GRAND FINAL: Parramatta v Penrith GAME DAY THREAD at Accor 2/10/22

[yy_cheng]

We ain't getting no hookers.... bushy needs to keep the position open for his next son.

My prediction is ja will be 14 all next year.

If hodgo goes down, ja will be the hooker

When 1 of moses and Dylan doesnt stay in 2024, ja will be the half

If we resign ba beyond, ja will be our half if moses or dyl wont be there and his other boy will be the 14

 

[Gary Gutful]

Our kick chase lasted two sets as well, but we were motivated for the game apparently.

We were definitely up for the game. The outcome is a result of them being much better, not us giving up.

 

[yy_cheng]

Good points.

Did you also notice a few times that RCG was defending wide of the ruck?

A few times, he made a tackle on Martin, or Crichton...

Why was our best middle defender defending out wide?

No wonder they got a roll on...

Yeah i noticed ice defending in the middle at times

 

[Hindmarshisgod2]

My prediction is ja will be 14 all next year.

If hodgo goes down, ja will be the hooker

When 1 of moses and Dylan doesnt stay in 2024, ja will be the half

If we resign ba beyond, ja will be our half if moses or dyl wont be there and his other boy will be the 14

Yep. That's bushys plan...

It's so f**king obvious.

We're gonna lose Dylan Brown and already lost Mahoney. Two great players that we've been waiting for....and now they will be gone so the bush coach can full fill his dream...

And I bet he takes a pay cut to keep his job

 

[Parra]

We have basic flaws.

Jnr - If we have him on field with not much possesion he is bascialy useless. He becomes a Makatoa.

Papali'i- In big games he is targeted and exposed. Marata has always been best in the 2nd row. His defense is rock solid. Should of been there most the season.

Mahoney - He is a pin ball. Missed 26 tackles in the final series.
I counted 34 missed if combined every other hooker in the 9 games that start. Total 60. Mahoney took 26 of those. He just doesn't dominate tackles.

Backs - Gutherson,Simmonson,Blake are ragdolls. No place in the game for these weak style runners. Can carry one maybe. Pensini also but he is strong and a kid. He'll be ok in future. The others need to be shown the door. Blake first as on half a million and can't catch bomb.


To our credit we still made a grand final with all these flaws. Most are defensive and as Avenger pointed out we had the 8th best defense.
The modern game requires tough physical players. You can get away with one in your side if he has super skills like Alex Johnston. But we cary far to many.

Change your bait

 

[EelsFan05]

Geez the BA haters must have been waiting for that loss. We made it to the last two. Anyone would think we were one the 14 teams watching on.

 

[King-Gutho94]

You could almost say the moment that probably won Penrith the comp was Nathan Cleary getting sent off against us.

Ivan would have managed Nathan workload in the last month.

But not having to risk him for those 5 weeks freshening him up mentally as much as physically and not being at any risk of getting an injury towards the finals. Meant he was 100% cherry ripe.

 

[soc123_au]

Condolences merkins, I don't think anyone survives that first 40 tbh. I was pretty impressed you kept us to 18 in the first half.

You have to find some consolation and a bit of amusement that once BA unleashed Jake you won 12 - 0. After every storm comes a rainbow.

 

[Gordy]

Obviously I’m a Penrith fan and delighted at the win. But genuine commiserations to all you Parra faithful. Your side had a great season and have plenty of reasons to be proud. Unfortunately, you just ran into a side who would have beaten anyone last night.

A lot of things didn’t go your way, but hopefully you will be up there again next year.

You have too much history and past glory to languish as also-rans.

And can I just apologise on behalf of Penrith fans at the stadium this morning who chanted ‘we hate Parra’.

It’s just typical of some of the classless bogans out here.

Our rivalry is legendary, but it should always be about mutual respect. In particular JFH making the comment of “Parra sucks” (I think that’s what he said as he still had a bit of a drunken slur going on), was putrid.

As much as I love my club, there are some grubs in there.

chin up Parra army, it wasn’t your year, but you’ll be back, the blue and gold ain’t going nowhere,

cheers,
Pamfer

Cheers for that Pamfer.
Far too good on the day.

 

[Chipmunk]

My prediction is ja will be 14 all next year.

If hodgo goes down, ja will be the hooker

When 1 of moses and Dylan doesnt stay in 2024, ja will be the half

If we resign ba beyond, ja will be our half if moses or dyl wont be there and his other boy will be the 14

We're going to have to carry someone who can play dummy half next year for at least 10-15 minutes anyway. Hodgson hasn't played 80 minutes for a while.

 

[mxlegend99]

Really feel for you guys. Not long ago Panthers went through the pain of never being in the game after a terrific season to make it. Hopefully you get a chance at redemption and use that pain to be even better in 2023.

Personally what i found most painful was knowing how hard it is to make the grand final and honestly not knowing if we would actually get the chance to use that pain to be better. 2020 at the time felt like blowing our one and only chance.

Im not one of the Panthers fans that hates Eels. I think it more like sibling rivalry. Love to get one over you guys. But aside from that i would enjoy seeing you succeed more than any other team to be honest.

Congratulations on an awesome season and managing to get the monkey off your back in Week 2 of finals. Hopefully you can go one better next year. Unless Panthers are up there again. Good luck in 2023 either way.

