Penrith v Souths semi final

[Girds89]

If the much maligned edwards plays last night. We win..

What he adds to our team is just sooo soo important. It isnt always visible.

Things like getting the defensive line in order. Postioning for kicks. Tough carries out of our own end, sometimes multiple in a set... basically makes the least errors of any nrl fb.. is tough ti handle and makes plenty of tackle breaks.

Is he a superstar. No.

Is he a very very important part of our team and the way we play... absolutley. You just cannot replace and make up for the work dylan does.

Critta was great last night. But edwards was badly missed. Im almost positive we win if he plays.

 

[billypilgrimnz]

Career win rates:

Craig Bellamy: 70.1%
Trent Robinson: 64.9%
Wayne Bennett: 62.5%
Geoff Toovey: 58.1%
Des Hasler: 57.5%
Anthony Griffin: 52.8%
Ivan Cleary: 52.2%
Paul Green: 52.1%
Brad Arthur: 51.5%
Michael Maguire: 50.2%
Ricky Stuart: 50.0%

Seems about right in the great scheme of things.

 

[Crashtest]

Remember Griffin when we were coming 4th and he got the chop? That is what I'm basing my logic on. But after a good night's sleep, I'm thinking a little clearer now.

But Griffin couldn’t beat top 4 sides. The difference is that Ivan has consistently done that. Over the last 2 seasons, Ivan has won 11 out of 14 games against Bennett, Robinson, and Bellamy.

Im not saying that Ivan is as good a coach as any of them, just that you don’t sack a coach after that sort of run over the last 2 seasons.

 

[The_Frog]

Cleary had beaten Bennet 5 in a row before last nights loss, so it’s still 5 to 1. He has beaten Roninson 4 to 0 over the last 2 seasons. And is 2 all with Bellamy. The team finished first of the regular season last year, and second this season.

What team would fire a coach from that? And who would you replace him with anyway?

Cam Ciraldo head coach, Ivan coaching director or some such title, so that the kid doesn't fly the coop.

 

[soc123_au]

Cam Ciraldo head coach, Ivan coaching director or some such title, so that the kid doesn't fly the coop.

This is where I think we should be looking in the future.

 

[billypilgrimnz]

As much as I think Cleary is a very one-dimensional coach, I wouldn't sack him (well, I wouldn't sack him on this one loss anyway, but still...) because there is no-one compelling to replace him with. Toovey has been out of the game too long, Bennett is too old and I want someone for the long term, etc. Our best bet is to try to "raise" a coach ourselves in the same way that we try to focus on developing juniors. Ciraldo may or may not be that. The club would know better than us on that score.

 

[Crashtest]

Career win rates:

Craig Bellamy: 70.1%
Trent Robinson: 64.9%
Wayne Bennett: 62.5%
Geoff Toovey: 58.1%
Des Hasler: 57.5%
Anthony Griffin: 52.8%
Ivan Cleary: 52.2%
Paul Green: 52.1%
Brad Arthur: 51.5%
Michael Maguire: 50.2%
Ricky Stuart: 50.0%

Seems about right in the great scheme of things.

It still surprises me that Toovey has never gotten another chance given his win loss record. Especially considering the Warriors giving Elliott a gig, Dragons with Griffin, Warriors again with Kearney, etc

Theres “got to be an investigation”

 

[GongPanther]

Was closer to 60 haha.

Havent read the last 4 or 5 pages but just to clarify, i dont think @Smug Panther is a loser..

I dont think half of what he says is accurate or even close. But hes entitled to his opinion like the rest of us.

Thoughts on the game without putting myself through a replay.


Well critta was great but the loss of edwards was huge.. i think last night really showed how important he is for our team.

Staines.... without harping on, hes just not an nrl standard winger yet. He tried harder but still id rate avg at best..

Momo.... wow for all the hate he cops on here he was one of our better players.

Burton... everyone loves him but miss the fact hes close to our worst defender... i think only martin misses more tackles. And he bombed 2 tries... imagine if that was momo.

