GameDay - News & Live Updates

[bartman]

Just got home from Griffith. Caught up with Fitzy and had a good yarn to him. Also spoke to Ross Smart, Andrew Hill and Daniel Anderson after the game.
I asked Daniel his best player..he said "Robson..but I was happy with the starting props.".
I (that is ME) was impressed with Kingston, Callan Richardson (fullback) and winger Greg Nichols..(5) I thought he was Nathan Gardener. Gardner scored a terrific try late in the game (N0 21)
Kris Keating had a good session when he was on. Neither Fui nor Nathan Cayless played.
Talking to Snoopy Collins before the game and that he said he thought his team would struggle in the halves against the Parra boys. Penrith fielded a Premier League team and without their big stars.
Parra dominated the ball in the first two sessions, ande looked good. Anderson said he was really pleased with the effort and committment of the side.
It was hard to assess players. The program listed names and no numbers..
On what I saw today, the Eeels have made good gains in Robson, Kingston, Richardson and Nicholson.
Tim Mannah scored a good try, and Kris Keating looked sharp.
It was only Penrith, but the feel is there for a good season.

Cheers for the updates and the wrap up Pete.

Good to hear some of the new guys combined well, even though it was a trial against young opposition.

Robson sounds like he was geared up for a big game in his hometown... will be interesting to see if he, Kingston or Richardson remain in the mix for the first grade or bench spots. Good to have some depth to call on when needed anyway.

 

[butch82]

yeah i reckon if kingston can perform like he did last night he will be starting in the hooker position...he served the team well and his darting runs from dummy half were very good..made good metres.

 

[parra pete]

Just want to reiterate Robson was OUTSTANDING yesterday.
I spoke to Snoopy Collins BEFORE the game and he said that he thought Parra could be too strong, especially in the halves. He nominated Robson, Keating and Dan Mortimer as the dangers BEFORE kickoff.
Penrith had a young young team. Parra dominated possession in the first two quarters, and the forwards looked good. Oake (13) made a couple of good breaks and ran well off Robson, and Kingston did well on his time on the paddock. I think ROBSON will push very hard for a first team spot. Whether he plays half and Finch is in the 6...who knows.
I Spoke to Daniel Anderson after the match for about 15 minutes (what a good bloke and easy to talk to) he was pleased with the effort, especially Robson, the go forward and the defence on the line.
I get the feeling he (DA) is going to be a HUGE gain for the players.
I also spoke to Nathan Cayless before the match and he said the preparation has been good, everyone's happy and he is looking forward to the year. He said he will be right to play in the last trial against Easts on Feb 28.
Don't know about Maloney, or Hodgkinson, but what I saw yesterday from ROBSON, the Club has certainly got a handy replacement for them.
AND Callan Richardson looks the goods as well. Etu played solidly. Made one long break which led to Keatings try.
Gaulavo and Lowrie were solid and both look fit. Nichols (5) is handy, Inu (3) was quiet, Grehan (4)
did not get too many opportunities Mortimer 18 went OK, Matt Keating (14) had a solid second half, but I thought Kingston overshadowed him on the day. Prop 10 - (Brod Wright?) was solid, Mannah (8) excellent, Oake (13) was always backing up. Baumann (17) pulled off a couple of good tackles.. That's what I can recall. Sat looking into the sun late in the game, and the program the organisers SOLD at the game had names in alphabetical order and no numbers. I had to 'guess' some of the players names. I asked Fitzy at the end of the game who some of them were. I'll tell you I thought Nichols (a red head) was Gardner. Gardner replaced Richardson at fullback and scored the last try - a mighty effort on the last tackle. He showed plenty of strength and had plenty to do.
Fui was at the game but didn't play. He must have signed a million autographs - was without a doubt the most popular bloke (along with Petero) at the game.
I thoroughly enjoyed my day. Enjoyed catching up with Snoopy before the game. He allowed us (me and the local coaching co-ordinator to watch him as he put the Panthers through their paces, enjoyed catching up with Denis and a yak to Ross, Andrew and Daniel...
The bus had to wait for me to head back home. They reckon I was the biggest kid there!!!!.
They wanted to go to Macca's but by the time we went past it there were 5000 people waiting to be served. I did the Hay kids a favour!!!!!! :lol:

 

[butch82]

pete .i caught up with a few of the boys at the area ( local pub) afterwards.and they where top blokes..jeremy latimore was real easy to have a chat with..talked with timmy mannah n joe g for ages.the boys wanted to kick on but every where was shut...

 

[hineyrulz]

Good stuff Pete, thanks for the info.

 

[swoop]

I went to the trial with a Parra mate. It was played in 20min quarters, at the end of each quarter Daniel Anderson was in there pointing fingers and making sure the players kept their minds on the job. What do you reckon Hagan would have done?LOL

Keating, Kingston, Robson played well, Gardner, Mannah were also good. Not many mistakes.

No ground announcer which made it difficult to know who scored, what the score was, and because of it the crowd was very subdued and didn't really get into the game.

