GF 2020

[TruSaint]

Fair and square win by Storm. All ref decisions were correct. It boiled down to storm took their chances.

I thought Pennies actually got the reffing rub of the green second half. The Hughes send off which was big help was very 50/50.

If anything the only wrong call was the Pennies try from the kick to To'o.

We can bag and hate Mel all we want. They won the game deservedly.

 

[redv13]

I’m sorry for sounding like a dick and I sure as hell don’t love Melbourne but geez the Panthers choked. They had Melb under the pump after 10 secs from the kick off and blew it. Melb then marched down field and got a legitimate penalty try and anyone who thinks May doesn’t kick at the ball should get to spec savers pronto.

The intercept to Vunivalu was a horrible pass from Cleary and Penrith had more than enough chances to stop that try after Vunivalu stumbles and stutters before regaining his feet then burning the chasers.

Conceding a try under the posts with 30 secs to ht was a hammer blow but Api clearly knocked the ball down and the other players just stood there and watched Smith pick the ball up and run 5 meters and score.

Kikau was horrible with 5 handling errors, Luai was unseen until the last 20 mins, May was horrible in defence and looked totally inept when Papenhyzen went straight past him untouched.

To’o try was an unbelievable call by Chiddy in the bunker who has serious form for clangers all season.

Last 20 mins seemed like the refs were trying their best to give Penrith a small chance by binning 2 players. IC must take responsibility for that by leaving Naden on the bench for 50 mins and fiddling with a system that worked so very well for 15 straight weeks before he got a little too cute in the prelim and gf.

 

[Dragon David]

I’m sorry for sounding like a dick and I sure as hell don’t love Melbourne but geez the Panthers choked. They had Melb under the pump after 10 secs from the kick off and blew it. Melb then marched down field and got a legitimate penalty try and anyone who thinks May doesn’t kick at the ball should get to spec savers pronto.

The intercept to Vunivalu was a horrible pass from Cleary and Penrith had more than enough chances to stop that try after Vunivalu stumbles and stutters before regaining his feet then burning the chasers.

Conceding a try under the posts with 30 secs to ht was a hammer blow but Api clearly knocked the ball down and the other players just stood there and watched Smith pick the ball up and run 5 meters and score.

Kikau was horrible with 5 handling errors, Luai was unseen until the last 20 mins, May was horrible in defence and looked totally inept when Papenhyzen went straight past him untouched.

To’o try was an unbelievable call by Chiddy in the bunker who has serious form for clangers all season.

Last 20 mins seemed like the refs were trying their best to give Penrith a small chance by binning 2 players. IC must take responsibility for that by leaving Naden on the bench for 50 mins and fiddling with a system that worked so very well for 15 straight weeks before he got a little too cute in the prelim and gf.

All that in a nutshell! And yes, Naden should have started in my opinion as things co-incidentally changed for the better for the Panthers when he came on.

Penrith had the Storm rattled from the kick-off but could not put points on the board early and made too many errors in the first half to enable the Storm to make them pay for the mistakes.

In hindsight, the Storm rested many of their players in the game against us and lost but gave a lot of the players more time to rest and get over some injuries to play good finals footy. On the other hand the Panthers didn't rest their players and a loss was needed before the GF to give them more purpose to lift in the GF. Winning 17 straight and losing the big one - not a good fairy tale ending.

 

[VodkaSaint]

 

[TruSaint]

The Vunivalu try was underated IMHO.

What a special player he is.

Leaped for the intercept, timed it perfectly, controlled the ball, got chased, fell to the ground, got up and outsped 3 of them to score.

Game changer.

 

[RedVDave]

Proudly - Didn't watch it.
Got far more enjoyment watchin James Bond

Which of the 26 films did you watch?

 

[redv13]

The Vunivalu try was underated IMHO.

What a special player he is.

Leaped for the intercept, timed it perfectly, controlled the ball, got chased, fell to the ground, got up and outsped 3 of them to score.

Game changer.

Such a great winger. Shame he’s going to yawnion

 

[Old Timer]

The things I disliked most out of the game last night was

• Melbourne being allowed to constantly push off the mark by 1-2 metres. Brandon Smith a serial offender as is JAC who I think got sent back once.
• Players only half way to their feet being allowed to play the ball while pushing against the markers. I think it was big Nelson that did that immediately before the Smith try. If it was us it would be a penalty against us.
• The ref tolerating Smith's interruption to the play at crucial times.
• Yet again a runner calling the game to be halted for no apparent good reason.