Id said all week the importance of your back 5 making meters. We seriously missed another meter eater in the backs last night.. just cant make up for the work dylan does. He is just soo soo underated by all here..

I heard cleary talk about him pre game and have heard others through the year talk about him. Its when you listen to the players you actually realise how important he is to this side.

Other than yeo the forwards were embarrasing..

I was pretty big on giving them a rest last week... not sure if that was the answer but they looked flat as hell..

Luai was poor and is out of form..he needs to go back to what was working earlier in the year..

As for the rest of the season... well the two horse race thing that so e have said on here is joke. If we manage to get to prelim.... and play like last night... storm win by 50. They have been the clear favs for ages. Last night just showed it defs isnt a 2 horse race.

Do i still think we can go the whole way? Yep..

But to do so we have to be at full strength.. staines eiso just arent nrl finals standard.. players like luai and jfh need to lift and we need to be at our best.

I think the thing people miss most on here is we have ivan as a coach... is he anywhere near as good as bennett bellamy or robo. Heck no... not even close.

I knew last night would be a close game, said so all week. Id say bennett was the difference. He has a knack for getting underdog teams up.

As for next week. Well, do or die now.. no point dwelling on last night. Give em some rest than sit em down together and watch todays game..

To all my fellow LU posters i upset last night. Sorry. The beers and severe frustration and upset kicked in.

We live and learn...all of us.

 

[The Realist]

I think it’s part of what Crichton still needs to learn when playing fullback. Be there to back up just in case, like Edwards always does.

f**k I am sick to death of reading this bullshit. We have made plenty of breaks down the middle with Edwards playing where he didn't back up.

Everyone here is acting like he has a 100% back up rate. He bloody well doesn't I doubt it would be even 50%. He is a good support player but there are at least 1/2 a dozen fullbacks in the NRL who are better at it.

 

[Crashtest]

We are too soft, poorly coached. Sides know this, We are going out in straight sets

Are you sure you weren’t watching the Chicken Little movie (the sky is falling, the sky is falling!) instead of the game last night?

We lost the game by 6 points. That was with Souths playing at their best, most of our stars playing at their worst, some dubious refereeing, and being a bad pass or two from winning the game.

We have another gear and so much more improvement in us to bounce back from the loss and win next week. Yet if I hadnt of watched the game, and went by just your comments, I’d think we were flogged by 50 points or more.

 

[Panther79]

If the much maligned edwards plays last night. We win..

What he adds to our team is just sooo soo important. It isnt always visible.

Things like getting the defensive line in order. Postioning for kicks. Tough carries out of our own end, sometimes multiple in a set... basically makes the least errors of any nrl fb.. is tough ti handle and makes plenty of tackle breaks.

Is he a superstar. No.

Is he a very very important part of our team and the way we play... absolutley. You just cannot replace and make up for the work dylan does.

Critta was great last night. But edwards was badly missed. Im almost positive we win if he plays.

Couldn't agree more, two crucial plays would have been very different. The Yeo break he backs up and scores, seen it so many times. Stains wouldn't have played and Crichton surely would have got a better shot on Gagai where he set the try up for Walker.

Also less obvious is the positional play. Would he have been caught out when Reynolds did that chip that ended with him being pinned in goal? Would Edwards have dropped a bomb with no one contesting it?

Even if you go with 50% of these situations being different with him present, we only lost by 6 points so it could have changed the game.

 

[Crashtest]

f**k I am sick to death of reading this bullshit. We have made plenty of breaks down the middle with Edwards playing where he didn't back up.

Everyone here is acting like he has a 100% back up rate. He bloody well doesn't I doubt it would be even 50%. He is a good support player but there are at least 1/2 a dozen fullbacks in the NRL who are better at it.

Why is it bullshit? Crichton does have a lot to learn at being a fullback, and Edwards does back up well.

Of course there are a lot of other NRL fullbacks that back up well, who said that there isn’t? It’s what they should be doing. Doesn’t mean that Edwards doesn’t do it well.

