Mighty Panthers V Parramatta

[Fangs]

Only loss I expect is Storm. Still think we can get the Roosters without Cleary.

 

[franklin2323]

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.

They shouldn't of got 18-0 up granted but Luai alone plays we win that game. remembering he is 2nd in the comp for forced drop outs. A few of them would of turned the pressure sooner.

Storm game had Kenny...who's service is probably 7/10 most weeks. The issue attack wise has been just keeping the spine together. I have them as playing 4 games together this year. This period won't help but atleast Origin is almost over

Our attack now should go back to Round 2 and Round 4 when Kikau/Luai and Crichton were carving teams up. No need to try and go right now with no Cleary or Staines out there.

If it does that we are unbeatable. Realistically though we will just grind out wins for the new few some 20-10 type scorelines and just tick the wins over

 

[franklin2323]

Only loss I expect is Storm. Still think we can get the Roosters without Cleary.

That was my point. Not that we won't be a worse team just that we still are better then every side without Cleary.

It will force a few guys that have been phoning it in to fire up.

 

[franklin2323]

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

Friday is key. We win that and should finish top 2

 

[The Realist]

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

That is the ridiculous thing.

No we are not. Parra and Bunnies are 1 loss behind . If we have a bad run from now on we could end up 4th.

We need to win one of 2 against Parra and probably also knock off Bunnies to be assured of #2.

#1 is pretty much gone, I don't see us winning in Melbourne without Cleary or even with him '1st game back'. Even if we somehow end up with the same amount of wins/losses as the Storm they will get us on F/A. We have not been absolutely slaughtering teams the way they regularly have been - and they also have an easier draw than us from now on.

Looking at our draw we could conceivably lose 4-5 games without any 'shock upsets'. Parra x 2, Melbourne, Souths, Roosters.

 

[Fangs]

That was my point. Not that we won't be a worse team just that we still are better then every side without Cleary.

It will force a few guys that have been phoning it in to fire up.

These two:

Kikau
Crichton

Waiting for some big performances.

 

[The Realist]

These two:

Kikau
Crichton

Waiting for some big performances.

Yep, they are WELL below 2020 form. To be fair to Critta though, he has been shifted around a lot.

 

[age.s]

f**king Origin. Candy cane format f**king with the footy that actually matters. Ban our players from G3.

 

[franklin2323]

These two:

Kikau
Crichton

Waiting for some big performances.

Both have reasons.

Kikau we seemed to change our attack. Watch Martin v Roosters it was the same either a decoy or got it on the inside. Not Early in the year Crichton was the decoy and just let him run. The fact he got a rocket hopefully means they see the error in their ways

Crichton just needs to be left in the one position. if they put him left centre this week that is where he should stay. Not move him once Burton goes back

 

[franklin2323]

No we are not. Parra and Bunnies are 1 loss behind . If we have a bad run from now on we could end up 4th.

We need to win one of 2 against Parra and probably also knock off Bunnies to be assured of #2.

#1 is pretty much gone, I don't see us winning in Melbourne without Cleary or even with him '1st game back'. Even if we somehow end up with the same amount of wins/losses as the Storm they will get us on F/A. We have not been absolutely slaughtering teams the way they regularly have been - and they also have an easier draw than us from now on.

Looking at our draw we could conceivably lose 4-5 games without any 'shock upsets'. Parra x 2, Melbourne, Souths, Roosters.

Parra's draw home

Play us twice
Manly at Brookvale
Storm in Melbourne
Roosters away
Souths

All the top 4 sides play against each other though. All will take games off each other. We win half those games you mentioned we are fine.

We won't lose another home game. Includes this week and Souths. Win one of the other 3 and we are fine

 

[Panther Mick]

f**king Origin. Candy cane format f**king with the footy that actually matters. Ban our players from G3.

Fill the teams with players from Parra, Souths, Roosters and Melbourne.

