2024 GF - Sun 6 Oct - Melbourne v Penrith @ Accor

[Scootsie]

Damn! It’s just dawned on me that it’s on 9 not Kayo. It’s been getting me every year. Guess I need to go through the fun of getting 9Now login sorted

Well I don‘t suppose you’re featuring in the GF entertainment this year then? I reckon ‘Cry In Shame’ is one of your best.

 

[speedster]

The Souths bias is so strong that in a year where they didn't even make the finals they account for a good chunk of the Grand Final day thread.

I'll be honest though. I don't remember too much of the decisions that went their way in 2014. But no team in history has won without the referee helping them if you ask the fans of other clubs.

That's not Souths bias, that's just Souths obsession.

And I remember every decision of 2014 Souths matches and the only dodgy ones were the ones that went against Souths. Funny that.

 

[speedster]

Still tipping Penrith based on thinking that these teams are too close for Melbourne to finish the year with a 3-0 record against them.

Round 1 was too early in the season and Penrith started a little slower plus Melbourne always win round 1. The other game was nip and tuck until Cleary went off injured otherwise I felt Penrith had begun to gain the ascendancy up to that point.

I think Penrith at full stretch will have too much for the Storm to cope with.

 

[moffla]

I must admit I am surprised to see us sitting $1.84 favourites. It’s dead even in my eyes so Penrith at $2 is good value for the betting folk.

Still backing us in though. f**k it’s going to be a great game, it’s a shame I won’t be able to enjoy it as I’ll be shitting bricks.

 

[Sans Souci Saint]

I just like to put this out early.

Sorry Smugthers, I’ve got you at - 16.

Let’s gooooo!!!

 

[Warrimoo3]

Ok , I’ve had a look at the form lines and here is my assessment (for what it’s worth):

Had a good look at the last meeting between these 2 teams and Penrith were a little unlucky. Cleary was clearly obstructed when the Storm scored early. Warbrick got 1 on 1 with To’o from a kick and Wishart burst through the front door(something that rarely happens).

Daine Laurie played on the wing that day to accomodate the return of Dylan Edwards from injury. Turuva I think was dropped or injured. Daine Laurie is OK at fullback or in the halves but is definitely not a winger. And I think Penrith have lost more games than won with him playing on the wing (the Raiders match comes to mind)

Having said all that , there are key changes for both teams for the grand final so you can largely disregard that match. Except for one thing: Nick Meaney was poor defensively in that match and is a glaring weakness in the Storm defensive set-up. He is a fullback being molded into a centre , a position they have struggled to nail ever since Justin Olam was ironed out by Haumole Olakaatu and who never regained form or confidence thereafter .

Meaney is not quite Reuben Garrick levels of derp defensively at centre but isn’t far behind. In the grand final they line up this way:

For the Storm :Hughes/Meaney/Warbrick on the right and Munster/Howarth/Coates on the left.

For the Panthers : Luai/Alamoti/Turuva on the left and Cleary/Tago/To’o on the right.

The Panthers will be running at Meaney’s left shoulder all night , drawing him in and hoping Warbrick will follow leaving Turuva with space. Pencil in Turuva for at least a couple of meat pies , maybe even a hatrick. Luai and Edwards are the likely architects of this so pencil them in for the Clive Churchill medal. Luai is in career best form and Edwards is nearing peak fitness. Liam Martin was in beast mode against the Sharks so he could be a good outsider for the Clive Churchill medal. Pencil him in as well for a try off a short Cleary or Luai kick as well as Yeo.

The only advantage the Storm have in this match is their athletic wingers jumping for cross field kicks launched by Munster and Hughes . Both kickers are radar like with their precision and Warbrick , with his Aussie rules background, has saved the Storm’ s bacon before in this way (with a last gasp try against the Roosters from a Munster kick). They match up well against the much shorter Turuva and To’o .

Bellamy has done an exceptional job with this Storm team. They looked pretty pedestrian for the first half of the year but gradually, layer by layer, their attack has evolved. Having said that , the Panthers’ final 20 minutes of any match is their strongest.They come home like the proverbial freight train. The only possible way for the Storm to win is to get something like 58 per cent possession, get out to a big lead and somehow hold on.But I don’t see that happening. The pink Panthers to run away with the game in the last 15 minutes and win by 13 plus . Shouty Dan could put his house on it.

