‘Unacceptable’ James Maloney called out by Penrith great Ryan Girdler
James Maloney of the Panthers has been called out by Ryan Girdler.Source: AAP
PENRITH playmaker James Maloney has been called out for an “unacceptable” performance by club premiership winner Ryan Girdler.
Girdler’s comments came in the wake of Friday’s loss to Cronulla at Allianz Stadium which bundled the Panthers out of NRL finals.
The veteran five-eighth made some crucial errors during the game and failed to get his side across the line when it was there to be won late in the piece.
Fox Sports Lab credited Maloney for two errors and three missed tackles for the night, but Girdler believes his performance was worse than those numbers.
“He’s known to be a player that doesn’t carry his divots but last night he was visibly upset for the whole game,” Girdler told Triple M on Saturday.
“He came up with that poor defensive read on Fifita that allowed the first (Sharks) try, he went up the other end, ran off (Viliame) Kikau and dropped the football.
“I think all up there was about nine errors in his game, and for the captain and leader of your club to go out and perform like that on the biggest stage is unacceptable.
“You can’t do that ... you don’t keep people accountable, and that’s your job particularly on those games.
“We know he can get over things, make mistakes then come back and win the game but eventually you’re not going to be able to do that, and that’s what happened last night.
“At some point he needed to pull back and give the reins to Cleary who was doing a really good job.
“There was even times last night where he would jump into dummy half on the fourth play, kick into Cronulla legs and hand over possession.
“One of the last plays of the game when they were trying to set for a field goal he goes down the short side and leaves them no option.
“He needed to be better last night.”
Maloney’s young halves partner Nathan Cleary, on the other hand, was electric in the second half and - along with backrower Kikau - almost completed a stunning comeback for Penrith.
Girds is at it again. We all remember he burst into print exactly this time last year with much the same wares but that time he was ripping into Griffin. It seems this sort of thing is going to be an annual event from him.
We all know Jimmy didn't have a very good game and we're all in mourning but I honestly don't see the point. No one used to do this to Girds when he had a shocker back in the day, and he had a fair few.