As for the "for or against" decisions re the tries I think the call that Crichton interfered with Lee was the most dubious of all as it looked like Lee made his decision and in fact if he didn't, it made no difference to the play. I know it's a tough rule for the refs (including the bunker) to get right but it is the one I think they get wrong the most

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

Which of the 26 films did you watch?

The woman with the diamond ring.

 

[BLM01]

The things I disliked most out of the game last night was

• Melbourne being allowed to constantly push off the mark by 1-2 metres. Brandon Smith a serial offender as is JAC who I think got sent back once.
• Players only half way to their feet being allowed to play the ball while pushing against the markers. I think it was big Nelson that did that immediately before the Smith try. If it was us it would be a penalty against us.
• The ref tolerating Smith's interruption to the play at crucial times.
• Yet again a runner calling the game to be halted for no apparent good reason.

As for the "for or against" decisions re the tries I think the call that Crichton interfered with Lee was the most dubious of all as it looked like Lee made his decision and in fact if he didn't, it made no difference to the play. I know it's a tough rule for the refs (including the bunker) to get right but it is the one I think they get wrong the most

1st point.. it has been a blight on the game this year that the refs have let go the play the bull rules in the speed up the game quest because of the supposed policing of the wrestle...
2nd point.... If you watch NAS he wslks over the ball or rolls between his feet without attempting to play it properly every single time
3rd & 4th point....been going on for a while now But these on field stoppages for obvious minimal injury assessments have gone to a new rorted level and need to be stopped
Again the refs need to take control of the game again using a commonsense approach

I disagree with the Lee try interpretation Crichton run the wrong line and it was deserved no try in todays rules and he had a chance to get there unimpeded
As was the disgraceful decision to award Penriths first try
The bunker literally are in a world on their own and just semi to ignore rules at random and or see things that the rest of us can’t see especially the back half of this season

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

1st point.. it has been a blight on the game this year that the refs have let go the play the bull rules in the speed up the game quest because of the supposed policing of the wrestle...
2nd point.... If you watch NAS he wslks over the ball or rolls between his feet without attempting to play it properly every single time
3rd & 4th point....been going on for a while now But these on field stoppages for obvious minimal injury assessments have gone to a new rorted level and need to be stopped
Again the refs need to take control of the game again using a commonsense approach

I disagree with the Lee try interpretation Crichton run the wrong line and it was deserved no try in todays rules and he had a chance to get there unimpeded
As was the disgraceful decision to award Penriths first try
The bunker literally are in a world on their own and just semi to ignore rules at random and or see things that the rest of us can’t see especially the back half of this season

I don’t know why the bunker just don’t listen to the commentators and go the way they do. Half the people don’t know the rules properly anyway and if they go the way the commentators go, they won’t be crapping in about it all game and won’t hear another thing about it.

 

[redv13]

I don’t know why the bunker just don’t listen to the commentators and go the way they do. Half the people don’t know the rules properly anyway and if they go the way the commentators go, they won’t be crapping in about it all game and won’t hear another thing about it.

In my opinion the To’o try was one of the worst video ref calls all season and Chiddy had a few this year.

 

[rasaint]

I’ll make another couple of comments.

1. Api K throws a heap of forward passes imo. Like Cam S on steroids. Anyone else notice that and all season. Api is a very smart player and I think more dummy halves should do this as refs letting it go a bit now.

2. Masour carries back strongly but like our wingers lacks genuine speed. Vunivalu had stumbled in the intercept and had to regain balance and still quickly burnt away from Mansour. Vunivalu also returns the ball probably better than any other winger. ( Nene was strong at that also, one of his positives).

3. I thought Pennies may have got a bit ahead of themselves. A lot of news articles, big smiley faces, cracking jokes and were relaxed and unfazed by it all. Just like the roosters in 2010. Storm stayed very low key and focused. However, the panthers are a great side and will be hard to beat for a few years coming.

4. I admire the Storm. They have lost quite a few players but manage to keep fielding top sides ( granted the $mill reported 3rd party deals help). Papenhausen was let go by Tigers and look at him last night. Brilliant speed and look at the energy to save that penalty kick when already down to 12 men.

 

[Old Timer]

I’ll make another couple of comments.

1. Api K throws a heap of forward passes imo. Like Cam S on steroids. Anyone else notice that and all season. Api is a very smart player and I think more dummy halves should do this as refs letting it go a bit now.

2. Masour carries back strongly but like our wingers lacks genuine speed. Vunivalu had stumbled in the intercept and had to regain balance and still quickly burnt away from Mansour. Vunivalu also returns the ball probably better than any other winger. ( Nene was strong at that also, one of his positives).

