Mighty Panthers V Parramatta

[Girds89]

We can cover any one single player... it is when several guys missing we will have issues.

Our defence is our strength. That is no worse off with Burton. Just need a reasonable kicking game to go with it.

For reference point Storm rank 12th in kicking. So we can fall and still be better in that department

Im suprised your still not saying cleary will only ever be a hooker.

Losing your best player isnt like losing viliame kikau. We could replace vili, yeo, api. In fact if i had to choose nath being out or those 3 out id still choose nathan. Thats how important he is.

We can cover most other positions but when your halfback is your captain and best player in the game and your not melbourne in their prime and dont have cronk, slater up your sleeve if smith goes down then your stuffed..

It astounds me you think its an easy cover with burton in the halves.

Burton has been a revelation at centre and imo has looked better there than anything he has shown in the halves at nrl level. Moving him to the halves also means momo back in and i really dont think he has shown much. We look much better with burton critta at centre.

Burton isnt an organiser like nathan and neither is luai.

Im sure we will win games without him but to really give the title a nudge we need him.

Hopefully its just rehab till end of season than surgery as early reports suggest.

If he is unfortunatley out season i read we can get 350k compensation due to rep injury.

If thats the case the club needs to go after widdop or george williams asap. They are similiar to nathan and have a good kicking game and decent running game.

If nath is out..

Edwards
Staines
Critta
Burton
Too
Luai
Williams

Looks better to me than

Edwards
Staines
Momo
Critta
Too
Burton
Luai

Whilst things fell apart for williams this year he is no doubt a quality player and showed that over a period of time in the nrl. Worst case if nath is out i really think he could come into our winning system, get guidance from nath and really do a great job in back half of year.

 

[ACTPanthers]

Im suprised your still not saying cleary will only ever be a hooker.

Losing your best player isnt like losing viliame kikau. We could replace vili, yeo, api. In fact if i had to choose nath being out or those 3 out id still choose nathan. Thats how important he is.

We can cover most other positions but when your halfback is your captain and best player in the game and your not melbourne in their prime and dont have cronk, slater up your sleeve if smith goes down then your stuffed..

It astounds me you think its an easy cover with burton in the halves.

Burton has been a revelation at centre and imo has looked better there than anything he has shown in the halves at nrl level. Moving him to the halves also means momo back in and i really dont think he has shown much. We look much better with burton critta at centre.

Burton isnt an organiser like nathan and neither is luai.

Im sure we will win games without him but to really give the title a nudge we need him.

Hopefully its just rehab till end of season than surgery as early reports suggest.

If he is unfortunatley out season i read we can get 350k compensation due to rep injury.

If thats the case the club needs to go after widdop or george williams asap. They are similiar to nathan and have a good kicking game and decent running game.

If nath is out..

Edwards
Staines
Critta
Burton
Too
Luai
Williams

Looks better to me than

Edwards
Staines
Momo
Critta
Too
Burton
Luai

Whilst things fell apart for williams this year he is no doubt a quality player and showed that over a period of time in the nrl. Worst case if nath is out i really think he could come into our winning system, get guidance from nath and really do a great job in back half of year.

Isn't Williams back in the UK? He made such a song and dance about going back to the UK, he's not coming back any time soon.

 

[BxTom]

The forward pack is full strength. If we can hold them in the middle and complete our sets Parra won't get the 55% possession they appear to need to function properly. Even the Bulldogs dominated them while they had some ball.

I like the way the Storm look at having players out. It's not who is out that matters, it is who is in.

Klein is doing his impersonation of a ref.

 

[Girds89]

Isn't Williams back in the UK? He made such a song and dance about going back to the UK, he's not coming back any time soon.

I believe he was on the gold coast whilst trying to sort out his contract situation.

Widdop has been trying to get back for months and would be a nice fit and is a proven big game player.

There are others too at 350k for half a season we cold nab someone decent. Shaun johnson is back to the warriors next year. Sharks cap is all over the place and they are realistically no chance of giving it a shake.

They might be open to releasing him early given trindall is a 7.

Theres options.

 

[Girds89]

Ive been refreshing the panthers website every 5 minutes hoping for positive news on nath

 

[franklin2323]

Im suprised your still not saying cleary will only ever be a hooker.

Losing your best player isnt like losing viliame kikau. We could replace vili, yeo, api. In fact if i had to choose nath being out or those 3 out id still choose nathan. Thats how important he is.

We can cover most other positions but when your halfback is your captain and best player in the game and your not melbourne in their prime and dont have cronk, slater up your sleeve if smith goes down then your stuffed..

It astounds me you think its an easy cover with burton in the halves.

Burton has been a revelation at centre and imo has looked better there than anything he has shown in the halves at nrl level. Moving him to the halves also means momo back in and i really dont think he has shown much. We look much better with burton critta at centre.

Burton isnt an organiser like nathan and neither is luai.

Im sure we will win games without him but to really give the title a nudge we need him.

Hopefully its just rehab till end of season than surgery as early reports suggest.

