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2024 World Club Challenge

MugaB

Coach
Messages
15,041
Depending on Luai and minutes too, Cole might be better as a 14
Stop pushing average local by up the hill on a pedalstool, he played great, just not in a team..
We are an excellent team, not a bunch of one out runners, trying to squeeze cole in somewere this season would be a huge mistake, its obvious he needs more time off the bench or in cup learning to set up his fellow man, trouble is he wont have the luxury of time as luai will definitely own this seasons 5/8th spot and schnieder will be replacing nate whenever he is absent.. its far too late to move cole to centre this season.. there's already 5 players who are vying for those 2 spots, and all are ahead of him, due to experience in that role, he isn't matt burton 2.0

Dane Laurie is our 14, after watching this game, I am definitely seeing a need for his talent

Alamoti is probably going to be our last years jaemon salmon, filling in gaps and might even get some backrow action,

We really missed sorrenson 2nite, garner again offered nothing
 
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Chins get the wins

First Grade
Messages
8,276
Nah bro, seems like you missed all his barnstorming runs and backfence returns, not to mention those almost trys, again nor saying he brained it coz we didn't win of those chances, but they broke the game open when he did, left wigan scrambling a fair bit
May is a fine player but it's looking like it's his last year here. I get that he hasn't played in a while but trying to run around the fullback was very low iq football
 

MugaB

Coach
Messages
15,041
May is a fine player but it's looking like it's his last year here. I get that he hasn't played in a while but trying to run around the fullback was very low iq football
Better to learn now than in this years final series, either way strong and dangerous, besides he backed himself, I'd rather that than him second guessing, that ends up over thinking it and doing something far worse
 

TDD91

Juniors
Messages
479
Not seen a replay of the game yet, only just got back from the ground after a nice 80 mile trip thanks to a diversion. But my quick takes are;

Brad O'Neill had an outstanding game, and I wouldn't be shocked if he gets some Morgan Smithies type approaches from NRL clubs by the end of the year.

The Bevan French try was easily the try of the game, just a shame he was offside by a bug's dick.

Penrith didn't force a single goal line dropout, which I felt was a bit of a weird tactic when they were outgaining Wigan by a fair margin.

Kaide Ellis should not be a passing loose forward.

Everyone around me was convinced Penrith were scoring in the last 5 minutes. We were all confused about the strip being a penalty because we thought it was under the international rules you could fall off a tackle then take it. There was a hell of a lot of beer in the air when 'No Try' came up on the screen.
 

maple_69

Bench
Messages
4,594
Looked like we came in up for the game this year but with intent to strangle them out of it and avoid injury. We absolutely destroyed them up front but just didn't really try much with the ball. As others have said, the heavy track compounded by the worst ruck I've seen in a decade meant the dominance didn't mean anything. Wigan were brave to be fair to them, well earned win even if the refs handed them a few on a silver platter.

I thought Cole and May were ok, had their moments. Cole looks like he could be a shifty runner of the ball and pretty sturdy in defence. Unfortunately that whole edge was makeshift with Sorenson/Luai/Crichton gone so understandable that there were some defensive breakdowns and little connection in attack.

Probably the only takeaway from that game that I think is worth note was the frequency of Cole popping up on the right and Cleary on the left. We definitely started seeing it more with the halves last year but I think getting that right this year could be the key evolution to stay a step ahead.
 

Iamback

Referee
Messages
20,296
Stop pushing average local by up the hill on a pedalstool, he played great, just not in a team..
We are an excellent team, not a bunch of one out runners, trying to squeeze cole in somewere this season would be a huge mistake, its obvious he needs more time off the bench or in cup learning to set up his fellow man, trouble is he wont have the luxury of time as luai will definitely own this seasons 5/8th spot and schnieder will be replacing nate whenever he is absent.. its far too late to move cole to centre this season.. there's already 5 players who are vying for those 2 spots, and all are ahead of him, due to experience in that role, he isn't matt burton 2.0

Dane Laurie is our 14, after watching this game, I am definitely seeing a need for his talent

Alamoti is probably going to be our last years jaemon salmon, filling in gaps and might even get some backrow action,

We really missed sorrenson 2nite, garner again offered nothing

Cole's numbers would great as a centre, No kicks for a guy playing 6 doesn't. IF Turuva is out for a few weeks then no harm putting Cole at centre to learn from Luai then putting him down to Cup to put that in action
 

mxlegend99

Referee
Messages
23,327
Penrith didn't force a single goal line dropout, which I felt was a bit of a weird tactic when they were outgaining Wigan by a fair margin.
Just too much risk for too little reward. Short in goals mean a 7 tackle set is a much higher probability. Not sure if Super League are short drop out happy. But we are used to that now.

There is even less reason to do it in NRL now. Teams are being encouraged to do short drop outs by the punishments for mistakes being removed. So why bother trying to build pressure when the outcomes are kinda stacked against you now?

Can control field position more easily by running it in the last. I expect we will only kick in goal when we feel a try is a higher probability. We wont play for the drop outs much anymore.
 