 

[Warrimoo3]

Ok , I’ve had a look at the form lines and here is my assessment (for what it’s worth):

Had a good look at the last meeting between these 2 teams and Penrith were a little unlucky. Cleary was clearly obstructed when the Storm scored early. Warbrick got 1 on 1 with To’o from a kick and Wishart burst through the front door(something that rarely happens).

Daine Laurie played on the wing that day to accomodate the return of Dylan Edwards from injury. Turuva I think was dropped or injured. Daine Laurie is OK at fullback or in the halves but is definitely not a winger. And I think Penrith have lost more games than won with him playing on the wing (the Raiders match comes to mind)

Having said all that , there are key changes for both teams for the grand final so you can largely disregard that match. Except for one thing: Nick Meaney was poor defensively in that match and is a glaring weakness in the Storm defensive set-up. He is a fullback being molded into a centre , a position they have struggled to nail ever since Justin Olam was ironed out by Haumole Olakaatu and who never regained form or confidence thereafter .

Meaney is not quite Reuben Garrick levels of derp defensively at centre but isn’t far behind. In the grand final they line up this way:

For the Storm :Hughes/Meaney/Warbrick on the right and Munster/Howarth/Coates on the left.

For the Panthers : Luai/Alamoti/Turuva on the left and Cleary/Tago/To’o on the right.

The Panthers will be running at Meaney’s left shoulder all night , drawing him in and hoping Warbrick will follow leaving Turuva with space. Pencil in Turuva for at least a couple of meat pies , maybe even a hatrick. Luai and Edwards are the likely architects of this so pencil them in for the Clive Churchill medal. Luai is in career best form and Edwards is nearing peak fitness. Liam Martin was in beast mode against the Sharks so he could be a good outsider for the Clive Churchill medal. Pencil him in as well for a try off a short Cleary or Luai kick as well as Yeo.

The only advantage the Storm have in this match is their athletic wingers jumping for cross field kicks launched by Munster and Hughes . Both kickers are radar like with their precision and Warbrick , with his Aussie rules background, has saved the Storm’ s bacon before in this way (with a last gasp try against the Roosters from a Munster kick). They match up well against the much shorter Turuva and To’o .

Bellamy has done an exceptional job with this Storm team. They looked pretty pedestrian for the first half of the year but gradually, layer by layer, their attack has evolved. Having said that , the Panthers’ final 20 minutes of any match is their strongest.They come home like the proverbial freight train. The only possible way for the Storm to win is to get something like 58 per cent possession, get out to a big lead and somehow hold on.But I don’t see that happening. The pink Panthers to run away with the game in the last 15 minutes and win by 13 plus . Shouty Dan could put his house on it.

I neglected to mention where the Storm will target Penrith. You can’t bash down the front door against the Panthers. Crash plays are mostly ineffective. And it’s very hard to go around them as they slide well. There are potential chinks in Alamoti and Tago. Alamoti was pretty ordinary defensive wise at the Bulldogs but appears to have bulked up a bit and increased his speed. He is still capable of poor defensive reads as is Tago who can also shoot out of the line and leave a gap. Expect the Storm to run numbers at these 2 hoping for a poor defensive reads. I don’t think they’ll concentrate that much on Cleary as it might distract them from their main goal of trying to win .

 

[Warrimoo3]

View attachment 95029

I just like to put this out early.

Sorry Smugthers, I’ve got you at - 16.

Let’s gooooo!!!

From The Pink Panther Strikes Back :

 

[Captain Apollo]

Still tipping Penrith based on thinking that these teams are too close for Melbourne to finish the year with a 3-0 record against them.

Round 1 was too early in the season and Penrith started a little slower plus Melbourne always win round 1. The other game was nip and tuck until Cleary went off injured otherwise I felt Penrith had begun to gain the ascendancy up to that point.

I think Penrith at full stretch will have too much for the Storm to cope with.

