Match Discussion: Round 12 vs Penrith @ Carrington Park, Bathurst / Wiradjuri

[Yosh]

Ponga’s never been that fast. He’s definitely not slow but he’s not been blessed with the natural speed that the likes of Sharpe and Walsh have. The problem is more he doesn’t seem to have the energy to try and play fast throughout the whole game. I think that actually made a huge difference to our play yesterday. Sharpe rushing the ball back with energy from every single handover set the pace for all of our sets. Compare that with KP who usually jogs it back and slows down at the defence, I suspect worried about the contact, it starts our sets off on a lethargic note and the rest of the side seem to feed off it. Now when KP weaves through the defensive line on kick returns he’s unstoppable, but that’s obviously not always going to happen and as a FB sometimes you need to just run it back quickly knowing you’re going to get smashed. So in that sense I’m not so worried about him declining physically, but yeah, we’re not really getting return on investment now.

I don’t want to make the call now that we need to look at moving him on because we seem to go through this every year and by the end of the season we all love him again, and I’m also not at all confident we’d be able to find a decent enough halfback to spend his money on given the drought in the game…however, I think we may finally be in a position where we don’t have to be held to ransom by him and his Dad next time his contracts up. If he gets a better offer elsewhere we’re in a strong enough position with Sharpe (and I suppose Votano behind him) that we can say thank you for your service but it’s not the end of the world if you leave.

One good game against a reserve grade side and suddenly we got to move on our best player?

 

[Walk On Home Boy]

Good win. Let us all just enjoy it. We have only let in 6 points more than the Bulldogs. The team running first.

Proves that almost all of our problems are in the halves.

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

Seems pretty wild we could have scored another 3-4 tries if we didn't completely bomb them lol.
That style of attack in the first half an hour or so was beautiful to watch though.. We were making about 50-55m a set!
Where's that been all year?

 

[The Axe of Druss]

Seems pretty wild we could have scored another 3-4 tries if we didn't completely bomb them lol.
That style of attack in the first half an hour or so was beautiful to watch though.. We were making about 50-55m a set!
Where's that been all year?

Most of the year we haven't been playing a reserve grade side. Probably that

 

[Chins]

Sharpe is f**king fantastic I'd be letting KP walk.

 

[Woody90]

One good game against a reserve grade side and suddenly we got to move on our best player?

I said I wouldn’t be making that type of call now, just that we’re probably in a position now where we don’t have to get held to ransom to keep him if he did want to leave.

 

[perverse]

Most of the year we haven't been playing a reserve grade side. Probably that

This is a major contributor regardless of how happy everyone wants to be after a win. Having said that, we could have easily gone out there and lost too. At the end of the day our class players had too much for the under strength panthers to contain.

We also held the f**king ball, but that happens when you're not being lined up and pummeled by actual first grade defensive lines too.

 

[perverse]

Also is there any reason on earth why we can't play Sharpe as 5/8th in defence, but fullback in attack? And vice versa for Kalyn?

 

[Woody90]

I’m not taking anything from that win, but we need to acknowledge we also had a reserve grade squad out there. We were missing our 2 starting front rowers, 3/5 of our backline and lost 2 middles early in the game.

Not much to take from it as it was 2 reserve grade sides playing each other, but it definitely wasn’t our FG side against a reserve grade side no matter how many people want to paint it that way.

 

[Woody90]

Also is there any reason on earth why we can't play Sharpe as 5/8th in defence, but fullback in attack? And vice versa for Kalyn?

I think this might be the only option tbh. It’s not ideal but we’ve got both of them in the squad until 2028 at least.
It’s quite obvious to me that Kalyn doesn’t really like the traditional aspects of fullback play in attack anyway. Let him just organise the defensive line and stay out of contact.

 

[perverse]

I’m not taking anything from that win, but we need to acknowledge we also had a reserve grade squad out there. We were missing our 2 starting front rowers, 3/5 of our backline and lost 2 middles early in the game.

Not much to take from it as it was 2 reserve grade sides playing each other, but it definitely wasn’t our FG side against a reserve grade side no matter how many people want to paint it that way.

Sure, the point isn't that we weren't also affected, the point is more that we had more genuine class players on the field - and those were the ones that stood up and had blinders. The point is we can't expect Lucas to score a hattrick every week because the guys opposing him have no tools to contain him, etc.

You drop Sharpe or Lucas back to Cup and you'll get it every week though.

 

[Woody90]

Sure, the point isn't that we weren't also affected, the point is more that we had more genuine class players on the field - and those were the ones that stood up and had blinders. The point is we can't expect Lucas to score a hattrick every week because the guys opposing him have no tools to contain him, etc.

You drop Sharpe or Lucas back to Cup and you'll get it every week though.

I get your point but it goes both ways. Penrith had players there who have won grand finals but they couldn’t take advantage of our left edge with 3 games experience between them for example.
And no, we can’t count on Lucas to score 3 tries a week against full strength opposition, but he usually has Best to help him too, not 1 and 2 game rookies. It’s all relative.

 

[slotmachine]

Also is there any reason on earth why we can't play Sharpe as 5/8th in defence, but fullback in attack? And vice versa for Kalyn?

Because a) literally no good side in history has ever done this b) it would take an attacking savant as coach to make it work which we don't have a c) for all that KP sucks as a 5/8 and has no feel for the position anyway.

Other than that, all good.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

I’m not taking anything from that win, but we need to acknowledge we also had a reserve grade squad out there. We were missing our 2 starting front rowers, 3/5 of our backline and lost 2 middles early in the game.

Not much to take from it as it was 2 reserve grade sides playing each other, but it definitely wasn’t our FG side against a reserve grade side no matter how many people want to paint it that way.

Probably just highlights the gap between our full strength side and the one last night isn't all that big. Penriths is a different story

 

[Black Panther]

Not even a decent one, just someone to kick long and get the team round the park

You can have Schneider for free.

 

[perverse]

Because a) literally no good side in history has ever done this b) it would take an attacking savant as coach to make it work which we don't have a c) for all that KP sucks as a 5/8 and has no feel for the position anyway.

Other than that, all good.

Is it really that complicated?

I mean, what you've just said pretty much applies to anything we do with the pair of them at the moment. It's all going to require some excellent coaching.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

You can have Schneider for free.

No thanks, we already have 1 shit ex panther half

 

[Chins]

No thanks, we already have 1 shit ex panther half

Some delusional fans want Cogger back and think he's fantastic

 

[Woody90]

Some delusional fans want Cogger back and think he's fantastic

If they think Schneider’s bad defensively, Lucas probably would have scored 6 against Cogger last night.

 

[Chins]

If they think Schneider’s bad defensively, Lucas probably would have scored 6 against Cogger last night.

They are the same level of player. Cup guys that you hope you don't need.
Some of our fans overrate Cogger because he played in a much better side and stayed out of the way while Nathan pulled off the greatest 20mins in rugby league history.