2025

[Munky]

Played more games than any other team in the NRL. Gotta catch up to you eventually.

Physio and conditioning at the Panthers have done a remarkable job during our golden era. We always seem to get our players back when we need them. Gonna need to work overtime this year.

We were the youngest team in the comp for most of the golden run IIRC.

Father time is undefeated.

I'm interested to see if To'o and Dyl will be fit and firing for the majority of games.

Even Cam Smith's blood pact with the devil ran out eventually.

 

[martielang]

Pretty sure I heard To'o is out for LV as well.

 

[snickers007]

Pretty sure I heard To'o is out for LV as well.

Surely we wouldn't have released Jesse McLean for the All Stars game is Bizza is out

 

[Chins]

Surely we wouldn't have released Jesse McLean for the All Stars game is Bizza is out

Our club normally let's cultural decisions to the players so maybe not

 

[Iamback]

We were the youngest team in the comp for most of the golden run IIRC.

Father time is undefeated.

I'm interested to see if To'o and Dyl will be fit and firing for the majority of games.

Even Cam Smith's blood pact with the devil ran out eventually.

We likely run out with a top 17 with 3 teenagers in the backline.

So the side isn't that old, Just need to be smarter and not play Martin for full 80 mins

 

[Iamback]

Our club normally let's cultural decisions to the players so maybe not

In that case Laurie and Casey would be in the side

 

[Chins]

In that case Laurie and Casey would be in the side

This is true

 

[snickers007]

So the side isn't that old, Just need to be smarter and not play Martin for full 80 mins

I quite like this. Garner and Papi to start, Marto off the bench either on the edge or middle depending on the circumstances.

Although knowing Marto he'd probably do just as much damage to his body in a 30min stint off the bench as he would playing 80.

 

[Iamback]

I quite like this. Garner and Papi to start, Marto off the bench either on the edge or middle depending on the circumstances.

Although knowing Marto he'd probably do just as much damage to his body in a 30min stint off the bench as he would playing 80.

Smith and Henry can play 80 if needed. No reason they can't do longer stints.

Even Patea is 20 so plenty of youth and young legs to use

 

[Iamback]

This is true

Nico and Fogarty played last night and not for All Stars tells me it was a club or NRL directive for Vegas teams

 

[Whino]

I have done this in the past and I thought it would be worth having a look at the stats.
Last year compared to this year. A small sample size for this year though.

Much has been made about the right side defence. For comparison. The right side has let in 10 tries. The left 9.
Last year it was 21 on the left 41 on the right.

NRL Try Location Analysis 2024 | NRL Stats

Discover the key NRL trends and insights with our comprehensive Try Location Analysis for NRL 2023.

www.statsinsider.com.au

All stats are from NRL.com

Points 2024 6th best (24 a game) 2025 5th best (24 a game)

Tries 2024 6th best (4 avg) 2025 5th best (4 avg)

Possession 2024 1st 2025 8th

Set Completion: 2024 3rd best with 81% 2025 13th 76%

Supports. 2024 and 2025 still 1st

Line engaged 2024 1st 2025 2nd

Post contact metres 2024 1st (584 a game) 2025 8th (528)

Tackle breaks 2024 1st (40 a game) 2025 11th (28 a game)

Decoys 3rd in 2024 and still 3rd 2025

All run metres 2024 1st (1869 a game) 2025 4th best (1714)

Dummy half runs 2024 10th 2025 17th.

Try Assists 2024 6th best 2025 5th best

Line break assists 2024 7th (3.4 a game) 2025 2nd best (4.8 a game)

Tackles made 2024 2nd most (347 a game) 2025 4th most (362 a game)

Missed tackles 2024 8th (32 a game) 2025 4th worst (35.8 game)

Ineffective tackles 2024 5th worst (14.5 a game) 2025 14 (11 a game)

Errors 2024 8th (10 a game) 2025 2nd worst (13 a game)

Penalties conceded 2024 3rd worst (5.8 a game) 2025 8th (5.6 a game)

Handling errors 2024 7th worst (9 a game) 2025 5th worst (10 a game)

This is a small sample size. And with Edwards and To'o missing games, and with the departure of Turuva. Stats like Tackle breaks will be down, as will run metres. Particularly when you are turning the ball over more. Cleary has missed games this year too, but he missed games last year.

Attack is at similar levels to last season. With a slight improvement in some areas.

Set completions have worsened with errors seeing an up tick. Penalties conceded remain roughly the same, as do handling errors.
I haven't found a stat for 6 agains.

Missed tackles have worsened, but ineffective tackles have improved.

