Round 1 team vs Bulldogs

[Panther Pete]

Ignoring the last 12 mins we looked like a premiership winning side through and through. To think we still have Waqa Blake and Robert Jennings waiting to get a start our backline is looking red hot but it just must be a matter of time before Jamal moves to the forwards. I thought Wallace and Sowie controlled the game very well and everyone else did what they needed to do. I am just not sure my heart can take another 6 months if they finish games like that too often.

 

[GongPanther]

26 - 20

Thanks.

 

[chrisD]

Of DWZ, Jennings and Blake I think Blake looked like the strongest and most physical in the lower grades, seeing DWZ and Jennings being the same kind of physical force in first grade makes me excited for what Waqa will do.

 

[maple_69]

All reports say both Jennings were beast in the off season so great to see George take his chance and I'm sure Robert will do so soon.

Great performance. The drop off at the end was unsurprising given how underdone we would be with injuries. Outside of that, the attitude that got us to the prelim last year which tells me we'll be there again this year. Add to that though the skill, ball movement and SPEED in the backs. Christ it's been a while since we had such speed out back. Great crowd ansatnosphere too. Year is off to a great start.

 

[Panther Pete]

All reports say both Jennings were beast in the off season so great to see George take his chance and I'm sure Robert will do so soon.

Great performance. The drop off at the end was unsurprising given how underdone we would be with injuries. Outside of that, the attitude that got us to the prelim last year which tells me we'll be there again this year. Add to that though the skill, ball movement and SPEED in the backs. Christ it's been a while since we had such speed out back. Great crowd ansatnosphere too. Year is off to a great start.

It is great to have speed in the backline except for the odd man out - Jamal.

I was super impressed with George today and it's amazing to think Robert is the one who is the potential superstar.

 

[MrAnonymous]

Were the best team of the round for the first 60 mins. Pretty pathetic in the last 20, even though Cummins f**ked us.

Don't know how we are going to fit Blake, the Jennings Brothers, Mansour, Idris, Whare and DWZ in the backline all deserve to be in first grade.

 

[Panther Mick]

Happy to get the first win off the board. I think the last 10 minutes I must have aged another 5 years.

 

[Big Mick]

Credit where credit is due....Kite cops heaps on here but he was exceptional yesterday.

Couple of massive hits...showing some authority.

Great game aside from last 15 min.

George, 2 errors aside, was outstanding. Went looking for work. Really in that Mansour mould.

 

[Panther Pete]

Credit where credit is due....Kite cops heaps on here but he was exceptional yesterday.

Couple of massive hits...showing some authority.

Great game aside from last 15 min.

George, 2 errors aside, was outstanding. Went looking for work. Really in that Mansour mould.

Gus said before the game George would rather run over the top of someone than run around them which is Mansour all over. And you are right about Kite, he had a great game and hopefully can keep that form through the season. I hate getting my hopes up but gee there are some great signs we could be in for a good year.

 

[Westernised Panther]

Were the best team of the round for the first 60 mins. Pretty pathetic in the last 20, even though Cummins f**ked us.

Don't know how we are going to fit Blake, the Jennings Brothers, Mansour, Idris, Whare and DWZ in the backline all deserve to be in first grade.

It sure is a nice selection headache for Ivan to have.

Given George's excellent debut, I'm sure Mansour's keen to return from injury sooner rather than later.

You have to feel sorry for David Simmons in all this. However, if he does get called up, I'm certain he won't let us down

 

[MrBlack]

Was great to see some genuine aggression in our forwards. I thought we really struggled against bigger aggressive packs last year. Our "smaller" forwards really took it to the larger Bulldog forwards.

Great offload from Cartwright for the try as well.

Just didn't close the game out well at the end. Went for the kill instead of securing the win.

 

[betcats]

Good game all round i thought besides the last bit. Two good debuts, both players involved themselves a lot and had some good touches. Our forwards were awesome imo, really took it too the bigger Dogs forwards and in the end made them look slow and average, the coaches must of fired them up about stopping Graham he got belted almost every hitup. Good to see some aggression out of Kite too, if he can keep that up im more than happy to have him in the team.

Seggy and Soward both played great, if the Api signing doesnt nothing else but get Segeyaro playing near his best each week than for that alone it would be worth it. With Seggys speed and elusiveness and his underrated strength he is the perfect player to have around the ruck.

 

[TheFrog]

Were the best team of the round for the first 60 mins. Pretty pathetic in the last 20, even though Cummins f**ked us.

Cummins did do that, with the result that we didn't see a lick of ball in the final minutes, just like the Manly game last year.

BUT the Dogs suddenly started finding holes with Kasiano being especially dangerous with his offloads and B Morris running like a (rather porky) thoroughbred. We stopped putting the man on the ground basically. There is a pattern here and Cleary needs to address it.

 

[soc123_au]

Yep. The missed tackles overall were 41. Irc at halftime we had only missed 7. According to the stats we lost everywhere but the scoreboard by the end of the game.

 

[Kilkenny]

Terrific win. Fans shouldn't stress too much about the last 10 or so minutes. It happens they got all the ball, we made a couple of errors and they were playing catch up football pushing passes and offloads that stuck. In the end our side showed a lot of guts and determination to hang on. Really positive start to the season and we didn't have a bad player.

 

[Nugget10]

Was great to see some genuine aggression in our forwards. I thought we really struggled against bigger aggressive packs last year. Our "smaller" forwards really took it to the larger Bulldog forwards.

Great offload from Cartwright for the try as well.

Just didn't close the game out well at the end. Went for the kill instead of securing the win.

I especially loved it whenever Graham got the ball he was smashed. Kind of got the impression that Cleary gave our forwards a little extra PT to remind them if what he did to Sowie and they didn't stand up to him.

 

[betcats]

I especially loved it whenever Graham got the ball he was smashed. Kind of got the impression that Cleary gave our forwards a little extra PT to remind them if what he did to Sowie and they didn't stand up to him.

He was definitely targeted, it was awesome almost everytime he got the ball someone was rushing him. The only significiant thing I can remember him doing was putting somoene over for their 2nd try.

I love that Dallin isnt backing down, I really like some aggression in younger players but he has to be smarter. He gave away 2 unforgivable penalties this game, 1 when we had the ball and got up pushing and the second after they had just scored and he was pulling a tackled player down by the shirt after being told to release him late in the tackle count. Thats probably not a penalty last year but ive seen it called every time this year and i think that lead to their 2nd try. Im sure the coaches will pull him on that, hopefully he will learn from it.

 

[maple_69]

Nice to know that our young guys can come into the side and do their thing with confidence. Our last great crop of talent (Iosefa, Coote, Graham etc) never found their feet or potential here. Reading how hard the young guys are training and seeing Jennings go beast in his first game is a fantastic testament to where Ivan has got this team to. Looking at our stats as well everyone put in, complete team performance.

Can't wait to see baby Jenko go up against Michael in 2 weeks.

 

[Copperhead]

Can't wait to see baby Jenko go up against Michael in 2 weeks.

Not sure if that will happen. Isn't Mansour due back round 3?

 

[soc123_au]

Can't wait to see baby Jenko go up against Michael in 2 weeks.

Oh Yeah! That will be a very emotional day for them both you would think.