 

[Girds89]

They shouldn't of got 18-0 up granted but Luai alone plays we win that game. remembering he is 2nd in the comp for forced drop outs. A few of them would of turned the pressure sooner.

Storm game had Kenny...who's service is probably 7/10 most weeks. The issue attack wise has been just keeping the spine together. I have them as playing 4 games together this year. This period won't help but atleast Origin is almost over

Our attack now should go back to Round 2 and Round 4 when Kikau/Luai and Crichton were carving teams up. No need to try and go right now with no Cleary or Staines out there.

If it does that we are unbeatable. Realistically though we will just grind out wins for the new few some 20-10 type scorelines and just tick the wins over

The thing you keep missing is luai doesnt get in a position to do the brilliant things he does without cleary.

Cleary guides the team around the park and has best kicking game/game management in the comp.

A lot of the reason luais stats are so good is because cleary puts us in those positions.

Burton has a long boot but findind the grass, knowing when to kick, what type etc is all areas he isnt nathan. They are different styles off players.

Having said that im glad we have burton. Just stop kidding yourself with these stats that nath isnt a huge loss

 

[The_Frog]

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.

Lost both those games with Burton and May in the halves, and with Yeo and To'o out both games and Martin, Leota and Api one of them. The side we can put out now is a lot different to that, and the forwards are at full strength. This is where Parra will be overcome.

Nathan is a loss, but he's hardly a one man team.

 

[franklin2323]

The thing you keep missing is luai doesnt get in a position to do the brilliant things he does without cleary.

Cleary guides the team around the park and has best kicking game/game management in the comp.

A lot of the reason luais stats are so good is because cleary puts us in those positions.

Burton has a long boot but findind the grass, knowing when to kick, what type etc is all areas he isnt nathan. They are different styles off players.

Having said that im glad we have burton. Just stop kidding yourself with these stats that nath isnt a huge loss

When we played the Storm without Cleary Burton had 585 kick metres. Luai had 119 kick metres. Despite no possession we won

As for the game management. Storm are close to the worst at it and they are still pretty good.

So yes we are still a pretty decent team

 

[Black Diamond]

Let's hope this dead rubber Origin game doesn't provide more injuries.

 

[lsta5838]

So glad he is not done for the season! The standards/expectation he brings and instills in the team will be missed for short term, but hopefully he can get it right by early August and we can go on a run into finals.

Would love for the team to get Critta into the game like the 2 NSW centers!

Going to be interesting to see how the team actually runs out Friday night. Hoping Naden does get a run... and am skeptical if Staines and May start in named positions.

 

[Girds89]

When we played the Storm without Cleary Burton had 585 kick metres. Luai had 119 kick metres. Despite no possession we won

As for the game management. Storm are close to the worst at it and they are still pretty good.

So yes we are still a pretty decent team

Storm close to worst at game management??

Theyve been the best at it since bellamy has been there. They control a game tempo unlike any other side. They want to slow it down they can, they want to play quick well we saw what they did to the tigers the other week and they werent even close to full strength.

Again... meaningless stats re kick meters. Burton needs to find the grass. Not just boot it as far as he can. Better a fb having to run to a grassed kick than catching one on the fly thats gone 10m further.

Anyway time will tell how we go. I hope we can win as many as possible to give nath more time to heal as we need him as close to 100% as possible to go close again. Its certainly not a 2 horse race as youve made out

 

[WestyLife]

I think people underestimate how good an organising half is. They don't so the flashy stuff but the flashy players need them.

 

[ACTPanthers]

Nath is the General - Sure, the lower ranks might be able to cover his arcs of fire for a while, but they will inevitably miss a shot or two that he would have hit.

(Excuse the military analogy, I'm missing my Army mates a lot today for some reason)

 

[franklin2323]

I think people underestimate how good an organising half is. They don't so the flashy stuff but the flashy players need them.

I think people under estimate how good we are. We can cover a few bad kicks a few missed overlaps etc and still win.