Finals Week Three: Broncos v Panthers

[soc123_au]

Blaize is still a baby, he will have learned a shitload this season and be better for it. I'm happy he is our 6 moving forward.

Speaking of babies, he might look 40, but Alamoti only sprouted his first pube at half time. That kid is a special talent.

 

[age.s]

We actually have a pretty well balanced squad age wise. We've not let father time creep up on us at least.

 

[Captain Apollo]

No. The Jordan and the bulls in basketball had a break.

and its was a 2 year break. The Houston Rockets won its only 2 NBA titles in that period (i.e. 1994 and 1995).

 

[The Realist]

Nah. I thought Nath was good yesterday. His kicking was very good, he made some dangerous runs and was a weapon in defense. He had a quiet last 20 but we were getting smashed. He was the best of our big players imo. Martin was good also, but I thought Yeo, Edwards and Too were lacking the energy that usually puts them in a different category of player. If there's a major concern out of this season, its how badly those 3 specifically faded towards the end of the year.

He was also right to shove at Mam too, who definitely took him out in the air. Every chance the bunker looks at that and gives a penalty (which we desperately needed) but it didnt work out that way. Martin flying in as hard as he did wasn't a smart move, but the way the NRL adjudicates on players sticking up for their team mates is beyond ridiculous (see the Dolphins/Roosters game a month or so ago). I'm not going to look too dimly on a back rower flying in to defend his halfback in a scuffle. Its footy, not hello kitty's island adventure.

How can we break down Nathans game? I am willing to have a good discussion about it.

Defense

I think he was great. Walsh targeted him the way he targeted Fogarty and Nath shut him down. The only fault I can find is that he decided to bat down a pass rather than trust the tackling - his own and his team mates.

Kicking

Was very good without being outstanding. 2020-2022 Cleary was a better kicker than 2025. His spiral bombs have disappeared. Also had 3-4 of his grubbers defused.

Conversions

He Iced them.

Attack 1st half.

Did well in positioning and distributing the ball generally and specifically for the 2 Alamoti tries.

Attack 2nd half.

Really ordinary. Very clunky and disjointed. Went over to the left way too often, became predictable and easy to defend. Was way too satisfied with just turning the ball over near the try line without firing any real shots.

Had two inside runners who would have scored if he passed the ball but failed to pull the trigger.

Game management in that 2nd half was very ordinary. Was very surprised when we didn't take the 2 half way into the 2nd half and it ended up proving the difference.

In Summary
Overall, all he had a 'good' game BUT it wasn't good enough for a player taking 1.2 or 1.3 million in our cap and playing in the most pivotal position on the team.

 

[Panther Brownman]

Ah well ladies and gentlemen unfortunately that concludes what was the best years of being a Panthers supporter. Sad to see the run come to an end but it took an almighty effort to bring this great team to it's knees. If you just stop and think about what it actually took to stop this incredible run, no other team could of handled so much pressure. No other team would have come as close to making another grand final with what this great Panthers side had to injure. Think about it, disrupted preseason and underdone players, Round 1 trip to Vegas, no home games all season. Every team trying to knock off the premiers every week, Bottom of the table half way through the season. Having to win all our games during origin. No rep players and going down to New Zealand having to win. Needing to win nine in a row to make it back into the top eight. Playing 2 heart breaking loses in Golden point thrillers that could have gone either way but ultimately cost us the top 4. Ivan having the biggest balls in NRL history and resting the entire team to give these champions a break to rejuvenate them. Going down to Auckland with no hooker then smashing the dogs into oblivion. Then finally playing a rested Broncos team with a three man bench for the entire game and coming with in a bees dick of making another Grand Final. Just let that all sink in for a moment. I'm disappointed that we didn't make another Grand Final but this team never gave up all season and had everything stacked against them and almost found a way. No other team could do what this Panthers team has done over the last half decade and for that I am truly grateful that I got to witness and support one of the greatest teams this game has ever seen.

With 3 games of origin, representative duty for the majority and 3 finals games every year, half our team has played at least an extra 10 games per season over this run, this surely adds to the fatigue.

 

[The Realist]

With 3 games of origin, representative duty for the majority and 3 finals games every year, half our team has played at least an extra 10 games per season over this run, this surely adds to the fatigue.

Yeah, hopefully all the Panthers haters will get their way and we will have fewer of our players getting selected for Rep duty. Unfortunately, that Samoan team coached by our Panthers Assistant, will probably grab all our Samoan boys.

If any of our players have ongoing injury concerns or significant niggles - I hope they forgo rep duty.

