GF Panthers vs Storm

[Abacus]

Kurt Gidley was a gun player in his prime mate. His draw in the opposition winger and flick pass was like a cheat code. Most teams just couldn't stop it despite knowing it was coming.

I think you just described his brother Matt, who was a gun centre. I'd be stoked if May was Matt, alas May is definitely NOT Panthers' version of Matt Gidley.

Kurt was the guy who could never quite hold a regular spine position but played Origin (& prob Australia too) due to his "versatility" - a real jack of all trades but master of none (deficiencies in all) player.

 

[forby]

The first half completely cruelled the game and the Panthers. Not only did Penrith have a terrible half, Sutton and the bunker had their worst performance of the year. Typical that they coincided on the last game of the year.
I am still proud of the team and their efforts for the year. Bring on next year!

 

[lsta5838]

A restless night. Still proud of the season, but really thought after our scare against roosters and rabbits, we would have played the game we needed to against storm. I.e. dominate ruck and no dropped ball. Didn't happen and some blatant no calls by the ref didn't help, but so excited for the future. Can't wait for 2021 and just hope we can keep our momentum and teamwork up

 

[Smug Panther]

Refs were bad, we were far worse. Totally shat the bed. Ivan is a chump picking that bench

 

[Whino]

Before the recency bias starts against Naden and May I swear there were like 6 guys commentating on here that supported Naden being dropped and didn't believe in him.

Not me you can check my posts.
Last week I said I didn't understand it.
We lost speed out wide and an aerial threat by not having Naden there. Equally we lost May’s impact off the bench in the middle of the field.
It is not the reason we lost but part of it.

 

[hindy111]

At least had the right team to start with. We were never in this game because we were a forward short on the bench and didn't play our usual forward power game. What forwards we did have we barely used.

Here are my thoughts:

• Kikau made 5 errors. FIVE! Why wasn't Capewell put on earlier to give him a rest. He hasn't played for 3 weeks and he was gassed. He played 80 minutes FFS. Cleary took Yeo off instead?????;

• WTF is Tetavano getting only 19 minutes about and Tamou 35 minutes? Our forwards were getting on top and pinning them down, we should have rotated the forwards and kept the momentum going;

• Instead of a power game we started lobbing passes out wide and the mistakes crept in. We ground our way to the minor premiership and in the finals Cleary panicked and tried to get us to play differently. Why, I'll never know. We looked all class with JFH and Tamou smashing them through the middle, why oh why did we leave them on the bench for so long?;

• Naden showed that what we lost in his mistakes in defence, we gained in forward momentum when he was in attack. Every time he ran the ball they crapped themselves. May plugged the defence but is not as effective in attack at centre. As Henry alluded to, it threw the balance of the team out;

• Errors from Edwards and Kikau really gave the Storm a huge advantage. 8 errors for two players. Staines' manager would have been licking his lips;

• Nathan Cleary had a bad game. His two errors led to two tries, he failed to find touch and looked really pedestrian for most of the game. To his credit he hung in there until the end and tried his guts out. Effort good, execution poor;

• Our backs look ponderous at times. We desperately need some pace out wide. Vunivalu had time to stop and smoke a pipe before scoring, we couldn't get near him. He is not even the fastest player at the storm;

• The players made a lot of errors and their inexperience showed, but this is on Cleary. His selection, strategy and bench management were just very poor. We threw that match away in the selection room and then doubled down by letting players rot on the bench when Kikau had a medley of mistakes and the Storm forwards were tiring.

The Storm were the better side and well done to them. A great achievement. As we showed when the blowtorch was applied to them, we can match them if we have the right players in the right positions. Such a shame, I hope the players get another opportunity to play in a GF.

Where they the better team or smarter?

I felt that Penalty try was very harsh.

And so was the Panthers dissalowed try.

The intercept and that try just before halftime was just a fluke. At 10-0 it was a ridiculous pass by Nathan. He had to get into halftime here.

The moment when Kikau passed back and Crigthon was away and called back was the wrong call. Kikau didn't knock on.

Also a Storm players drops it and it hits a panther and Kikau picks up. 9/10 that is play on and not a penalty.

Some may of been correct calls. Many where 50/50. But none went Panthers way untill it was 26-0

 

[Whino]

Injuries though, we were blessed this year.

Yet Ivan swapped a utility back in for a fully fit centre.

If To'o or Mansour go down there is a chance Yeo still start on the wing (... again).

If the squad stays fit they will be a force but holy shit did the stars align this year.

We could barely field a first grade bench in 2004 and 2014 in the prelims.

My concern too. We had a kind year with injuries and no Origin impacted our season. Next year both might.
We have blown a golden chance last night. They don't come around often.
Every team that loses a GF always says we will be back next year. Few make it back the following season.
You only have to look at Canberra losing Hodgson earlier this year.
We made it back in 91 but that was a different team.

Next year we will be weaker. Tamou gone, maybe some valuable depth gone and the loss of Barrett driving our attack.
We were the best team all year -apart from the finals - but we have blown a golden change to win the premiership. Almost everything aligned.

 

[age.s]

Genuine question: is May just Panthers' Kurt Gidley? He sure as shit is not a back and offers up soft defense when in the forwards.