 

[pantherz9103]

IF we do bomb out in disappointing fashion then still no way an NRL club will sack a coach after losing only a handful of games in two seasons... European soccer clubs might do it but not Rugby League. The most important thing is winning a premiership but if we fail to this year the club would still presume we'll be a chance for the next few years, due to the youth of our squad. I personally think it's a massive wasted opportunity if we don't win this year, especially given we won't have Burton, Capewell, TPJ etc next year but obviously Ivan won't be sacked after our the two best regular seasons in the club's history.

 

[DinkyDi]

f**k I am sick to death of reading this bullshit. We have made plenty of breaks down the middle with Edwards playing where he didn't back up.

Everyone here is acting like he has a 100% back up rate. He bloody well doesn't I doubt it would be even 50%. He is a good support player but there are at least 1/2 a dozen fullbacks in the NRL who are better at it.

Then do not read it, it is that simple.

 

[billypilgrimnz]

Why is it bullshit? Crichton does have a lot to learn at being a fullback, and Edwards does back up well.

Of course there are a lot of other NRL fullbacks that back up well, who said that there isn’t? It’s what they should be doing. Doesn’t mean that Edwards doesn’t do it well.

Because, apparently, if there is literally any other fullback in the comp that does something better than Edwards, then he is irredeemably shit. It doesn't matter that we don't have any of those fullbacks currently at our club; apparently, we need to dump Edwards for Crichton or Staines, who - surprise - are also inferior to other fullbacks at other clubs. Based on the evidence so far, there is no way in hel Crichton becomes the ball-playing fullback we are supposed to desperately need.

 

[billypilgrimnz]

Looking at the stats from last night, it was surprisingly more even than you would think. We just had absolutely nothing in attack.

 

[Crashtest]

IF we do bomb out in disappointing fashion then still no way an NRL club will sack a coach after losing only a handful of games in two seasons... European soccer clubs might do it but not Rugby League. The most important thing is winning a premiership but if we fail to this year the club would still presume we'll be a chance for the next few years, due to the youth of our squad. I personally think it's a massive wasted opportunity if we don't win this year, especially given we won't have Burton, Capewell, TPJ etc next year but obviously Ivan won't be sacked after our the two best regular seasons in the club's history.

As a long suffering Panthers fan, I used to go into watching us play against the better sides deep down expecting us to lose. Never in my right mind did I expect the last 2 seasons to go like they have.

As I mentioned earlier, Ivan has won 11 of the last 14 games against the three super coaches. And that’s with one of the youngest and inexperienced teams in the competition.

Regardless of the results in the remaining games we have left this season, it has still been a successful year. Our players have another years experience behind them with playing finals games, and they have learnt about playing and backing up from Origin. So I go into next season thinking it will be our best chance of the last 3 seasons to win a grand final.

 

[Vicpanther]

If the much maligned edwards plays last night. We win..

What he adds to our team is just sooo soo important. It isnt always visible.

Things like getting the defensive line in order. Postioning for kicks. Tough carries out of our own end, sometimes multiple in a set... basically makes the least errors of any nrl fb.. is tough ti handle and makes plenty of tackle breaks.

Is he a superstar. No.

Is he a very very important part of our team and the way we play... absolutley. You just cannot replace and make up for the work dylan does.

Critta was great last night. But edwards was badly missed. Im almost positive we win if he plays.

Would have 100% been on the inside for yeo after his break. So would have been level points atleast.
I like critta but he is a centre and is best suited to that. Great emergency fullback but the workload is a bit much for him I think.

 

[Vicpanther]

Looking at the stats from last night, it was surprisingly more even than you would think. We just had absolutely nothing in attack.

And I put that down to Rabits rushing us. We seemed to have no time to do anything.
They had their game plan and it worked brilliantly for them.

 

[Black Diamond]

Ouch, you might hurt my feelings on the Internet.

Sorry mate, I'm the prick, was pissed and pissed off.