GRAND FINAL: Parramatta v Penrith GAME DAY THREAD at Accor 2/10/22

[lucablight]

Fatigue definitely got to us, as I thought it would last week. However something Gould said last week haunted me ever since:

So did Brad Arthur. He said it was a tough road to get there and maybe it took it’s toll.

 

[the phantom menace]

Now do all the world cup players and their NRL squads

Parra seems to have 16 players named... see post in World Cup thread.

CBF counting reps from the other clubs across all the squads though!

 

[lucablight]

Now do all the world cup players and their NRL squads

Evidently all non Kangaroos players like Sualii, Taumalolo and Luai are trash.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I thought Brown was okay but basically ineffective.

Yep and didn't reduce the minutes of any of our middles. Instead he took minutes from Kaufusi. Your best middles need to play long minutes. For Penrith that's Yeo and JFH. For us it's RCG, Paulo and Matterson.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I thought we belted them in the first 5 minutes - I've never seen us tackle that hard.

Problem is, we ran out of puff, Penrith weathered the storm, and rolled right through us.

We lack toilers, which means fatigue hits us very quickly when we don't control the ball.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

So I've just watched the first 27 minutes of the game. There was some seriously concerning signs from the outset.

From Panthers second set of the game, there was no line speed. They weren't neccessarily playing the ball any faster than us at this stage, we just sat there and waited for them to reach our defensive line.

Then, on the other side their line speed was relentless.

Were we seriously gassed after 2 minutes? I suspect not. We weren't ready to play a grand final. No way.

One thing I've thought for a while that we do far too often is run straight into the marker, and this was on show again last night. We were easy pickings for them.

The kick on the first tackle was a good play really, and we then had them 5 metres out from their tryline. But why wasnt this backed up with line speed and smash the shit out of them? We had them right where we wanted them - but no, Tackle 1 was 5 metres out, Tackle 2 15 metres out, Tackle 3 22 metres out, Tackle 4 30 metres out and Tackle 5, 41 metres out. All just from one out hit ups.

In contrast our responding set of six was
Tackle 1 16 metres out, Tackle 2 19 metres out, Tackle 3 23 metres out, Tackle 4 26 metres out, Tackle 5 34 metres out. We then kick inside their 20 metres and tackle 1 was 35 metres out. They score off this set of six on Tackle 5. Where was the kick chase to start? To start the set, it was non existent and again we waited for them to run into us. Just sat back and waited.

After we kick off they made 60 metres on 5 tackles and it literally became all too hard from there, the Panthers just took the easy metres on offer and we let them control the game.

Were they that great in this first 20 metres or were we just not up for the contest like we should've been?

I can't believe that a team who is ready to play in a grand final, basically stops moving up in defence after the first set of six in the match. It's not hard, it wasn't tactical brilliance, it was just laziness.

We were in no way ready and in the right frame of mind to play a grand final.

Disappointing really.

The main factor in linespeed is getting back onside for the next tackle. It uses up a lot of energy, and not all players have the same work rate and stamina. It's not just a matter of getting fitter. There's a natural aerobic component to it. It would be why guys like Leota and Leniu play short minutes while Yeo and JFH can sustain it for much longer.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

“BuT wE wErE rEaDy To PlAy ThE gAmE”


We played it like just any other game, but this wasn’t any other f**king game. It was one of the most important games in the clubs history. We came out half arsed and not ready to play. Anyone who can’t see this is being wilfully ignorant.

We played a style that suits our players all season and made it to the grand final. Why would we suddenly play differently ffs? So you could put shit on the coach regardless of what we do?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

View attachment 66998

Heavy underdogs in the last two. 2001 was a disgrace though. Absolute choke.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

2009 I had more hope as we where a great footy side. This year we where just up and down and inconsistent.

In 2009 we only scraped into the eight ffs. The team that made the grand final was the same team that was in 14th spot after round 18. Great teams don't start like that.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I'm feeling a bit down myself today.

Me too, a mate of mine died overnight.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Now do all the world cup players and their NRL squads

Those other countries have some good players but Australia would be the only one without any reserve graders in it. Maybe the Kiwis too.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Evidently all non Kangaroos players like Sualii, Taumalolo and Luai are trash.

That's a false correlation. It's not that the non-Kangaroos are trash, it's that the Parramatta players who are eligible for Australia weren't good enough to get picked. Gutherson, Moses, Matterson, Lane, Mahoney... all played in a grand final but can't get into the Aussie side.

 

[lucablight]

That's a false correlation. It's not that the non-Kangaroos are trash, it's that the Parramatta players who are eligible for Australia weren't good enough to get picked. Gutherson, Moses, Matterson, Lane, Mahoney... all played in a grand final but can't get into the Aussie side.

Paulo may have been good enough but he’s playing for Samoa. Lane is very unlucky to miss out. Brown, Niukore and Papali’i were good enough to make a strong NZ side but I’m sure that’s meaningless whilst JFH and Leota getting picked shows how strong Penrith are.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Paulo may have been good enough but he’s playing for Samoa. Lane is very unlucky to miss out. Brown, Niukore and Papali’i were good enough to make a strong NZ side but I’m sure that’s meaningless whilst JFH and Leota getting picked shows how strong Penrith are.

Well Paulo played Origin this year, so yes he might’ve been good enough, just like all the Penrith, Roosters, Souths and Storm players who also got picked.

We have a good team, but some of these other rosters are top shelf.

 

[lucablight]

Well Paulo played Origin this year, so yes he might’ve been good enough, just like all the Penrith, Roosters, Souths and Storm players who also got picked.

We have a good team, but some of these other rosters are top shelf.

We beat all those teams apart from Souths. Don’t sell the team short. We didn’t overachieve. We had a very good roster. Some of those teams have very individually talented players but a team is made up of 17 players not just the rep stars. Do you think putting Latrell in our team would have made a difference on Sunday night?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

We beat all those teams apart from Souths.

Yes, we overachieved. Our points differential and rep players confirms it.

Do you think putting Latrell in our team would have made a difference on Sunday night?

It didn't help Souths, why would it have helped us?

 

[lucablight]

Yes, we overachieved. Our points differential and rep players confirms it.

It didn't help Souths, why would it have helped us?

How do you know we didn’t perform below our potential during the season and come good at the end? Our team is just as talented as the ones you mentioned before. Rep selection is no objective measure either. Hynes and Edwards didn’t get selected like Lane. Does that mean they weren’t huge contributing factors in their teams’ success? Lindsay Collins was selected. Is he better than any of our starting forwards? (Hint: he’s not).
You seemed to be suggesting that we don’t have a top shelf roster like the other teams you mentioned. Yet you concede that adding a top shelf game breaker wouldn’t have made a difference.

 

[Jake the snake]

We were paying $3 to win immediately after beating the Cowboys ffs. Massive outsiders long before Brad Arthur prepared the team worse than you would have done if only you were in charge.

The spin has started

 

[Jake the snake]

You think that proves they were unmotivated? They were fatigued from having no ball ffs

 

[hineyrulz]

We played a style that suits our players all season and made it to the grand final. Why would we suddenly play differently ffs? So you could put shit on the coach regardless of what we do?

So our style was not to chase the collision with shit kick chase???