Yes, he can ballplay a bit but not enough to be a NRL half. So is he just a permanent 14?

The nasty part of me puts his starting in the team down to his best bud & housemate.

I think this is a bit harsh. May's a 6 or a 14 (not a centre), but he's a very good one. His vision and passing have been outstanding at times. He justified his place in the 17, even if he didn't originally earn it.

I don’t think there's anything that complicated about him starting. I think the situation just got to the coach, in much the same way it got to the players. We choked off the field just like we did on it.

And as someone else said, Gidley was a very good player at club level. Not an Origin captains arsehole though, well, maybe Fraudners actually.

 

[Abacus]

I think this is a bit harsh. May's a 6 or a 14 (not a centre), but he's a very good one. His vision and passing have been outstanding at times. He justified his place in the 17, even if he didn't originally earn it.

I don’t think there's anything that complicated about him starting. I think the situation just got to the coach, in much the same way it got to the players. We choked off the field just like we did on it.

And as someone else said, Gidley was a very good player at club level. Not an Origin captains arsehole though, well, maybe Fraudners actually.

So Kidley > May, got it.

Not sure whether he's a NRL 5/8. Certainly not ahead of Luai (or Burton if he stays), but as a 2nd/3rd stringer.

Its also noticeable when he's defending in the forwards as we tend to lose dominance.

Agree that Ivan fluffed his selections & tactics. I just wonder whether May's start in place of Naden is rose-coloured glasses stuff, rather than anything Naden has done (he definitely had dicey moments in the Roosters game but was they enough to drop him)? Obviously this a criticism of Ivan rather than May.

 

[Smug Panther]

You pick Naden at centre or not at all. Serious questions need to be asked of Ivan. f**king pathetic

 

[WestyLife]

I think people underestimate the effect a strong runner at centre has. The Storm could defend our left edge much easier not having to worry about the right so much. Notice once Naden came on he had that edge back peddling and Crichton got space on the left and Nathan even got more space in the middle. Basically it forces the defence to defend the entire field properly creating space elsewhere.

If the idea was to get his fresh legs at tired defenders they went too late.

 

[ACTPanthers]

I'm still a little too emotional to form a rational thought about last night, but just had to say that if anyone out there is hurting just as much as I am, I feel you brother/sister... I'm right there with you.

 

[The_Frog]

I was under the impression he wasn't even eligible.

Must have changed his mind.

 

[The_Frog]

If the idea was to get his fresh legs at tired defenders they went too late.

Too late as in too far behind.

 

[snickers007]

I'm still a little too emotional to form a rational thought about last night, but just had to say that if anyone out there is hurting just as much as I am, I feel you brother/sister... I'm right there with you.

I'm feeling a bit numb right now. Feels like a real wasted opportunity, and gives so much credibility to all those that said we would shit the bed on the big stage / that we had an easy draw etc etc.

I tried not to get my hopes up too much during the week - and my only real hope was that the players (on both teams) decided the game. Clearly that didn't happen. I hate blaming referees - I've spent enough time with a whistle in my hand to know how hard it is - but we got zero help in that first half. And our team did not handle it well.

Despite a successful season - I think we need to have a serious review on the last 6-7 weeks of the season. Instead of starting fast, scoring first, ball control and not conceding points in the first 20mins, we ended up reverting back to Griffin-ball. Slow starts, conceding early points, plenty of errors and penalties.

Kikau was terrible - he was trying to score off every play. Luai and Cleary were invisible.
Fisher-Harris and Yeo worked hard, but didn't get a lot of help.

 

[franklin2323]

Nathan Cleary once again proved he doesn't have it in big games yet anyway

People saying we didn't use our bench properly. We were chasing 26 points playing the usual tactics wouldn't work

Look more at how it got to 26-0 as why we lost. Some terrible effort out there by the 'stars'

 

[WestyLife]

Too late as in too far behind.

Yeah 26 points is a bridge too far against the Storm.

 

[WestyLife]

Nathan Cleary once again proved he doesn't have it in big games yet anyway

People saying we didn't use our bench properly. We were chasing 26 points playing the usual tactics wouldn't work

Look more at how it got to 26-0 as why we lost. Some terrible effort out there by the 'stars'

Why we lost not in any particular order.

1. 18 errors
2. Naden/May selection decisions hurt badly.
3. Nathan attempted 1 attacking kick for a repeat set all game preferring the bomb to the second rower.

 

[Fangs]

Penrith saved 3 of their worst performances of the year for the finals. It will need to be closely analysed.

 

[franklin2323]

Why we lost not in any particular order.

1. 18 errors
2. Naden/May selection decisions hurt badly.
3. Nathan attempted 1 attacking kick for a repeat set all game preferring the bomb to the second rower.

Throw in Luai's kicking options too. I don't think the May/Naden was as much of a factor as some do. 1 and 3 are why we lost the game.

That intercept alone was huge but whenever we started to get a roll on we would commit a stupid error.

Yes there were some dodgy calls but Mansour/Leota/Kikau dropped it just getting up to play it. We didn't find touch on a penalty

We do those basics right and we win the game even with May at centre