GF Panthers vs Storm

[Jane Murray]

Using special needs children for a joke is not appropriate.

I am a mother of a special needs young man. I was using that as an example of your lack of understanding. Now go away.

 

[WestyLife]

I’m not interested in those who are personally abusing me or the tigers. That’s irrelevant.

If people don’t think the complexion of the game changed once Naden entered the fray, I disagree.

As for the pass, it was one of the big factors that cost the club the gf. I understand people will be qualifying and excusing it, it could have been remote, but not remote enough.

The two clear points I wanted to make was that I expected the Cleary lads to take a stronger ownership of the result. I think it would be a better platform to bounce back from.

Otherwise everyone is being told it’s all good when the feeling in the camp is one of horror and emptiness.

Secondly, the lack of readiness for that first half onslaught by the purple merkins was apparent.

They just didn’t seem like the same side that dominated the comp for the year. No one I know thinks so. They were poor for long passages. Poor completion rates, too much dropped ball.

So the club would be better served by having a review to find out what went wrong and what steps can be taken to prevent another episode.

If people want to interpret this post as some kind of unpleasantness, they are wrong and, very ignorant.

I’d be happy to read people’s views on why a Gf related review would be a bad thing, why it wouldn’t offer any options and help Ivan.

If there’s a ghost in the machine, you try to exorcise it don’t you?

They absolutely need to examine the GF and how to not repeat it.

 

[snickers007]

I’m not interested in those who are personally abusing me or the tigers. That’s irrelevant.

If people don’t think the complexion of the game changed once Naden entered the fray, I disagree.

As for the pass, it was one of the big factors that cost the club the gf. I understand people will be qualifying and excusing it, it could have been remote, but not remote enough.

The two clear points I wanted to make was that I expected the Cleary lads to take a stronger ownership of the result. I think it would be a better platform to bounce back from.

Otherwise everyone is being told it’s all good when the feeling in the camp is one of horror and emptiness.

Secondly, the lack of readiness for that first half onslaught by the purple merkins was apparent.

They just didn’t seem like the same side that dominated the comp for the year. No one I know thinks so. They were poor for long passages. Poor completion rates, too much dropped ball.

So the club would be better served by having a review to find out what went wrong and what steps can be taken to prevent another episode.

If people want to interpret this post as some kind of unpleasantness, they are wrong and, very ignorant.

I’d be happy to read people’s views on why a Gf related review would be a bad thing, why it wouldn’t offer any options and help Ivan.

If there’s a ghost in the machine, you try to exorcise it don’t you?

For what it's worth, I mostly agree with you.

After the resumption of the season, our tryline went uncrossed in the first 20mins for 13 games straight.
For the remaining 8 games, we conceded first try inside 20mins on 5 occasions.
The 3 outliers here was the game against Parra, which we started slowly, and only a try on the stroke of half-time broke their backs, and games against 14th and 15th places.

Our back end of the season we started slower and slower, and it finally caught up to us.

I'd like to know what changed in our preparation / or attitude in the last few months of the season to allow this to happen.

The signs were there, and we seemingly ignored them.


Acknowledging the above does not stop anyone from being proud of our achievements this season, nor does the fact that it was brought up by an opposition fan make it trolling.

I'd like to think that we all recognise this was a massive missed opportunity. And identifying the reasons for that failure is the first step to ensuring it doesn't happen. Nothing happens by chance, and information is power. There is no downside to undertaking a review. Undertaking that review within a week of the game may be a little premature however given the emotion involved.

 

[Abacus]

Yep, even a little less floaty and Melbourne are in trouble there. Still the option to Kikau or a grubber to the corner & it was try time as well.

Grubber to the corner wasn't on. Vunivalu actually hung back anticipating a cross-kick. It was just that the long ball was thrown so terribly that he could attack it. Short ball to Kikau was the play.

 

[The yak]

For what it's worth, I mostly agree with you.

After the resumption of the season, our tryline went uncrossed in the first 20mins for 13 games straight.
For the remaining 8 games, we conceded first try inside 20mins on 5 occasions.
The 3 outliers here was the game against Parra, which we started slowly, and only a try on the stroke of half-time broke their backs, and games against 14th and 15th places.

Our back end of the season we started slower and slower, and it finally caught up to us.

I'd like to know what changed in our preparation / or attitude in the last few months of the season to allow this to happen.

The signs were there, and we seemingly ignored them.


Acknowledging the above does not stop anyone from being proud of our achievements this season, nor does the fact that it was brought up by an opposition fan make it trolling.

I'd like to think that we all recognise this was a massive missed opportunity. And identifying the reasons for that failure is the first step to ensuring it doesn't happen. Nothing happens by chance, and information is power. There is no downside to undertaking a review. Undertaking that review within a week of the game may be a little premature however given the emotion involved.

I said about 2 months ago we needed a loss or a hard game against a top side for a reset. There were some things creeping in our game that wasn't there at the start of the streak. The team kept winning
and players thought they could keep getting away with it. Probably the soft run into the finals didn't help.
Every team goes through peaks and troughs throughout the year. Our trough unfortunately came at the end.