3. I thought Pennies may have got a bit ahead of themselves. A lot of news articles, big smiley faces, cracking jokes and were relaxed and unfazed by it all. Just like the roosters in 2010. Storm stayed very low key and focused. However, the panthers are a great side and will be hard to beat for a few years coming.

4. I admire the Storm. They have lost quite a few players but manage to keep fielding top sides ( granted the $mill reported 3rd party deals help). Papenhausen was let go by Tigers and look at him last night. Brilliant speed and look at the energy to save that penalty kick when already down to 12 men.

Storm seem to have 3 great assets that other teams can’t quite emulate
Energy (unbelievable levels & intensity)
Focus (know exactly what they are there for)
Commitment (willing to go / do that extra little bit no matter what)

 

[Dragon Blood]

Crush said ...
Storm Penalty try. Storm 2 penalties in front. 2 disallowed Penrith tries. 1 overturned ref no- try to storm. 1 intercept try storm.
Game over.
Well done to the officials, Cam Smith retires on a high.

100% agree.

YEP, I keep saying the NRL reminds me of WWE.

Refs, made sure that Melb got all the 50/50 calls their way in the first half to put them ahead to hopefully win the game. Then in the second half the predictable square up for Penrith which almost backfired on the NRL.

I scripted the game how it actually eventuated to my old man earlier in the day when he asked me who I though t would win.

NRL must have insisted Cam Smith get a ring to match the one they gave his Mrs

 

[dragonfire]

YEP, I keep saying the NRL reminds me of WWE.

Refs, made sure that Melb got all the 50/50 calls their way in the first half to put them ahead to hopefully win the game. Then in the second half the predictable square up for Penrith which almost backfired on the NRL.

I scripted the game how it actually eventuated to my old man earlier in the day when he asked me who I though t would win.

NRL must have insisted Cam Smith get a ring to match the one they gave his Mrs

Penrith got the reffing in the game. That first try they got was an obvious penalty. I thought the sin bin of Hughes was over the top, He did change direction but Kikau is running into him regardless.

Penrith had the run of the game for the first 20 minutes, Melbourne held them out and scored when they got the chance. Credit to Penrith for getting back into it but they had more than enough chances to win that early in the game and werent able to score

 

[BLM01]

I’ll make another couple of comments.

1. Api K throws a heap of forward passes imo. Like Cam S on steroids. Anyone else notice that and all season. Api is a very smart player and I think more dummy halves should do this as refs letting it go a bit now.

2. Masour carries back strongly but like our wingers lacks genuine speed. Vunivalu had stumbled in the intercept and had to regain balance and still quickly burnt away from Mansour. Vunivalu also returns the ball probably better than any other winger. ( Nene was strong at that also, one of his positives).

3. I thought Pennies may have got a bit ahead of themselves. A lot of news articles, big smiley faces, cracking jokes and were relaxed and unfazed by it all. Just like the roosters in 2010. Storm stayed very low key and focused. However, the panthers are a great side and will be hard to beat for a few years coming.

4. I admire the Storm. They have lost quite a few players but manage to keep fielding top sides ( granted the $mill reported 3rd party deals help). Papenhausen was let go by Tigers and look at him last night. Brilliant speed and look at the energy to save that penalty kick when already down to 12 men.

1. Agree. been worse again this year and how many they have let go. Linesman should be held to account for calling forward passes but they dont..as refs are back the 10 at the ruck. Linesman have been stripped of all calling abilities.
2. No one else caught him either. Dont mention Nene in the same sentence he took it up well when he felt like it
3. Disagree...they looked too pumped up in the sheds (moreso forwards) and tried too hard early on for the big play and got frustrated
4. 100% agree. Half of their side now was let go by others

 

[BLM01]

Penrith got the reffing in the game. That first try they got was an obvious penalty. I thought the sin bin of Hughes was over the top, He did change direction but Kikau is running into him regardless.

Penrith had the run of the game for the first 20 minutes, Melbourne held them out and scored when they got the chance. Credit to Penrith for getting back into it but they had more than enough chances to win that early in the game and werent able to score

Yep summed it up pretty well. Storm too good besides the ex Panther credit taker in Gus convincing us at 22-0 down they were probably the better side in the 1st half.

 

[redv13]

Yep summed it up pretty well. Storm too good besides the ex Panther credit taker in Gus convincing us at 22-0 down they were probably the better side in the 1st half.

How bad was Gus last night?? Cringeworthy