Ivan Cleary ..

[mxlegend99]

No bias from the Australian coach, he thought we played like absolute shit this year. He is correct.

Yet he picked Ben Hunt. We played like shit. But Ben Hunt was terrible and somehow gets picked.

Honestly its a good thing for us to have as few reps as possible. We need a full uninterrupted pre-season for as many players as possible.

 

[Fangs]

Yet he picked Ben Hunt. We played like shit. But Ben Hunt was terrible and somehow gets picked.

Honestly its a good thing for us to have as few reps as possible. We need a full uninterrupted pre-season for as many players as possible.

Bit of experience. Was a little odd, I'd prefer a different bench utility.

And I agree, number 1 none of them deserve rep honours (except JFH) and number 2 we need a bumper pre-season.

 

[franklin2323]

I find it amazing that the Penrith Panthers have failed to get a single player picked in the Kangaroos squad, the Kangaroos nines squad and the junior Kangaroos squad. Even the wooden spooners have players picked. Dave's mate has to take responsibility for turning our club into the laughing stock of the NRL. Not a SINGLE player. I despair. How have we gone form being a semi finalist 3 years in a row, with players in the SOO team, to a club that hasn't got a single Australian rep player. It certainly takes some mediocre coaching to rise to such lows. Well done Dave's mate. Take a bow. What will you achieve next year? Perhaps you will secure massive sponsorship with Jenny Craig's as models for the "before" shots.

Who is eligible that missed out though? I don't mind a Ivan rant but on this I can't agree.

 

[forby]

If the coach likes you, you get selected. Doesn’t mean you’re the best player in that position.
Junior rep selections have always been a joke and mean nothing. How many junior kangaroos go on to be kangaroos?

 

[Westernised Panther]

Nathan would’ve been a good chance of being selected had he not required surgery

 

[age.s]

Who is eligible that missed out though? I don't mind a Ivan rant but on this I can't agree.

I mean, all the Aussies missed out. That's the point.

It's just the kind of season we had. Our only decent players were ineligible (JFH, Kikau) or younger players who are just getting their names out there (To'o, Martin, Edwards). Tamou maybe ever so slightly unlucky but really his season was only good, not outstanding. The guys who should have been pushing for such places (Cleary, Maloney, RCG, Mansour) had inconsistent years at best.

 

[franklin2323]

I mean, all the Aussies missed out. That's the point.

It's just the kind of season we had. Our only decent players were ineligible (JFH, Kikau) or younger players who are just getting their names out there (To'o, Martin, Edwards). Tamou maybe ever so slightly unlucky but really his season was only good, not outstanding. The guys who should have been pushing for such places (Cleary, Maloney, RCG, Mansour) had inconsistent years at best.

Is To'o even an Aussie?
Martin has played 10 or so games
Edwards is about 10 in line.

Hardly were mainstays over prior seasons either. The Panthers bias over rates the skill

Reality is a few kiwis aside we just haven't had Aussie eligible players playing at anywhere near that level for years

 

[franklin2323]

If the coach likes you, you get selected. Doesn’t mean you’re the best player in that position.
Junior rep selections have always been a joke and mean nothing. How many junior kangaroos go on to be kangaroos?

We had 6 in the SOO u20's this year so not like we are always ignored

 

[Kilkenny]

I find it amazing that the Penrith Panthers have failed to get a single player picked in the Kangaroos squad, the Kangaroos nines squad and the junior Kangaroos squad. Even the wooden spooners have players picked. Dave's mate has to take responsibility for turning our club into the laughing stock of the NRL. Not a SINGLE player. I despair. How have we gone form being a semi finalist 3 years in a row, with players in the SOO team, to a club that hasn't got a single Australian rep player. It certainly takes some mediocre coaching to rise to such lows. Well done Dave's mate. Take a bow. What will you semi finals 3 years achieve next year? Perhaps you will secure massive sponsorship with Jenny Craig's as models for the "before" shots.