 

[The Silverdale Phantom]

I’d just be interested to know what some of the more learned people in the game thought may have contributed to the troubles of the first half.

It doesn’t have to name or shame anyone etc, that wouldn’t be constructive I agree.

It’s really a matter of trying to identify why this pretty handy side didn’t follow on with the high standards.

Was Ivan expecting the storm to play differently or was there some communication issues out there?

I’m not talking about the accidental execution issues although some of it was frustrating!

 

[Buzzard Breath]

I’d just be interested to know what some of the more learned people in the game thought may have contributed to the troubles of the first half.

It doesn’t have to name or shame anyone etc, that wouldn’t be constructive I agree.

It’s really a matter of trying to identify why this pretty handy side didn’t follow on with the high standards.

Was Ivan expecting the storm to play differently or was there some communication issues out there?

I’m not talking about the accidental execution issues although some of it was frustrating!

Read Pomoz's post I think he outlined pretty much everything.

At least had the right team to start with. We were never in this game because we were a forward short on the bench and didn't play our usual forward power game. What forwards we did have we barely used.

Here are my thoughts:

• Kikau made 5 errors. FIVE! Why wasn't Capewell put on earlier to give him a rest. He hasn't played for 3 weeks and he was gassed. He played 80 minutes FFS. Cleary took Yeo off instead?????;

• WTF is Tetavano getting only 19 minutes about and Tamou 35 minutes? Our forwards were getting on top and pinning them down, we should have rotated the forwards and kept the momentum going;

• Instead of a power game we started lobbing passes out wide and the mistakes crept in. We ground our way to the minor premiership and in the finals Cleary panicked and tried to get us to play differently. Why, I'll never know. We looked all class with JFH and Tamou smashing them through the middle, why oh why did we leave them on the bench for so long?;

• Naden showed that what we lost in his mistakes in defence, we gained in forward momentum when he was in attack. Every time he ran the ball they crapped themselves. May plugged the defence but is not as effective in attack at centre. As Henry alluded to, it threw the balance of the team out;

• Errors from Edwards and Kikau really gave the Storm a huge advantage. 8 errors for two players. Staines' manager would have been licking his lips;

• Nathan Cleary had a bad game. His two errors led to two tries, he failed to find touch and looked really pedestrian for most of the game. To his credit he hung in there until the end and tried his guts out. Effort good, execution poor;

• Our backs look ponderous at times. We desperately need some pace out wide. Vunivalu had time to stop and smoke a pipe before scoring, we couldn't get near him. He is not even the fastest player at the storm;

• The players made a lot of errors and their inexperience showed, but this is on Cleary. His selection, strategy and bench management were just very poor. We threw that match away in the selection room and then doubled down by letting players rot on the bench when Kikau had a medley of mistakes and the Storm forwards were tiring.

The Storm were the better side and well done to them. A great achievement. As we showed when the blowtorch was applied to them, we can match them if we have the right players in the right positions. Such a shame, I hope the players get another opportunity to play in a GF.

 

[martielang]

I was worried from the first set when we were on their line & we played the most conservative set I've seen us play. Actually the week before we were up 14 - 6 just after half time & had a similar opportunity to attack Souths line & we threw absolutely nothing at them as well.

 

[chrisD]

It was devastating. That first half a horror show.

Just so much out of our control went against us in that first half. But then, there was enough in our control that we didn't get right that could have swayed it. Gould was right in his analysis, we just had to keep it closer while everything was going against us, a few less errors, a few less costly errors, some better scrambling in defence or an individual effort here and there. Every time the game began to settle into a grind we gained the ascendency, but the game just wouldn't stay set for set and went from bullshit event to bullshit event.

I believe we are the better team and beat them 4 out of 5 times, but it doesn't really matter when that one game we lose is the grand final. Winning it next season is the only way to get over it. And I hope next season the competition is a bit stronger, just doing enough to put away below average teams all season wasn't actually that enjoyable and I don't think helped us in the long run.

 

[Westernised Panther]

IF that pass from Cleary wasn’t intercepted and instead went to the intended recipients, Cleary would’ve been hailed a hero and automatic Clive Churchill Medallist

 

[Aliceinwonderland]

Again Silverdale attempting to sound knowledge about league.....to con those around that he's not actually trolling.


Silverdale hatred for the Clearys clouds his vision of rugby league big time.

How's your team travelling Silverdale. I'd suggest that's more of an issue rather than attempting to pull down the Clearys and Penrith.



Now run along you sad little person.

 

[snickers007]

Again Silverdale attempting to sound knowledge about league.....to con those around that he's not actually trolling.


Silverdale hatred for the Clearys clouds his vision of rugby league big time.

How's your team travelling Silverdale. I'd suggest that's more of an issue rather than attempting to pull down the Clearys and Penrith.



Now run along you sad little person.