If he is unfortunatley out season i read we can get 350k compensation due to rep injury.

If thats the case the club needs to go after widdop or george williams asap. They are similiar to nathan and have a good kicking game and decent running game.

If nath is out..

Edwards
Staines
Critta
Burton
Too
Luai
Williams

Looks better to me than

Edwards
Staines
Momo
Critta
Too
Burton
Luai

Whilst things fell apart for williams this year he is no doubt a quality player and showed that over a period of time in the nrl. Worst case if nath is out i really think he could come into our winning system, get guidance from nath and really do a great job in back half of year.

Well 1st point I don't think Nathan will be out for the year. Reed Mahoney is the same injury he is looking at 6 weeks out

2nd point our attack generally is pretty average. Keeping our full strength spine on the field has played a part in that actually most of it. So we are used to the disruption

Final and most important point. Just how far above other sides we are. Defence speaks for itself.

Even breaking down Cleary v Luaithere is a huge difference in kick metres but Burton will step that up

Try Assists Cleary is 1st in the NRL but Luai is 8th.

Ave Kick metres a game we are 2nd. Storm 12th. So while we will no doubt drop we have a buffer anyway.

Forced Line drop out as a team 1st with 37. Storm 10th with 19

Cleary is 1st with 15. Luai 2nd with 12

So generally I see no reason why we can't cover during this time. Even longer if others stay fit

 

[Girds89]

Well 1st point I don't think Nathan will be out for the year. Reed Mahoney is the same injury he is looking at 6 weeks out

2nd point our attack generally is pretty average. Keeping our full strength spine on the field has played a part in that actually most of it. So we are used to the disruption

Final and most important point. Just how far above other sides we are. Defence speaks for itself.

Even breaking down Cleary v Luaithere is a huge difference in kick metres but Burton will step that up

Try Assists Cleary is 1st in the NRL but Luai is 8th.

Ave Kick metres a game we are 2nd. Storm 12th. So while we will no doubt drop we have a buffer anyway.

Forced Line drop out as a team 1st with 37. Storm 10th with 19

Cleary is 1st with 15. Luai 2nd with 12

So generally I see no reason why we can't cover during this time. Even longer if others stay fit

Hopefully he isnt out for year.

But come on mate, you cant use stats to try prove that nathan isnt a loss.. burton isnt a halfback and he is a long long way of naths ability at this stage. The reason luai is so good is nath and him compliment each others style.

Burton and luai arent like nath and luai.. its a stop gap and definitley not ideal.

 

[franklin2323]

Hopefully he isnt out for year.

But come on mate, you cant use stats to try prove that nathan isnt a loss.. burton isnt a halfback and he is a long long way of naths ability at this stage. The reason luai is so good is nath and him compliment each others style.

Burton and luai arent like nath and luai.. its a stop gap and definitley not ideal.

Lets use the 6 games from Mahoney as the guide.

Parra
Bye
Warriors
Broncos
Storm
Roosters

I think he aims for the Storm game but if it is 6. We win 5 of them atleast that is the point I am making. We are still in front of every side

 

[mxlegend99]

We definitely have a great backup to replace Cleary or Luai. But to suggest it's not a huge loss still is ridiculous.

Cleary is the best half in the game. Burton might be the best or close to the best backup half. But he's still a long way off Nathan. Most importantly we lost the combination that helped both halves play their best footy due to a combination back to junior footy that no other halves pairing has.

Luai will almost definitely lift a bit. But we will not be close to the same peak that we had before.

Edit
We also lose our best centre and have replaced him with Tyrone May ffs. Weakened 2 positions by quiet a lot

 

[franklin2323]

There is no way May plays centre.

Who covers an injury in the backs in that 17?

 

[franklin2323]

We definitely have a great backup to replace Cleary or Luai. But to suggest it's not a huge loss still is ridiculous.

Cleary is the best half in the game. Burton might be the best or close to the best backup half. But he's still a long way off Nathan. Most importantly we lost the combination that helped both halves play their best footy due to a combination back to junior footy that no other halves pairing has.

Luai will almost definitely lift a bit. But we will not be close to the same peak that we had before.

Edit
We also lose our best centre and have replaced him with Tyrone May ffs. Weakened 2 positions by quiet a lot

Please....We are that far in front of everyone

That is the ridiculous thing.

 

[franklin2323]

So Cleary 3-6 weeks...Exactly what I said on Monday. No idea why people listened to Billy Slater for

 

[WestyLife]

Play Burton. Cleary back for finals, win the comp.

 

[mxlegend99]

Please....We are that far in front of everyone

That is the ridiculous thing.

Absolute bullshit. We lost to Tigers and Sharks without our Origin players. You're kidding yourself thinking you can just lose the best player in the game and it won't matter.

At full strength we are close to unbeatable (but even then Storm can beat us and on any given day Eels, Roosters, Souths and Sea Eagles could probably snatch a win... broncos nearly fid). But take Cleary out, weaken centre to replace him and we're already nowhere near as good as we were. Nathans kicking game is absolutely crucial to us dominating possession and field position and looking so much better than anyone. He keeps us on the front foot. He makes everyone better.