 

[Chins]

How can we break down Nathans game? I am willing to have a good discussion about it.

Defense

I think he was great. Walsh targeted him the way he targeted Fogarty and Nath shut him down. The only fault I can find is that he decided to bat down a pass rather than trust the tackling - his own and his team mates.

Kicking

Was very good without being outstanding. 2020-2022 Cleary was a better kicker than 2025. His spiral bombs have disappeared. Also had 3-4 of his grubbers defused.

Conversions

He Iced them.

Attack 1st half.

Did well in positioning and distributing the ball generally and specifically for the 2 Alamoti tries.

Attack 2nd half.

Really ordinary. Very clunky and disjointed. Went over to the left way too often, became predictable and easy to defend. Was way too satisfied with just turning the ball over near the try line without firing any real shots.

Had two inside runners who would have scored if he passed the ball but failed to pull the trigger.

Game management in that 2nd half was very ordinary. Was very surprised when we didn't take the 2 half way into the 2nd half and it ended up proving the difference.

In Summary
Overall, all he had a 'good' game BUT it wasn't good enough for a player taking 1.2 or 1.3 million in our cap and playing in the most pivotal position on the team.

Anyone not named Alamoti simply stopped running hard. Joey wouldn't have done any better yesterday

 

[age.s]

How can we break down Nathans game? I am willing to have a good discussion about it.

Defense

I think he was great. Walsh targeted him the way he targeted Fogarty and Nath shut him down. The only fault I can find is that he decided to bat down a pass rather than trust the tackling - his own and his team mates.

Kicking

Was very good without being outstanding. 2020-2022 Cleary was a better kicker than 2025. His spiral bombs have disappeared. Also had 3-4 of his grubbers defused.

Conversions

He Iced them.

Attack 1st half.

Did well in positioning and distributing the ball generally and specifically for the 2 Alamoti tries.

Attack 2nd half.

Really ordinary. Very clunky and disjointed. Went over to the left way too often, became predictable and easy to defend. Was way too satisfied with just turning the ball over near the try line without firing any real shots.

Had two inside runners who would have scored if he passed the ball but failed to pull the trigger.

Game management in that 2nd half was very ordinary. Was very surprised when we didn't take the 2 half way into the 2nd half and it ended up proving the difference.

In Summary
Overall, all he had a 'good' game BUT it wasn't good enough for a player taking 1.2 or 1.3 million in our cap and playing in the most pivotal position on the team.

Agree with most of this, except for 2 points (pun intended).

I think the attack in the second half was to be expected, given we were beaten in the middle and he had little to no space most of the time. There was one set on their line that Nath didnt end particularly well, I'll grant you.

I think the 2 points thing is 20/20 hindsight. It looked like a bad decision because Walsh missed a sitter conversion. If we take the 2, Walsh ices his conversion, we still lose by 2 and taking 2 points to go 10 up with that long to play looks like an incredibly stupid call.

 

[soc123_au]

Agree with most of this, except for 2 points (pun intended).

I think the attack in the second half was to be expected, given we were beaten in the middle and he had little to no space most of the time. There was one set on their line that Nath didnt end particularly well, I'll grant you.

I think the 2 points thing is 20/20 hindsight. It looked like a bad decision because Walsh missed a sitter conversion. If we take the 2, Walsh ices his conversion, we still lose by 2 and taking 2 points to go 10 up with that long to play looks like an incredibly stupid call.

At the time I was glad we didn't take the 2, I thought the call at the time was right. Hindsight changes things obviously. Would have been nice if we threw a bit more at them attacking their line, but to be fair their defence was excellent.

 

[Chins]

Agree with most of this, except for 2 points (pun intended).

I think the attack in the second half was to be expected, given we were beaten in the middle and he had little to no space most of the time. There was one set on their line that Nath didnt end particularly well, I'll grant you.

I think the 2 points thing is 20/20 hindsight. It looked like a bad decision because Walsh missed a sitter conversion. If we take the 2, Walsh ices his conversion, we still lose by 2 and taking 2 points to go 10 up with that long to play looks like an incredibly stupid call.

Ball in play is our game so I can't blame them sticking to it.
Time for some small tweaks now though

 

[Munky]

Anyone not named Alamoti simply stopped running hard. Joey wouldn't have done any better yesterday

In 2000 Joey f**ked up a prelim win harder than we did yesterday.

Ruined the chance of a good grand final that year too.

 

[Fangs]

I wanted the two yesterday. Just to slow everything down and give us a breather.