And your hatred of Silverdale is clouding your ability to accept constructive criticism from them.

We can't gatekeep the opinions on here, especially under the guise of 'look at your own team'. There is zero correlation between the ability to analyse and discuss rugby league, and the team you choose to support.

It's post's like this that give all of us this 'smug' reputation in other areas of this forum.

 

[Panther Pete]

Panthers have been fined $10,000 for breaching Covid restrictions at the GF.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/p...nal-game/c0219df1-bbad-4f1e-b0e6-f365fcb735b8

 

[Smug Panther]

Panthers have been fined $10,000 for breaching Covid restrictions at the GF.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/p...nal-game/c0219df1-bbad-4f1e-b0e6-f365fcb735b8

Well worth it

 

[Aliceinwonderland]

And your hatred of Silverdale is clouding your ability to accept constructive criticism from them.

We can't gatekeep the opinions on here, especially under the guise of 'look at your own team'. There is zero correlation between the ability to analyse and discuss rugby league, and the team you choose to support.

It's post's like this that give all of us this 'smug' reputation in other areas of this forum.

The Bloke is a troll.


That is the beginning, middle and end of it.

I don't hate, in fact I don't hate anybody.

I dislike some of the twaddle he goes on with, it's infantitle and purile.

When Silverdale actually talks footy at times he makes some good points.

I will respond in kind when that happens, he spoils his writting when adding in trolling and twaddle. (posts on W/T by him allude to that)

Nothing smug about being able to point out a troll.

 

[Dodgy]

The NRL premiership is a weird comp. Numerous time over the years there's been a team end the home and away season on top of the ladder by a mile and have that form still not transfer to a GF win. It's like form like that creates a soft underbelly and all the opposition know it, but the team doesn't. You also couldn't be naïve enough to think refereeing decisions not going our way wasn't possible.

It's easy to say now, but we've seen it in other sports. I hope the team/prominent players watch every second of the game again and learn something about game management or something. Cleary passing that gimmie ball to Vunivalu tells me the guys weren't confident of controlling the game, or having a number of tactics to regain control.

Even if all we did was run the ball on 6th tackle like under Griffo, and even if we deliberately didn't try to score. Down 0-10 at the half, we still could've regrouped an clobbered them in the 2nd half. We could've been down by 10 at the 70th and we still were capable of winning the game comfortably.

Disappointing because I thought we were good enough to overcome a possible soft underbelly and any possible refereeing against us.

 

[Kilkenny]

We went away what worked for us, for whatever reason and we paid the ultimate price.

Disappointing still and it hurts but it is what it is.

 

[Kilkenny]

It’s been interesting catching up with family and friends over the weekend and getting views from outsiders, those not necessarily Panther fans and those are but not tragics.

While it is accepted we didn’t play anywhere near our best the common consensus seems to be the luck and rub of the green went against us and against a side like the Storm you need your fair share of good fortune and bounce of the ball.

I’ll forever have nightmares about the three first half tries we conceded given there nature, penalty try, intercept and the Smith try on the stroke of half time all of which could have or should have been prevented.

We have an opportunity to build on 2020 going forward but as many have suggested there remains areas which we need to improve not least perhaps lacking speed out wide.

2021 will be interesting because it’s not just our club who are struggling with salary cap compliance and it seems many clubs are having to make some really tough decisions.

I think retaining Matt Burton is critical to our chances in 2021 we need three quality options in the halves, particularly given it only take but a moment for someone to get a severe or season ending injury.

The next month or so is going to be very interesting to see how our roster takes shape and whether we can hang onto Burton.

 

[betcats]

We choked massively Imo. We failed to show any patience or composure the entire finals series. We killed teams forcing line drop outs all year long and then completely went away from it come finals. We were never going to come out blow Melbourne off the park, we had to dominate possession and make them tackle but as soon as we could smell the try line they went for a trick play or some all or nothing type play. I was really disappointed with the way we played that gf tbh.

That intercept play is a perfect example, all year if the defence is rushing up on our outside backs our halves are rolling in behind and are happy to take the line drop out. I haven’t seen Nathan throw a pass like that all year long.

 

[Fangs]

We choked massively Imo. We failed to show any patience or composure the entire finals series. We killed teams forcing line drop outs all year long and then completely went away from it come finals. We were never going to come out blow Melbourne off the park, we had to dominate possession and make them tackle but as soon as we could smell the try line they went for a trick play or some all or nothing type play. I was really disappointed with the way we played that gf tbh.

That intercept play is a perfect example, all year if the defence is rushing up on our outside backs our halves are rolling in behind and are happy to take the line drop out. I haven’t seen Nathan throw a pass like that all year long.

I do agree, but I think we were capable of blowing Melbourne off the park had we played our normal game of football that you mentioned. That is over the course of 80 minutes. We could have taken the lead early and then ran away with the game in the second half. I think we need to review our whole finals series as all 3 games were well below the best that we could have offered in 2020.

It is very frustrating knowing that we were the best team of 2020 and don't have a trophy to show for it.