 

[parra pete]

The match was well prepared by the local organisers. Food was good - and cheap. The half time singing was S H O C K I N G...the girl must have been nervous. I thought she was going to hit one (a note that is) by the end of her songs..but I was wrong.
A streaker ran across the field at the end of the first quarter (Don't look Ethel, too late she'd looked)
Fair dinkum. Carried his clothes in from of him.!!!! Had really white hair (on his head) so he was NEVER going to be able to hide in the crowd. Security got him and handed him over to the Police. He didn't expose anything, so I would assume he would be charged (if at all) for running on to the ground!!! Made people laugh anyway, and brought them to life....

 

[rambo1]

Thanks for the reports Pete. You are the man when it comes to Footy reporting!

 

[Stagger eel]

Thanks for the reports Pete. You are the man when it comes to Footy reporting!

:lol:

now did you guys exchange cards yesterday??;-)

on a sidenote, Pete was relaying some scores to me on the phone last night and threatened to sing a few bars of some song at the end of the conversation and I quickly had to hang up on him...:lol:

 

[parra pete]

:lol: Thanks for taking those calls last night too Mario..I know how busy you must have been? I am buggared if I can use text messaging. I should have gotten one of the kids to do it for me. :lol:

One thing Snoopy Collins was concerned about before the game, was the Cricket Pitch in the middle of the Exies Oval..They are things we are used to out here in the bush!!!. At least it was turf, not a concrete pitch covered with a load of loam...or like the old Sahara Oval at Ivanhoe where the only green bits on the oval were the 'cat head burrs'
I remember playing up there - before the community did a fantastic job and turfed the Oval - and leading the side. The captains had two tosses. One to decide whether to play on the ground - or the bitumen road - and what way to run...
Now that was a HARD playing field THEN, but it is great now....but, unfortunately there is no football Club left..
Ivanhoe produced some great players - Meaty Clarke who went on to be a star in Group 10, Emu Hanlon a tough prop, Kenny Clarke an Australian Schoolboy rep, Glenn Spinks ( Ivanhoe and Cobar star and Mick Spinks ( who played with the Raiders, and his son Joel Thompson is also with the Raiders) and Simon Huntly who coached St Gregs to many victories and also was coach of the Aust Schoolboy team which included blokes like Israel Folau, Mitch Pearce, Greg Inglis, Joel Thommo.
They bred them tough at Ivanhoe.....

 

[eelaholic]

So glad to see that Greg Nichols scored!! Awesome guy!!

I'm hoping he gets a bit of time in FG this year, he deserves it

 

[parra pete]

I thought he was Nathan Gardner at first. I thought No 4 was Nichols, now I realise it was Jono Wright.
Nichols scored a good wingers try. He's a big bloke. Took over kicking when Inu went off at end of first quarter..was a little astray. He looks to be a good pick up also..
Gardner (21) went to fullback and scored a terrific try near full time. He had plenty to do, and bullocked his way over (on the sixth tackle).
Etu looks a lot bigger than he was last season. Yeah, he went good too...But it was hard to tell agtainst the standard of opposition. Still, you can only play what's in front of you...

 

[rambo1]

:lol:

now did you guys exchange cards yesterday??;-)

No cards......just members of the mutual admiration society :lol:

 

[Bigfella]

I thought he was Nathan Gardner at first. I thought No 4 was Nichols, now I realise it was Jono Wright.
Nichols scored a good wingers try. He's a big bloke. Took over kicking when Inu went off at end of first quarter..was a little astray. He looks to be a good pick up also..
Gardner (21) went to fullback and scored a terrific try near full time. He had plenty to do, and bullocked his way over (on the sixth tackle).
Etu looks a lot bigger than he was last season. Yeah, he went good too...But it was hard to tell agtainst the standard of opposition. Still, you can only play what's in front of you...

Imagine Pete's shock when the bloke he always thought was Tim Smith is actually Brett Finch!:lol::lol:

Thanks for the updates mte. Who'd have guessed the you tube kid can't text message!

 

[parra pete]

Imagine Pete's shock when the bloke he always thought was Tim Smith is actually Brett Finch!:lol::lol:

Thanks for the updates mte. Who'd have guessed the you tube kid can't text message!

:shock:

I can text. Just that it takes me 20 minutes and I would have missed a half of football (second and fourth quarters)

This is my problem ....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fiwl2V_lric&feature=related

 

[Stagger eel]

Imagine Pete's shock when the bloke he always thought was Tim Smith is actually Brett Finch!:lol::lol:

Thanks for the updates mte. Who'd have guessed the you tube kid can't text message!

thanks, it's not like he needs the encouragement...

medication Pete medication...

 

[^b0ss^]

yea ill be at the next game at CUA so that should be a more interesting game. I dont really think you can take anything out of this game other then there were no injurys.

alot of kids can play a good game of footy its the players that can do it for 26 weeks in a row that we are after.

a loooooooong way to go yet in fact we havnt even started .

 

[Fee]

Just wondering can anyone tell me, can you buy tickets for the trial at CUA from any ticketek? Or do you have to buy them as you go into the stadium?:?

 

[SDM]

Crowds of people have slept on the footpath lining up for tickets before it sells out.

 

[MarkInTheStands]

Just wondering can anyone tell me, can you buy tickets for the trial at CUA from any ticketek? Or do you have to buy them as you go into the stadium?:?

I would say, as with any game at CUA, either at the gate or from Panthers Leagues Club. CUA Stadium doesn't use Ticketek or Ticketmaster.