Round 1 team:

[mxlegend99]

Where 's ChrisD? DWZ was acerage in reserves, Simmons was no better then Yeo in firsts. Coach nailed ghe decision for mine. Purely a defensive decision and it worked. Yeo bundling Leilua into touch was amazing.

 

[Doomednow]

Where 's ChrisD? DWZ was acerage in reserves, Simmons was no better then Yeo in firsts. Coach nailed ghe decision for mine. Purely a defensive decision and it worked. Yeo bundling Leilua into touch was amazing.

Now now, no need to run it in.

This may be controversial amongst some, but I reckon Simmons is much more likely to lose his spot. Not necessarily through bad form but through pressure of the likes of Nabuli/Roberts ( when fit) he's also going to miss Whare inside of him.

I only ever backed Simmons due to his partnership with ware. If they split them up then I'm all for replacing him, no matter how safe he is.

 

[Pugzley]

The team played with plenty of starch.

 

[chrisD]

You're really going to try and claim a victory on that? Yeo was neither tested or given opportunity. He kept pace with BJ when he made a bee line for the sideline, got pushed off by BJ standing still who then went inside and dropped the ball and got beaten once in the second half which came to nothing when the knights muffed the next pass.

On attack the ball getting outside Brown was a minor miracle, he stood in a tackle once and lollipop it to Simmons who could only bring it inside for a tackle, got the ball on a scrappy last tackle play with no option but to put in a difficult kick which he put dead and did a bit of heavy lifting in the first half from our own end without incident or much effect.

It could have been Inglis or Daniela out there on the right, they'd have had as much impact as Yeo today. Btw did you see Scott's flailing effort on Whare when he was defending in the centres?

 

[herbert henry1908]

I only ever backed Simmons due to his partnership with ware. If they split them up then I'm all for replacing him, no matter how safe he is.

Well they've been split up. Seems like thats going to be the way all season.


But we'll need to see how Simmons plays outside of idris. Could be opportunities for idris to draw in two defenders.

 

[Thirsty Panther]

The weather or something must have been brutal in that first half, since both teams drastically reduced their error.

It was very hot and humid in the first half. I was on the hill and it was hot as. Kept praying for cloud cover to get out of the sun.
Much cooler in the second half with cloud comming in.

Good win by the boys.

 

[mxlegend99]

You're really going to try and claim a victory on that? Yeo was neither tested or given opportunity. He kept pace with BJ when he made a bee line for the sideline, got pushed off by BJ standing still who then went inside and dropped the ball and got beaten once in the second half which came to nothing when the knights muffed the next pass.

On attack the ball getting outside Brown was a minor miracle, he stood in a tackle once and lollipop it to Simmons who could only bring it inside for a tackle, got the ball on a scrappy last tackle play with no option but to put in a difficult kick which he put dead and did a bit of heavy lifting in the first half from our own end without incident or much effect.

It could have been Inglis or Daniela out there on the right, they'd have had as much impact as Yeo today. Btw did you see Scott's flailing effort on Whare when he was defending in the centres?

Mate just give it up. You were wrong and the coach was right. We won when things erre stacked against us to begin with. Yeo did the job he was put in to do. It's as simple as that.

 

[mxlegend99]

Why are you not happy? We won and an under 20's player made a successful debut against a high quality centre. The fact you are still bitching is ridiculous. Admit you were wrong and celebrate us being on top of the ladder.

 

[chrisD]

Oh ok, because Yeo didn't lose us the game I was wrong and it was a good selection.

 

[chrisD]

Why are you not happy? We won and an under 20's player made a successful debut against a high quality centre. The fact you are still bitching is ridiculous. Admit you were wrong and celebrate us being on top of the ladder.

The f**k? You brought Yeo up not me, there was nothing from him really to remark on so I didn't, you went out the way to bring him up. I'm half happy and half not, we won and that's probably the most important thing but we should have, the Knights were injury stricken and dreadful, we were terrible in the first half and down the right and great down the left and in the second.

We played the full 80 even in the harsh conditions and that's what I'm happiest about.

 

[Kilkenny]

Two words. Two points.

 

[Nugget10]

Two words. Two points.

And doesnt it feel good. Top of the table (so far)

 

[Blues Riff]

Happy to get that one out of the way. Some good signs there. Heaps of room for improvement.

 

[mxlegend99]

Yeo didn't lose us the game I was wrong and it was a good selection.

Exactly.

 

[Panther Pete]

That was a great first up win regardless of the fact we were helped with injuries to some of their players. I thought Wallace looked good and it was a refreshing change not to see repeated inside balls when there is nothing on. Mansour was very impressive, his strength and althletisism was amazing......bring on the Storm!!!

 

[abpanther]

I was really impressed by Peachey, had some real nice touches

 

[Blues Riff]

Docker and Plum put them in a world of Hurt.
I hope they both stay fit.

 

[franklin2323]

Moylan looked good again... The off season has done him wonders. Whare showed class.

Most of all limited pre-season & injured hampered Soward he had a few good touches. Had a hand in Mansour's 2nd. Taylor's try & a 40/20 & wasn't too terrible in defence.

Add Manu, Grant & Idris to that team with the rest getting match fitness we look strong.

 

[Pomoz]

A very good performance. I know everybody will focus on the Knights losing Boyd and Gidley, but the Knights still has more SOO players on the field than us. Incidentally, last year the same thing happened to us against the Knights and we had half the bench missing and got no sympathy from any commentators, not that I hold a grudge or anything ;-)

I watched all three grades and although we lost in the lower grades a few things stood out.

• 
  Firstly, half the u20's are new players, I hardly recognised them. There looks like there are a few good players coming through. They will get better once they settle in.

• In the NSW cup, we looked to really struggle in the forwards. But there was a lot of new players from the u20's there and they need to fill out a bit. Jennings looks a gun. Considering he is only 18, he is a big powerful unit and he held his own. DZW looks like he did a bit of growing in the off season. He was good, but the forwards didn't do the job to give the team the space for the backs to shine.

The real story here was how the Panther's pack minus Grant and Manu, dominated the Knights in the second half. Forget the injuries, the Knights still had a big pack with rep players in it. They were bashed and driven backwards. And:

• Plum owns Grant at the moment. He is running freely and making good tough metres and still doing his thing. The tackle on Maclean had me on my feet. He will wake up in a sweat and check the closet to make sure Plum's not in it.

• The boys picked up where they left off last year. Strong defence, few mistakes and lots of effort. There were three men in nearly every tackle.
• Soward did OK, but was quiet. But, he popped up and did something when it was needed. Just what you want. Wallace run the team round the park and made a real difference in defence, he hits like a lock in defence. Good stuff.

 

[murraymob]

yes we need to take the knights injuries into account.They did have a big bearing on the match.But lets focus on the many positives out of the game for us.

1. The big one for me was Moylans confidence.We know he has ability but his running game is back now.
2. The Wallace Soward combination was good and will only get better

3. The bash brothers Plum Docker are back
4.The was more ball movement in that one game than in the last 4 games from last year combined
5. I loved how in the last 10 minutes they shut the game down.No panic passing the ball around pushing passes

And even more pleasing my nines jersey from Issah Yeo is now from a first grader