Still a good two leagues away. Once he can perform away from the nation's capital I may agree.
As I said, he'll need to improve markedly on last season. When Campese performs the way he did at the end of '08, it's a marvellous sight.
Are you sure about that Skeepe? Really confident? Because he's yet to taste victory from that position and was average against the rabble that was the Warriors of 09 and again far from spectacular against the Broncos. I don't recall him scoring two tries in that position either. I know he scored one, but that's that.
Coming up against Jennings, he could find himself easily exposed.
Extremely sure. Yet to taste victory? Good one.
Raiders 24 vs Dragons 12. Come on, I'm sure you remember. Everyone else seems to. He didn't score a try in that game. Scored a try in the very, very close 23-20 loss to the Bulldogs (the Raiders improved markedly once he came on) and scored against the Warriors.
Forgot about that Broncos game, that was a late change.
He's a very good player, regardless of where he's playing. I will expect him to have improved quite a bit in the off-season. He was extremely impressive in the All Stars game, and is a very capable centre.
I'm more worried about Reece Robinson or Brett Kelly (whoever they choose for that wing) being exposed than I am about Thompson.
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What makes you say that? For one, you don't have a hooker yet. Hookers are generally the difference. Panthers have a superior backrow and Civoniceiva upfront is far superior to pillow and Tilse.
Alan Tongue is a pretty handy player, you may have heard of him. Travis Waddell is improving all the time, and should establish himself as one of the premier hookers in the competition by season's end.
Kevin Kingston and Masada Iosefa are hardly world beaters themselves.
The Panthers backrow is good, but Harrison, Learoyd-Lahrs and Miller are each more talented than their opposite numbers, despite receiving little to no recognition of that fact.
Apart from Petero, the Panthers have absolutely nothing up front. Shillington is one of the best props in the country, as evidenced by his rise and rise through the rep ranks, Tilse would be similarly regarded if he were wearing a blue or red V on his jersey and I actually rate him higher than Shillington, while Logan off the bench is a formidable player and in career-best form, or so the trial reports go.
Petero is a very, very good player, but on balance the entire Raiders forward pack is streets ahead of anything the Panthers, and indeed pretty much any other team in the NRL bar Souths, could offer.
