith sitting outsiide the top 17 (perhaps rough but it's difficult to know what a pre-season with the top squad does for a young kid) Are there other young kids ready to step up.

It's not like the old days when you had inside and outside props who had specualists roles within the scrum. Very important roles too.

Withe the rule changes the very large bodies (some props) of the last 10 years have become yesterdays men.

In the future we could see players like Yeo (especially) become full blown front rower.

I can see another depth front rower coming perhaps in the next little while,

Unlike you I'm excited for season 2021. To see if the mighty Penriff Panthers can sustain and build on what happened in 2020, whilst being the hunted.....not the hunting.

The club was never going to be able to carry huge depth especially after so many players had breakout years in 2020, and needed to be upgraded.

 

[Aliceinwonderland]

I will hang my shingle. I was very much pro Gus....Although he made a couple of huge mistakes during his time at the club. I believe he overpaid some players Cartwright, RCG, perhaps even Blake,

 

[franklin2323]

Mate, you will say and do anything to justify the post Gus Gould era given you were so anti Gus.

You want to justify us not re-signing or letting go three quality NRL front rowers by suggesting all good Yeo and or Martin and or Kikau can just do the job. Well none of the above are front rowers, never have been and it is a big call to suggest they can step up if required. It just doesn’t work that way in the NRL, you need specialists playing in positions they are best suited and put any spin on our current situation you like but the fact is we are worse of in the engine room than last season and even worse we will miss the hard yards of Josh Mansour

Got nothing to do with be anti or pro Gus

It has to do with keeping together a great squad

Would you rather keep those guys and lose Crichton or Luai etc? That is how the cap works

 

[franklin2323]

You can’t put square pegs in round holes.

You make assumptions if something untoward happens to the likes of Leota or JFH you simply think we wave the magic wand and our current specialist back rowers can simply fill the void with no obvious drop in go forward or overall performance. It ain’t gonna happen mate, playing in the front row remains a specialist position I’m not sure you can simply think playing Liam Martin there or anyone else will do as good a job. It won’t happen.

As it sits we still have Eisenhuth, Kenny, Burns, Burton etc outside the top 17. So depth is there. That isn't counting Lindsay Smith and any other kid that might warrant a call up

 

[panthersam]

Mate, you will say and do anything to justify the post Gus Gould era given you were so anti Gus.

You want to justify us not re-signing or letting go three quality NRL front rowers by suggesting all good Yeo and or Martin and or Kikau can just do the job. Well none of the above are front rowers, never have been and it is a big call to suggest they can step up if required. It just doesn’t work that way in the NRL, you need specialists playing in positions they are best suited and put any spin on our current situation you like but the fact is we are worse of in the engine room than last season and even worse we will miss the hard yards of Josh Mansour

The best suited positions for the players you have mentioned are James Tamou playing prop for the Tigers, Zane Tetevano playing prop for Leeds and Jack Hetherington playing for the Bulldogs (I’m not even going to include Ellis, surely you know you were clutching with that one lol) so that we have the ability to keep superstars like Jarome Luai and Stephen Crighton playing 5/8 and centre for the Panthers.

Of course I’m sure we would have all rather kept James Tamou over Matt Eisenhuth, but would any of us wanted to have kept James Tamou over say a Spencer Leniu or the players I have mentioned above? I really doubt that!

Mansours ‘hard yards’ have been overstated on their importance for years now, a few seasons back when we had an underperforming forward pack they were a whole lot more important - with how good our forwards are now, I’d take the possibility of a Charlie Staines type who can cover way more ground than Mansour was able to before the defence reaches him - and it’s not like he will be getting dragged back five metres every time he takes a hit up lol also have you not seen the metres that Brian To’o eats up every time he takes a carry? It’s just like having a prime Mansour again except with better footwork.