All I can say in reply is you had better get used to the position we find ourselves in.

It is highly likely it may be quite some time before we ever make the semi finals 3 years running again.

The irony around our 3 semi finals appearances is it was never fully appreciated or acknowledged. We did pretty well with the squad we had.

We have gone backwards very quickly in a very short period of time and the current regime are not going to be able to rectify our predicament anytime soon.

 

[Flashstep]

We don’t really have any rep quality players besides Kikau (Fiji) and JFH (NZ) so it’s not surprising really. Nathan Cleary is just lucky NSW are so devoid of halves that they’re forced to gamble that he will be good in a few years.

Don’t think it’s Ivan’s fault that our team is full of kids either...

 

[BxTom]

We don’t really have any rep quality players besides Kikau (Fiji) and JFH (NZ) so it’s not surprising really. Nathan Cleary is just lucky NSW are so devoid of halves that they’re forced to gamble that he will be good in a few years.

Don’t think it’s Ivan’s fault that our team is full of kids either...

Um, DWZ, RCG and Waqa say hello!

 

[Panther Pete]

I can’t remember but which players did we have in the Aussie squad last year that have dropped out/gone backwards?

 

[Flashstep]

Um, DWZ, RCG and Waqa say hello!

DWZ fair enough, but RCG and Blake is pretty laughable, especially RCG. I doubt RCG ever plays rep footy again and Blake has a long way to go to get past Mitchell/Wighton/Turbo before he even dreams of playing for NSW let alone Australia.

 

[franklin2323]

We don’t really have any rep quality players besides Kikau (Fiji) and JFH (NZ) so it’s not surprising really. Nathan Cleary is just lucky NSW are so devoid of halves that they’re forced to gamble that he will be good in a few years.

Don’t think it’s Ivan’s fault that our team is full of kids either...

Been the case over the last 5 or so years. The development under Ivan/Gus and Hook/Gus was good at making FG but not great players.. So it isn't like it is a new thing

 

[franklin2323]

DWZ fair enough, but RCG and Blake is pretty laughable, especially RCG. I doubt RCG ever plays rep footy again and Blake has a long way to go to get past Mitchell/Wighton/Turbo before he even dreams of playing for NSW let alone Australia.

This

 

[franklin2323]

I can’t remember but which players did we have in the Aussie squad last year that have dropped out/gone backwards?

Not just that but the guys we offloaded haven't even got a start

 

[Flashstep]

Been the case over the last 5 or so years. The development under Ivan/Gus and Hook/Gus was good at making FG but not great players.. So it isn't like it is a new thing

Yep we’ve been able to get some decent first grade footballers out of our development system but we didn’t really get any rep quality players besides Moylan at his best but he was far to inconsistent and injury prone anyway.

 

[franklin2323]

Yep we’ve been able to get some decent first grade footballers out of our development system but we didn’t really get any rep quality players besides Moylan at his best but he was far to inconsistent and injury prone anyway.

I have said my reasons why I think this has been the case but yeah Blake was probably a top 5 centre but once others get moved he is way down the list

 

[Kilkenny]

Waqa Blake could have been something special but whatever reason didn’t quite get there. Will be decent for the Eels but nothing more than decent particularly given he has already lost a yard or two of pace.

 

[Flashstep]

I have said my reasons why I think this has been the case but yeah Blake was probably a top 5 centre but once others get moved he is way down the list

You're probably right on Blake being a top 5 centre but I think that's more down to the fact that there isn't really any great centres out there besides Mitchell and Manu, can''t really think of anyone else off the top of my head, which is why I think it was a poor choice letting Blake go. That's also why NSW and QLD are playing fullbacks/halves at centre in Origin...

On the same token though since centre is pretty much becoming irrelevant in today's game you just need someone to get good ball to their winger and not much else, this is why maybe putting Burton there next year might not be such a bad idea if you think about it.