MugaB

Coach
Messages
15,041
Cole's numbers would great as a centre, No kicks for a guy playing 6 doesn't. IF Turuva is out for a few weeks then no harm putting Cole at centre to learn from Luai then putting him down to Cup to put that in action
Don't be wasting premiership points unless its around origin when you know you're playing juniors to cover the huge cracks, if you want him in centre, ply that trade in cup.. id rather get Alamoti or McLean there if you're gonna train NRL grade into an already existing centre... its like the hosking or garner experiment last year, ..waste of time
 

Pomoz

Bench
Messages
2,989
All things considered, that was a good hit out for us and we looked better than we did 12 months ago in the World Club Challenge.

Some hometown calls being the difference. Our attack looked clunky, but considering this was our first hit out and we were playing off the back of the slowest play the balls in eternity. It still showed some promise to be honest. I like our chances at 4 in a row after that.


The conditions and refereeing didn't allow for us to fatigue them either. But the best part of the game is that we didn't get any serious injuries this year. I'd rather lose the game and walk away healthy then win it and lose anyone. Last year we lost both the game and a player for the season. This is a decent result for us.

Also I thought Taylan May looked really strong for his first hit out after an ACL. He hasn't played a full game since the 2022 regular season. Was injured in week 1 of finals. Didn't play again until WCC last year where he was injured. So that was a fantastic return. Looked strong and dangerous.
The best review I have seen. Good job MX.
 

Fangs

Coach
Messages
13,778
Not seen a replay of the game yet, only just got back from the ground after a nice 80 mile trip thanks to a diversion. But my quick takes are;

Brad O'Neill had an outstanding game, and I wouldn't be shocked if he gets some Morgan Smithies type approaches from NRL clubs by the end of the year.

The Bevan French try was easily the try of the game, just a shame he was offside by a bug's dick.

Penrith didn't force a single goal line dropout, which I felt was a bit of a weird tactic when they were outgaining Wigan by a fair margin.

Kaide Ellis should not be a passing loose forward.

Everyone around me was convinced Penrith were scoring in the last 5 minutes. We were all confused about the strip being a penalty because we thought it was under the international rules you could fall off a tackle then take it. There was a hell of a lot of beer in the air when 'No Try' came up on the screen.

Your boys deserved the win well done.
 

Luke Bowden

First Grade
Messages
7,302
Calling it as I see it as always
What did you expect from him first game back from a knee reconstruction?

He looked strong, fast and willing to take the ball hard into contact.
All the things that you worry about when players return from an ACL.

His edge looked clunky for sure, but have Jack Cole there didn’t help.

Personally I think he ticked allot of boxes.
 

kinghippo

Juniors
Messages
1,673
Both teams put on a very solid performance, but the game was ruined by the interpretation of the rules.
I don't watch a lot of super league but that was so scrappy, nothing like a NRL game.
The ruck interference was terrible, every tackle was slowed down, very short ten for wigan throughout.
The blocking on the kickers was just atrocious and obviously the ref was a disaster.
Wigan look a great team and im not complaining about their win, their attack looked great and they defended superbly, they put themselves in a spot to win, penrith didnt.
 

Iamback

Referee
Messages
20,296
Don't be wasting premiership points unless its around origin when you know you're playing juniors to cover the huge cracks, if you want him in centre, ply that trade in cup.. id rather get Alamoti or McLean there if you're gonna train NRL grade into an already existing centre... its like the hosking or garner experiment last year, ..waste of time

Both of those guys have questions in defence. Cole missed one tackle today, so you know he will do a job
 

MugaB

Coach
Messages
15,041
Both teams put on a very solid performance, but the game was ruined by the interpretation of the rules.
I don't watch a lot of super league but that was so scrappy, nothing like a NRL game.
The ruck interference was terrible, every tackle was slowed down, very short ten for wigan throughout.
The blocking on the kickers was just atrocious and obviously the ref was a disaster.
Wigan look a great team and im not complaining about their win, their attack looked great and they defended superbly, they put themselves in a spot to win, penrith didnt.
I agree with everything but dont agree that penrith didn't put themselves in it, they were some pretty controversial calls, that easly get adjudicated with a captains call, otherwise liam martin steal, probably scores, wigan goaline try even tho he never made the line, gets overturned, and the last no try to TMay gets a second opinion, it all leaves a bad taste in your mouth after the fact of wat should have been a great even, to now accepting it was just a meaningless trial
 

kinghippo

Juniors
Messages
1,673
I agree with everything but dont agree that penrith didn't put themselves in it, they were some pretty controversial calls, that easly get adjudicated with a captains call, otherwise liam martin steal, probably scores, wigan goaline try even tho he never made the line, gets overturned, and the last no try to TMay gets a second opinion, it all leaves a bad taste in your mouth after the fact of wat should have been a great even, to now accepting it was just a meaningless trial
Bad taste in the mouth is completely accurate.
Panthers were not playing the same game as Wigan or the ref.
I would love for the WCC to be a something both comps really strive for but it never gets there, and yep I’m am also writing it off as a meaningless trial because it wasn’t governed by the proper rules.
 

Iamback

Referee
Messages
20,296
Bad taste in the mouth is completely accurate.
Panthers were not playing the same game as Wigan or the ref.
I would love for the WCC to be a something both comps really strive for but it never gets there, and yep I’m am also writing it off as a meaningless trial.

The time it is played is an issue.

They are in week 2 of their comp. We are 3 weeks behind and don't want to peak too early
 

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