Best 17 for 2015

[Doomednow]

Yeah I'm sick of hearing that Simmons owes everything to Whare. Simmons is experienced and a pretty damn reliable finisher. He scored all those tries and he's not even that fast.

Once they took him off the wing we stopped getting as many points down that side and we said that was all down Whare having a worse year. Bullshit. Whare is a great player and I'm happy to have in the side but the people writing off Simmons are mostly influenced by their desire to get the younger backs in the team I reckon (which is, admittedly, something that needs to be done).

 

[rabbitohs95]

No reason why the Panthers can't have a Jennings and Blake in the backline at the same time. Last year we debuted Auva'a and Johnston (as well as resurrecting Lote's career and had young Dylan Walker in his second year) so I reckon by the end of the year you guys could have Moylan, Mansour, Blake, Whare, Jennings as your backline. Best of luck I hope to see a Panthers vs Rabbitohs GF.

 

[soc123_au]

No reason why the Panthers can't have a Jennings and Blake in the backline at the same time. Last year we debuted Auva'a and Johnston (as well as resurrecting Lote's career and had young Dylan Walker in his second year) so I reckon by the end of the year you guys could have Moylan, Mansour, Blake, Whare, Jennings as your backline. Best of luck I hope to see a Panthers vs Rabbitohs GF.

DWZ needs to be in there somewhere. Long term at fullback, with Moylan in the halves. Still have another Jennings to squeeze in as well.

 

[rabbitohs95]

DWZ needs to be in there somewhere. Long term at fullback, with Moylan in the halves. Still have another Jennings to squeeze in as well.

Ah of course how could I forget. Would definitely have DWZ there instead of Jennings (for the time being like you said he'll be fullback with Moylan going to the halves). I just have doubts over Idris in the centres.

 

[betcats]

No reason why the Panthers can't have a Jennings and Blake in the backline at the same time. Last year we debuted Auva'a and Johnston (as well as resurrecting Lote's career and had young Dylan Walker in his second year) so I reckon by the end of the year you guys could have Moylan, Mansour, Blake, Whare, Jennings as your backline. Best of luck I hope to see a Panthers vs Rabbitohs GF.

I agree about the backline, id rather they dont throw them all in straight away. Its a long season there is plenty of time to bring them in.

 

[Puntastic]

Hard to pick a 2015 side without getting caught up in 2016.

Simmons is not as athletic as the younger lads, but he has a head for footy. He knows where to be and when. I think many miss this. George would be my first drop, but I'm happy with Simmons as 2nd.

People seem to argue in favour of Whare OR Simmo (for Simmo's form), but the combination between those two is what made it, and that same combination with Whare will play a huge part over the next few seasons.

Plum (his last season) is also out for rd 1 at least apparently, which is a shame. Hopefully he sticks around at Penrith a tackling coach.

Unfortunately already a few injuries will prevent just about anyone's best 17 from starting round 1, hopefully this injury toll is roped in soon.

I cant say what I hope will be in for round 26, but for round 1 my top 17 (with injuries) would be

1. Moylan 2. Jennings 3. Idris 4. Whare 5. Simmons
6. Soward 7. Wallace
8. McKendry 9. Segeyaro 10. Latimore
11. Cartwright 12. Peachy 13. Taylor
14. Manu 15. Kite 16. BMM 17. Brown

Apparently Ivan's conservatism has rubbed off on me, though I'm glad to have these selection headaches. Good problem to have.

Eventually I'd like to see Manu pushed into the front row (if he's ready for it) and Idris into the backrow on the bench, and Blake to start, but depends on how the year goes.

I'd like to see Kite play a similar role as Kingston for the juniors and drop back to reserves at some point.

RCG and Anderson should be in contention for a bench spot with BMM, who I don't see as a long term candidate. Front row is definitely our weakest position.

Having watched Souths last year with Luke and Api weaving simultaneously (and listening to Gould's commentary during...) I suspect we'll see something similar a few times this year. Api is a wildcard IMO.