 

[Kilkenny]

Mansours ‘hard yards’ have been overstated on their importance for years now, a few seasons back when we had an underperforming forward pack they were a whole lot more important - with how good our forwards are now, I’d take the possibility of a Charlie Staines type who can cover way more ground than Mansour was able to before the defence reaches him - and it’s not like he will be getting dragged back five metres every time he takes a hit up lol also have you not seen the metres that Brian To’o eats up every time he takes a carry? It’s just like having a prime Mansour again except with better footwork.

Underestimate the work Josh Mansour did for us at your own peril.

The proof will be in the pudding so to speak.

It will surely be an interesting conversation around the end of season 2021.

 

[panthersam]

Underestimate the work Josh Mansour did for us at your own peril.

The proof will be in the pudding so to speak.

It will surely be an interesting conversation around the end of season 2021.

I’ll be happy to fall on my sword if that is somehow the case, but the way you are speaking it sounds like if we don’t improve on the 17 in a row and win the grand final this season then you are going to say it’s because we were missing Mansour’s work for us lol which I’m definitely sure that won’t be the case

Surely can see the upside in replacing Mansour with a winger who scored more tries in 60 minutes than Mansour had in like 2-3 seasons before last years season where he may have scored some tries, but on the end of that backline I honestly think I would end up with 15+ tries lol

 

[Kilkenny]

I’ll be happy to fall on my sword if that is somehow the case, but the way you are speaking it sounds like if we don’t improve on the 17 in a row and win the grand final this season then you are going to say it’s because we were missing Mansour’s work for us lol which I’m definitely sure that won’t be the case

Surely can see the upside in replacing Mansour with a winger who scored more tries in 60 minutes than Mansour had in like 2-3 seasons before last years season where he may have scored some tries, but on the end of that backline I honestly think I would end up with 15+ tries lol

I guess if he can stay fit and on the field we may benefit. Time will tell.

 

[Aliceinwonderland]

I’ll be happy to fall on my sword if that is somehow the case, but the way you are speaking it sounds like if we don’t improve on the 17 in a row and win the grand final this season then you are going to say it’s because we were missing Mansour’s work for us lol which I’m definitely sure that won’t be the case

Surely can see the upside in replacing Mansour with a winger who scored more tries in 60 minutes than Mansour had in like 2-3 seasons before last years season where he may have scored some tries, but on the end of that backline I honestly think I would end up with 15+ tries lol

There is huge upside in the future (as long as Staines continues to improve and stays fit) in having an agile winner who has speed. Like Gus Gould I believe speed can't be coached.

I appreciate the years that Sauce gave the club. Some of those years early in the piece were tough years too.

Sadly time has caught up with Josh and he has been moved on.

I refuse to continually look backwards at the past. Yep the past needs to have it's due respect. But as a club we must continue to move forward.

Living in the past, says to me that the best is behind us. I believe the present time and the future have the potential to be very exciting times.

 

[betcats]

Mate, you will say and do anything to justify the post Gus Gould era given you were so anti Gus.

You want to justify us not re-signing or letting go three quality NRL front rowers by suggesting all good Yeo and or Martin and or Kikau can just do the job. Well none of the above are front rowers, never have been and it is a big call to suggest they can step up if required. It just doesn’t work that way in the NRL, you need specialists playing in positions they are best suited and put any spin on our current situation you like but the fact is we are worse of in the engine room than last season and even worse we will miss the hard yards of Josh Mansour

You are seriously overestimating what sauce did for us. No offence mate but it feels like you will say anything to criticise the post Gus panthers. You were very critical last off season and we had a brilliant year. We gave a gun squad locked in, we are replacing the props that were lost with our young props and signing some depth players.

 

[WestyLife]

People talk about Mansour like the club will fall apart without him. He was good at his particular skill which was that power running but that's really it. It's not like he was immortal so would've retired soon anyway.

Also there's no chance regardless of the roster we go 17 in a row again. There's a reason the next best team to do it were salary cap cheating at the time.

Also also we haven't turned to garbage with the lost props we've just come down to the level of every other team. Our roster was better than anyone else and would've been over the cap if not for the fact most were juniors on less than their true worth.