We can win without him still. But no game can be taken for granted without him. Especially not when you have May at centre as a result of shifting Burton. If our full strength backline was a 10/10. This one's a 6/10.

Staines unproven in NRL at fullback
Naden has been very average and mostly rocks in reserves
May weakens centre massively
Burton at 7 is nowhere near as complete as Nathan.

Not to mention our goal kicking drops from say 85% to 65%. One player can have ripple effects on the side.

 

[franklin2323]

Play Burton. Cleary back for finals, win the comp.

It was always going to play out that way. Depends on how limited Cleary is of course like and few guys like Cronk and Benji have won GF's with the same injury.

They just had to hide in defence etc. That even works. I think him at even 70% we win the comp

 

[mxlegend99]

Play Burton. Cleary back for finals, win the comp.

Was pretty much a certainty this would be the case. No way Nathan misses any footy unless it was impossible to play. Kid will play through pain for his team.

 

[Girds89]

Please....We are that far in front of everyone

That is the ridiculous thing.

Absolute bullshit. We lost to Tigers and Sharks without our Origin players. You're kidding yourself thinking you can just lose the best player in the game and it won't matter.

At full strength we are close to unbeatable (but even then Storm can beat us and on any given day Eels, Roosters, Souths and Sea Eagles could probably snatch a win... broncos nearly fid). But take Cleary out, weaken centre to replace him and we're already nowhere near as good as we were. Nathans kicking game is absolutely crucial to us dominating possession and field position and looking so much better than anyone. He keeps us on the front foot. He makes everyone better.

We can win without him still. But no game can be taken for granted without him. Especially not when you have May at centre as a result of shifting Burton. If our full strength backline was a 10/10. This one's a 6/10.

Staines unproven in NRL at fullback
Naden has been very average and mostly tocks in reserves
May weakens centre massively
Burton at 7 is nowhere near as complete as Nathan.

Not to mention our goal kicking drops from say 85% to 65%. One player can have ripple effects on the side.

100%

 

[franklin2323]

Absolute bullshit. We lost to Tigers and Sharks without our Origin players. You're kidding yourself thinking you can just lose the best player in the game and it won't matter.

At full strength we are close to unbeatable (but even then Storm can beat us and on any given day Eels, Roosters, Souths and Sea Eagles could probably snatch a win... broncos nearly fid). But take Cleary out, weaken centre to replace him and we're already nowhere near as good as we were. Nathans kicking game is absolutely crucial to us dominating possession and field position and looking so much better than anyone. He keeps us on the front foot. He makes everyone better.

We can win without him still. But no game can be taken for granted without him. Especially not when you have May at centre as a result of shifting Burton. If our full strength backline was a 10/10. This one's a 6/10.

Staines unproven in NRL at fullback
Naden has been very average and mostly tocks in reserves
May weakens centre massively
Burton at 7 is nowhere near as complete as Nathan.

Not to mention our goal kicking drops from say 85% to 65%. One player can have ripple effects on the side.

Without Origin players... enough said. we lost 8 players in a week. No time to train.

How much better were we v Sharks when Api, Leota and Martin got added to the side?
Now add Capewell, Yeo and To'o to that with 4 weeks of training together

No way May starts centre that is just Ivan being Ivan
Naden will fire up for a week atleast...Edwards comes back after the bye which pushes him out and Staines back to the wing

We then have Warriors and Broncs

Then Cleary back for Storm game. Still in 2nd place and other guys getting confidence up for the end of the year

 

[Girds89]

If we do ok without nathan and win at least 50% of our games theres no need to rush him

Our only real threats to top 2 spot is souths and parra and we have them in 3rd last and last game respectivley so imo they will be important as to where we finish up.

Top 2 really needs to be the goal but giving nathan as much time as possible to strenthen the shoulder probably as important if not more

 

[mxlegend99]

Without Origin players... enough said. we lost 8 players in a week. No time to train.

How much better were we v Sharks when Api, Leota and Martin got added to the side?
Now add Capewell, Yeo and To'o to that with 4 weeks of training together

No way May starts centre that is just Ivan being Ivan
Naden will fire up for a week atleast...Edwards comes back after the bye which pushes him out and Staines back to the wing

We then have Warriors and Broncs

Then Cleary back for Storm game. Still in 2nd place and other guys getting confidence up for the end of the year

We were only slightly better against Sharks. They led 18 nil before shitting the bed. We had absolutely no direction without Nathan and to a lesser extent Jarome. Our kicks and attack have no purpose.burton ran well but that's about itm

When we beat Storm we saw Burton has a brilliant boot. But he really didn't seem to put thought into what we were doing through sets. He was solid but our attack and execution just lacked the polish they have with Nathan who adapts to situations while Burton seems to stick to what he had planned in advance.

We can win still. Ofcourse. But Nathan being so reliable and controlling games was a huge reason for our consistency. We will probably look more up and down now. You underestimate how important his contributions are. And incredibly overrate how good we are.