Roosters in 2013 showed it can be done. From the 2013 season -

Round 9 v Manly at Brookvale: Roosters won 16-4.

Round 16 v Manly at Allianz: Roosters won 18-12.

Week 1 of the finals v Manly at Allianz: Roosters won 4-0.

Grand Final at Accor: Roosters won 26-18.

 

[Captain Apollo]

In relation to Channel 9's coverage of the Grand Final, accriding to the Daily Telegraph, the commentary team for the actual NRL Grand Fional itself will be -

Play by Play caller - Matt Thomspon;
Expery commentary - Andrew Johns and Billy Slater;
Sideline reports: Brad Fittler and Danika Mason.

Phil Gould will only be doing commentary for the State Championship game.

 

[soc123_au]

Roosters in 2013 showed it can be done. From the 2013 season -

Round 9 v Manly at Brookvale: Roosters won 16-4.

Round 16 v Manly at Allianz: Roosters won 18-12.

Week 1 of the finals v Manly at Allianz: Roosters won 4-0.

Grand Final at Accor: Roosters won 26-18.

Roosters sub>>>>

This is a thread for good teams.

 

[taste2taste]

In relation to Channel 9's coverage of the Grand Final, accriding to the Daily Telegraph, the commentary team for the actual NRL Grand Fional itself will be -

Play by Play caller - Matt Thomspon;
Expery commentary - Andrew Johns and Billy Slater;
Sideline reports: Brad Fittler and Danika Mason.

Phil Gould will only be doing commentary for the State Championship game.

Great news Gould jas been demoted, now we just need Joey and Thompson to join Gus in reserve grade.

Joey can catch a serious case of the negative whinges, whatch him have a sook if the referee has the audacity to call a penalty.

The last thing we need on the biggest game is negative commentators bagging the game.

 

[Fangs]

Gus' demotion is not good. It means Andrew Johns will take the head whinging position.

Joey is an absolutely insufferable commentator. The way he complains you'd think the bloke doesn't even like the sport. I'd rather listen to blocker eat a meat pie and talk about the quality of the mince.

 

[soc123_au]

Gus' demotion is not good. It means Andrew Johns will take the head whinging position.

Joey is an absolutely insufferable commentator. The way he complains you'd think the bloke doesn't even like the sport. I'd rather listen to blocker eat a meat pie and talk about the quality of the mince.

I think you're onto something here. I'd probably watch that. Bloke looks like he would know a good pie.

 

[Wb1234]

Soronson looks like making the team

 

[Iamback]

Soronson looks like making the team

Finally we run out full strength

 

[speedster]

Roosters in 2013 showed it can be done. From the 2013 season -

Round 9 v Manly at Brookvale: Roosters won 16-4.

Round 16 v Manly at Allianz: Roosters won 18-12.

Week 1 of the finals v Manly at Allianz: Roosters won 4-0.

Grand Final at Accor: Roosters won 26-18.

I didn't say it couldn't be done. Just that I think the difference between these 2 teams in 2024 does not, to me, feel truly reflected in what would be a 3-0 whitewash (if the Storm were to win) of their head-to-heads given how close the 2 sides are.

Manly in 2013 were not in the top 2 - they finished 4th that season but 2nd placed Souths shit the bed in the 2nd half of their prelim with Manly and missed a golden opportunity to meet the Roosters in that GF (with whom they had a 1-1 record during the reg season).

 

[Dodgy]

I was hoping Gould was be part of the commentary and he just continues on from the 20GF saying the Panthers are going to come back straight from the first minute.

 

[Exsilium]

Far out there’s some lengthy narratives to catch up on.

All I care about is that the game is won by the better team on the night and this forum is overflowing with memes, bald jokes, sexual innuendos (looking at you @SLRBRONCOS) and absolute chaos. I don’t really care who wins because without LU and all of those who’ve contributed, the NRL would be a punish.

 

[speedster]

Far out there’s some lengthy narratives to catch up on.

All I care about is that the game is won by the better team on the night and this forum is overflowing with memes, bald jokes, sexual innuendos (looking at you @SLRBRONCOS) and absolute chaos. I don’t really care who wins because without LU and all of those who’ve contributed, the NRL would be a punish.