Haven't been excited for a footy season since 2014.

 

[Pomoz]

Yeah I'm sick of hearing that Simmons owes everything to Whare. Simmons is experienced and a pretty damn reliable finisher. He scored all those tries and he's not even that fast.

Once they took him off the wing we stopped getting as many points down that side and we said that was all down Whare having a worse year. Bullshit. Whare is a great player and I'm happy to have in the side but the people writing off Simmons are mostly influenced by their desire to get the younger backs in the team I reckon (which is, admittedly, something that needs to be done).

+1
He is always in the right place at the right time. A skill you can't measure easily, but he has it in spades. He doesn't deserve the negativity.

 

[franklin2323]

+1
He is always in the right place at the right time. A skill you can't measure easily, but he has it in spades. He doesn't deserve the negativity.

Any back from Matts up should be in the same spot. It what a winger is meant to do. Is the extra speed or the skill DWZ showed against Roosters that gets us the premiership

 

[betcats]

No one is saying Dallin shouldnt be starting now or even by the back end of last season that suspension was at a bad time, but given Dallins age and Simmons form there was nothing wrong with using him to bring Dallin in a bit later in the season.

 

[Pomoz]

Any back from Matts up should be in the same spot. It what a winger is meant to do. Is the extra speed or the skill DWZ showed against Roosters that gets us the premiership

Yes, it is what a winger is meant to do and if it was as easy as that, all the other wingers would score as many tries but they don't. There were wingers in much better teams than the Panthers who didn't score as many tries as Simmons.

 

[mxlegend99]

Those wingers didn't have a classy centre like Dean Whare inside them.

 

[Doomednow]

Our replacements for Simmons were in the same spot with the same centre inside them.

 

[mxlegend99]

Like DWZ scoring 7 tries in 10 games, and also setting Whare up for tries?

If Simmons plays in that final against the Roosters, we don't win IMO. Simmons is a solid finisher, but he doesn't have that freak ability that these younger guys do.

 

[Panther Pete]

Like DWZ scoring 7 tries in 10 games, and also setting Whare up for tries?

If Simmons plays in that final against the Roosters, we don't win IMO. Simmons is a solid finisher, but he doesn't have that freak ability that these younger guys do.

A solid finisher who was the NRL leading try scorer season before last.

 

[BxTom]

Simmons wasn't a bad defender neither - coming from the ability to read a game.

Tom.

 

[soc123_au]

DWZ has more X factor than Simmons, I don't think anyone will argue that. The point is up until he was injured Simmons had earnt his spot & was playing well. DWZ was a bit scratchy in his first few games, but came on with each performance. Right now he should be in front of the Limmo, but not this time last year.

 

[betcats]

Like DWZ scoring 7 tries in 10 games, and also setting Whare up for tries?

If Simmons plays in that final against the Roosters, we don't win IMO. Simmons is a solid finisher, but he doesn't have that freak ability that these younger guys do.

No one is saying Simmons should of played that final. What i meant is picking Simmons to start the season last year was perfectly reasonable considering the circumstances, calling it conservative is silly.

 

[umina panther]

Let's get the thread back on track. If Ivan picks 2 hookers can we afford to keep carrying Kite?

 

[soc123_au]

Let's get the thread back on track. If Ivan picks 2 hookers can we afford to keep carrying Kite?

I reckon Kite has six rounds to get his shit together.

 

[Doomednow]

Like DWZ scoring 7 tries in 10 games, and also setting Whare up for tries?

If Simmons plays in that final against the Roosters, we don't win IMO. Simmons is a solid finisher, but he doesn't have that freak ability that these younger guys do.

I'm not arguing against DWZ being brought in. I'm saying people dismissing Simmons' achievements as being solely due to Whare are way off base. Give the bloke some credit. Yes we needed to bring in the new younger blokes but he was a good player in his own right and deserves recognition for it.

Let's get the thread back on track. If Ivan picks 2 hookers can we afford to keep carrying Kite?

Nope. But he will be there at least at the beginning.