R1 // Panthers 30-8 Knights @ Sportingbet // Sat 4.30pm

[Frederick]

*insert IanG complaining about condition staff*

 

[perverse]

Is there a club more unlucky than us? f**king ridiculous.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

Injuries aside there is no forgiving the knock ons and forward passes today.

 

[Frederick]

Where the f**k was Uate when Smith made that break???????

 

[aqua_duck]

Where the hell were the outside men when Smith went through?

 

[slotmachine]

being fat and slow somewhere else

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

Where the f**k was Uate when Smith made that break???????

Hopefully on a plane back to fiji

 

[Matt23]

Weak as piss down the right....

 

[Zoidberg]

I reaaaaally want next week to get here fast. We need to fire against the Raiders and smash them.

 

[Dutchy]

Dobson has been alright for you guys.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

Yeah dobbo went well.

 

[perverse]

Dobson was just about our only positive. He needs more time with the team, but he will be handy.

Not sure we can do much without Mullo, though. We've always wanted him to be our new Joey... and he pretty much is now. We're 10 times the team with him in it.

I expected it to be scrappy today. The drop ball didn't surprise me much... and we defended really well in the first half. The wheels started falling off with the more injuries we got, no doubt about it... but it's still no excuse for the atrocious everything in the second half.

The Panthers started holding the ball and didn't have their spine fall in a heap... the team that held the ball was always going to win after half time. That team certainly wasn't us.

It's not all doom and gloom... we can only improve from here.

 

[Frederick]

I don't get it. We had three injuries - two concussions and a hamstring. All three stayed off.

They had two injuries - dislocated knee and broken nose. Both came back on.

Why do we always cop it the hardest with injuries?

 

[Zoidberg]

Worst performance of the year out of the way? Hopefully.

 

[Noname36]

I can't even get too upset after that loss.

For us when it rains it absolutely pours. The dropped balls were horrendous but I think we'll improve that a lot. Everything else was to be expected after we got absolutely shat on by the injury Gods.

Can only go up from here.

I wonder who of Boyd, Gids and Roberts will be right for next week.

 

[perverse]

The new concussion rules rooted us big time. Do the new rules state they have to miss a week afterwards as well? We may as well not show up against the Raiders if so. That, or just blood a bunch of young blokes like Mamo and try to salvage something from the catastrophe.

 

[perverse]

Gids was bloody hopeless before he got injured today, too. We need to get Clydsdale in there somewhere immediately. Waddell has improved by about 5 or 10%... but adding 5 - 10% onto shit isn't that great.

Seeing Willie out there made me realise we really could have used Packer, too. Willie is not going to lead us anywhere as a starting prop. Snowy was his usual early season self, and will probably be firing by round 5-6 I would imagine.

It's going to be a lean start to the year, guys. We need to hope that we can make a late run again like last year. Premierships aren't won in March. I believe we have the squad to make a good run for it, but the stars need to align properly to be any chance... and the stars are all out of f**king whack at this moment.

 

[Serc]

Bennett in the press conference:
Poss 1+ weeks for Boyd "should be a tear of some sort there"
Didn't mention any specific injuries for Gidley and Roberts so fingers crossed they pass the concussion tests and are good next week

 

[slotmachine]

mase gone a year too long i suspect

waddell was OK, improved his service, and did plenty of work in defence. he was the least of our problems

 

[Swarzey]

It's disappointing to lose round one. All the hype leading into the round after last year's final run, it sucks to cop such a heavy loss. The injuries is what killed us in the end. They should have really piled on the points but our defence was excellent in the middle. Only until they realised Uate is f**king shit did they start the scoring. I was confident we could have gotten the win after that first try. Sucks that it wasn't to be.

Dobson was excellent. Couldn't have asked for anything more on debut. He'll improve in the coming weeks as he adjusts to the NRL.

Uate is f**king shit. I've tried to be positive about him and thought after a mediocre 2013 he'd return fit and firing. Learnt my lesson. If Gidley plays fullback next week, Wayne needs to axe Uate and give the spot to Mamo.

I'm just glad with two things: We play the Raiduhs next week and it looks like by Round 8 we'll have a full strength squad provided no more injuries.

On another note, I was very, very impressed by Minto in NSW Cup. He didn't do anything amazing, but he controlled the game and lead the team around the field. His kicking game was excellent and just overall felt like he had a particular presence of the field. Very excited to see what happens with him and given how Roberts left the field, I'd very much like to see him get a run next week.