Also didn't like going for a 40m field goal. We weren't really setup well for any of the options but my preference would have been running left side to Blaize. He made a number of half breaks yesterday and late in the game could have done it once more.

Walsh and Blaize felt similar to me yesterday. Only that Walsh got the offload away to setup the game winning try.

 

[Chins]

And no Nathan isn't on Joey's level yet and probably wont ever get there but he's already had a better career and has 7+ years left if he wants it.

 

[Bronco18]

Congrats on the run Penrith.

A lot to look forward to next year - another preseason with the young fellas, not losing key players, unlikely to lose Cleary for an extended period and maybe a home stadium at some point through the season?

It was a hell if a run you went on this year but if there was ever a year to drop down a peg or two, it was this one. Hard to see you not finishing in the top 4 and earning a home prelim next year. It looked like the fatigue got to Penrith by the end, only time I’ve seen your team look flustered but that’s exhaustion.

As for next week, we’ll take you on board! Paint your nails black, get your eyebrows done and fill up your water bottles with (clean!) toilet water!

 

[Chins]

Congrats on the run Penrith.

A lot to look forward to next year - another preseason with the young fellas, not losing key players, unlikely to lose Cleary for an extended period and maybe a home stadium at some point through the season?

It was a hell if a run you went on this year but if there was ever a year to drop down a peg or two, it was this one. Hard to see you not finishing in the top 4 and earning a home prelim next year. It looked like the fatigue got to Penrith by the end, only time I’ve seen your team look flustered but that’s exhaustion.

As for next week, we’ll take you on board! Paint your nails black, get your eyebrows done and fill up your water bottles with (clean!) toilet water!

f**k the purple scum

 

[Goonji]

The commentators mentioned this on KAYO yesterday during the game. Not saying we would have won but made a huge difference IMO.

MSN

 

[martielang]

I think the player drain finally caught up to us yesterday, not on big play moments but on the little moments like McClean allowing the Walsh offload for the Mariner try - not a chance Crichton doesn't stop that. Or Talagi not respecting the ball as much as someone like Luai would've.

All in all though, hard to be too critical. Just wasn't our day.

 

[martielang]

How can we break down Nathans game? I am willing to have a good discussion about it.

Defense

I think he was great. Walsh targeted him the way he targeted Fogarty and Nath shut him down. The only fault I can find is that he decided to bat down a pass rather than trust the tackling - his own and his team mates.

Kicking

Was very good without being outstanding. 2020-2022 Cleary was a better kicker than 2025. His spiral bombs have disappeared. Also had 3-4 of his grubbers defused.

Conversions

He Iced them.

Attack 1st half.

Did well in positioning and distributing the ball generally and specifically for the 2 Alamoti tries.

Attack 2nd half.

Really ordinary. Very clunky and disjointed. Went over to the left way too often, became predictable and easy to defend. Was way too satisfied with just turning the ball over near the try line without firing any real shots.

Had two inside runners who would have scored if he passed the ball but failed to pull the trigger.

Game management in that 2nd half was very ordinary. Was very surprised when we didn't take the 2 half way into the 2nd half and it ended up proving the difference.

In Summary
Overall, all he had a 'good' game BUT it wasn't good enough for a player taking 1.2 or 1.3 million in our cap and playing in the most pivotal position on the team.

I think you're slightly harsh on the 2nd half attack. NC created a couple of really good chances in their 10 when if he throws a short ball to McClean (?) instead of dummying, it's game over. I think he was too conservative in those moments but outside of that, not sure much else he could've done.

Edit - agree he went to the left too much also.

 

[snickers007]

I think the player drain finally caught up to us yesterday, not on big play moments but on the little moments like McClean allowing the Walsh offload for the Mariner try - not a chance Crichton doesn't stop that. Or Talagi not respecting the ball as much as someone like Luai would've.

All in all though, hard to be too critical. Just wasn't our day.

Yeah I agree with this take. Add in a little less desire than in years passed.

A couple of times while defending our red zone, the ball hit the ground - and everyone in a pink jersey stopped - the Broncos kept moving - and picked up 2 tries as a result.

 

[The Realist]

I think you're slightly harsh on the 2nd half attack. NC created a couple of really good chances in their 10 when if he throws a short ball to McClean (?) instead of dummying, it's game over. I think he was too conservative in those moments but outside of that, not sure much else he could've done.

Edit - agree he went to the left too much also.

We scored ZERO points in the second half, and whilst we lacked field position, we had some good periods with sustained time on their line and did nothing with it.

Nathan gets the accolades when he deserves them, and he gets a lot of grace for past performances, but we (and he) need to accept the criticism at the times he fails.