 

[Eelementary]

Had a message from optus just before the game. Details stolen. I knew it was a bad sign then

I'm sorry, brother.

 

[Eelementary]

Yeah i noticed ice defending in the middle at times

Weird decision, I thought.

RCG is a great defender - we needed him to be marking up against Leota, imo.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Hopgood is very good ... but i'm a bit unsure how we are gonna go with him and Matto .... they both seem to need to play decent minutes in the middle, but are not bash em up type players ... don't know how it's gonna work

One will play edge I reckon, I would put Hopgood there….I suspect our attacking structure will change a bit next year with those 2’s skill set being used a lot more under Barrett…

 

[Joshuatheeel]

yeah our backs need work

things is - someone like crichton for penrith - he is a skinny f**ker too - but he doesn't get dominated as much as our skinny f**kers - he uses a little footwork at the line - why can't our skinny f**kers do that?

Yep, our backs need improvement…..

Wouldn’t be surprised if Blake is now on BA “shit list” and we will see a lot more of Dunster/Russell….and Cini…

Simonson looks good at centre, gives a fair bit of speed too…

I wouIdnt be re-signing Sivo either….

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Yeah I agree but both are 65min players.

Most likely Hopgood is on the bench. He gets 30mins in middle.
Matto will have 35 in middle and 30 on the edge. Pending how Hopgoods game develops will depend on how much more time he steals

Hopgood goes to edge, he has played there..plays 80 there. Reckon he can match Papa’s output but be better defensively….

Then we have 2 edges who can ball play….

 

[hindy111]

Really feel for you guys. Not long ago Panthers went through the pain of never being in the game after a terrific season to make it. Hopefully you get a chance at redemption and use that pain to be even better in 2023.

Personally what i found most painful was knowing how hard it is to make the grand final and honestly not knowing if we would actually get the chance to use that pain to be better. 2020 at the time felt like blowing our one and only chance.

Im not one of the Panthers fans that hates Eels. I think it more like sibling rivalry. Love to get one over you guys. But aside from that i would enjoy seeing you succeed more than any other team to be honest.

Congratulations on an awesome season and managing to get the monkey off your back in Week 2 of finals. Hopefully you can go one better next year. Unless Panthers are up there again. Good luck in 2023 either way.

We just don't have the juniors to feel heaps positive for 2023. We have building blocks to be ok again. But our squad looks weaker in general.
Penrith have built a system where there are great kids coming through in nearly every position. We had a few good kids come through 4yrs ago and basicalu zero since.

 

[Eelementary]

I think Hopgood is the ideal prototype of the modern forward; Penrith have shown that fitness, agilitt, mobility, and speed, are more important than size, and power, imo.

In my eyes, RCG is agile, mobile, and has some speed for a big fella.

But I honestly think Junior could stand to shed some weight; it should help him with his fitness, mobility, and agility.

I reckon we have a good side for next year, but we really need some hard-working wingers.

Sivo is powerful, but lazy.

Blake is not a winger.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Junior Paulo was the biggest disappointment in the GF. He was basically exposed as a pussy. Gutherson was our best player but he looked so slow and reminded me of Andrew Leeds with a dislocated ankle.

I couldn’t give a f**k about the players leaving anymore even Papali’i. Don’t start me on Mahoney, I’ve hated the little turncoat all season. Hodgson if he stays fit will expose that little cauliflowered fraud for what he is. Blake is a f**king nightmare and I’d be tapping him on the shoulder and f**king him off.

I’m excited about Hopgood. He will waltz into our starting side. Like another member said we need more signings. I don’t care if it’s second tier either because players like Perham have already been tapped on the shoulder. We need to replace players like that from other clubs because from what I see once again our juniors are tragically overrated.

Murchie is a good signing if that happens…..makes more m’s per run then Papa…just needs some “polish” / good system…big boy..

And Marty tapua article yesterday sort of suggested we are still interested in him, but need cap amount to be confirmed…

With those 3, we basically have lost nothing in our pack….

while the knights dude could have a break out year (or be nothing but a back up)

 

[hindy111]

I think Hopgood is the ideal prototype of the modern forward; Penrith have shown that fitness, agilitt, mobility, and speed, are more important than size, and power, imo.

In my eyes, RCG is agile, mobile, and has some speed for a big fella.

But I honestly think Junior could stand to shed some weight; it should help him with his fitness, mobility, and agility.

I reckon we have a good side for next year, but we really need some hard-working wingers.

Sivo is powerful, but lazy.

Blake is not a winger.

A thing I noticed was Penrith first 3 hit ups. A strong powerfull back running onto the ball hard with a short crisp pass so barely anytime lost. There defense is so confident they back drop back on 4th or 5th so are ready set go.
Compare it to us using long looping passes to a small body that's flat footed and waiting to be belted. 1 second vs 0.3 of a second ball in air movement counts. So does a back whomjust raced back 50mtrs a tackle earlier.
There was space on the last to keep running the ball and exploit but they knew we wouldn't have the balls to do it come grand final. We did once and come off to an extend and ended badly so put it away.

Agree with everything you said. Blake is not a winger and that was clear 6 weeks ago. He doesn't run hard enough and can't catch a bomb.