Tries conceded is the biggest concern. As some of the stats mentioned above don't take into effect tries from kicks.
21 is the 3rd worst in the NRL. By comparison we conceded 73 tries last year. At an average of 2.7 a match. 4.2 this year.
Defence must improve substantially for us to have any hope this season. The talent is there but is the hunger?
In 2003 we had a team that didn't care if they conceded 30 points they would score 32. Unfortunately we don't have the attacking flair to match that team.

As others have mentioned. If we can be bit more miserly in defence and up our points we should jag a few more wins.
If not we need to control field possession. Cut down on the errors, six agains and penalties. I am not confident we can defend back-to back sets off our line anymore. The less opposition attacking play in our 20 the better. Giving away six away agains off our line, isn't, so far, a tactic this side can get away with like previous years.

If anyone is interested I will have a look at the stats again around round 10. Hopefully things will improve by then.

 

[ColdWetPanther]

I have done this in the past and I thought it would be worth having a look at the stats.
Last year compared to this year. A small sample size for this year though.

Much has been made about the right side defence. For comparison. The right side has let in 10 tries. The left 9.
Last year it was 21 on the left 41 on the right.

NRL Try Location Analysis 2024 | NRL Stats

Discover the key NRL trends and insights with our comprehensive Try Location Analysis for NRL 2023.

www.statsinsider.com.au

All stats are from NRL.com

Points 2024 6th best (24 a game) 2025 5th best (24 a game)

Tries 2024 6th best (4 avg) 2025 5th best (4 avg)

Possession 2024 1st 2025 8th

Set Completion: 2024 3rd best with 81% 2025 13th 76%

Supports. 2024 and 2025 still 1st

Line engaged 2024 1st 2025 2nd

Post contact metres 2024 1st (584 a game) 2025 8th (528)

Tackle breaks 2024 1st (40 a game) 2025 11th (28 a game)

Decoys 3rd in 2024 and still 3rd 2025

All run metres 2024 1st (1869 a game) 2025 4th best (1714)

Dummy half runs 2024 10th 2025 17th.

Try Assists 2024 6th best 2025 5th best

Line break assists 2024 7th (3.4 a game) 2025 2nd best (4.8 a game)

Tackles made 2024 2nd most (347 a game) 2025 4th most (362 a game)

Missed tackles 2024 8th (32 a game) 2025 4th worst (35.8 game)

Ineffective tackles 2024 5th worst (14.5 a game) 2025 14 (11 a game)

Errors 2024 8th (10 a game) 2025 2nd worst (13 a game)

Penalties conceded 2024 3rd worst (5.8 a game) 2025 8th (5.6 a game)

Handling errors 2024 7th worst (9 a game) 2025 5th worst (10 a game)

This is a small sample size. And with Edwards and To'o missing games, and with the departure of Turuva. Stats like Tackle breaks will be down, as will run metres. Particularly when you are turning the ball over more. Cleary has missed games this year too, but he missed games last year.

Attack is at similar levels to last season. With a slight improvement in some areas.

Set completions have worsened with errors seeing an up tick. Penalties conceded remain roughly the same, as do handling errors.
I haven't found a stat for 6 agains.

Missed tackles have worsened, but ineffective tackles have improved.

Tries conceded is the biggest concern. As some of the stats mentioned above don't take into effect tries from kicks.
21 is the 3rd worst in the NRL. By comparison we conceded 73 tries last year. At an average of 2.7 a match. 4.2 this year.
Defence must improve substantially for us to have any hope this season. The talent is there but is the hunger?
In 2003 we had a team that didn't care if they conceded 30 points they would score 32. Unfortunately we don't have the attacking flair to match that team.

As others have mentioned. If we can be bit more miserly in defence and up our points we should jag a few more wins.
If not we need to control field possession. Cut down on the errors, six agains and penalties. I am not confident we can defend back-to back sets off our line anymore. The less opposition attacking play in our 20 the better. Giving away six away agains off our line, isn't, so far, a tactic this side can get away with like previous years.

If anyone is interested I will have a look at the stats again around round 10. Hopefully things will improve by then.

Thanks for this analysis. I would have thought decoys and supports would have been well down, so encouraging they are still at high levels. It’s a team that knows how to win going through the motions and being out enthused. Need to ramp it up over the next few weeks.

 

[Aliceinwonderland]

Thanks for this analysis. I would have thought decoys and supports would have been well down, so encouraging they are still at high levels. It’s a team that knows how to win going through the motions and being out enthused. Need to ramp it up over the next few weeks.A

I know I'm being little miss Alice in Wonderland here, but I honestly believe things aren't as grim as some think. Call me the eternal optimist but I believe things will improve markedly over the next month.

Early this season was always going to be difficult. Hopefully the team with Edwards and Scotty too hotty will improve and get the much needed win.

This is without injuries of course, because we don't have the depth we once did.