Round 1 v Sharks

[Girds89]

Lindsay smith was easily our best on ground.

Played the first 40 straight.

Close to 50 tackles..over 100m..

Stopped afb from offloading.

He was unreal.

Coles defence again was impressive. Will need to work on his attack more as the season goes on.

The usuals were all good..

Huge win given no trials and limited preseason.

We look fit.

Too and henry back and 17 for 80 and wed have won comfortably i think.

 

[Aliceinwonderland]

I was quite impressed. Thought lack of match fitness allowed the gummies back into the game late in the 2nd half.

Considering the surgeries that Nathan and Dylan had. The players out, Laurie filling in for Mclean. It was a good job.

NB. Thought Moses leota was wonderful, Really stepped up to being the leader of the pack, Fish's old role.

Fish struggled in the Warriors pack too.

 

[Girds89]

The only way to get laurie in at 14 is move yeo to prop and have him play as an extra ball player runner in the 13. Issue is he just isnt big enough to defend there i think.

I like the idea in attack but in defence it wont work.

Hes a very good footy player but as others have said 1 is his spot and 6 if he has to.

 

[ColdWetPanther]

Laurie has form with low concentration errors when bringing the ball out of the half.

Pantherball is built on the back three making metres in contact and low errors.

Laurie gets dominated and drops the ball unforced. He can get away with one of them but not both.

He can't be fourteen since his middle defence would lose every ruck.

Our 14 doesn’t really play in the middle at all though. There to cover the backs.

14 for Panthers is a tough gig as our wingers are essentially fast second rowers and you need a bit of skill also to be able to cover a few spine conditions.

 

[Chins]

The only way to get laurie in at 14 is move yeo to prop and have him play as an extra ball player runner in the 13. Issue is he just isnt big enough to defend there i think.

I like the idea in attack but in defence it wont work.

Hes a very good footy player but as others have said 1 is his spot and 6 if he has to.

We have tried that and it was bloody awful

 

[Whino]

Happy to get the W. Plenty of improvement left. Hopefully everyone came through unscathed.
First round 1 win since 2022.

 

[Girds89]

We have tried that and it was bloody awful

Yeah i dont think hes the 14 going forward.

Cole or talagi at 6 and the other as 14.

I like talagi in the 6 as i think cole has the defence to play 9 and 13 for 30mins a game.

 

[Munky]

Our 14 doesn’t really play in the middle at all though. There to cover the backs.

14 for Panthers is a tough gig as our wingers are essentially fast second rowers and you need a bit of skill also to be able to cover a few spine conditions.

There needs to be hooker cover in the squad.

The fourteen usually doesn't play there however a forced injury change is the worry.

 

[ColdWetPanther]

Lindsay smith was easily our best on ground.

Played the first 40 straight.

Close to 50 tackles..over 100m..

Stopped afb from offloading.

He was unreal.

Coles defence again was impressive. Will need to work on his attack more as the season goes on.

The usuals were all good..

Huge win given no trials and limited preseason.

We look fit.

Too and henry back and 17 for 80 and wed have won comfortably i think.

Smith was really good. I wonder if those are minutes he plays usually, as I felt we could have done with him on the field at the 15-25 minute left period. I guess he has to be off at some stage, but telling to me Sharks got over the top of us in the period he was off the field.

 

[Goonji]

New year, new team, no trials, blokes injured. Mission accomplished.

 

[ColdWetPanther]

There needs to be hooker cover in the squad.

The fourteen usually doesn't play there however a forced injury change is the worry.

Who do you think it should be? I am not sure there is a natural player who covers all eventualities. Unless it is Garner/Toleau 14/15 combo on the bench.

 

[Pjf04b]

Tago looked good, ran straight and hard. No brain explosions.

 

[Chins]

Who do you think it should be? I am not sure there is a natural player who covers all eventualities. Unless it is Garner/Toleau 14/15 combo on the bench.

That works but Garner really deserves the left backrow spot. He's more then earned it

 

[soc123_au]

Decent trial. Nice we get 2 points from it. Another trial in round 2 and then we will get a good look at where we are at.

 

[Kilkenny]

There was a moment when the game was in the balance, late on. Dylan Edwards was involved in a tackle, with others to stop a barge over try on the fifth. Dylan was still getting to his feet when the ball was played and the Sharks spun it wide to there right, Dylan Edwards there again involved in a tackle to repel the Sharks resulting in a turnover last tackle. No other fullback in the game is capable of making those defensive plays and he is at 80% match fit. The guy is a freak.

 

[Aliceinwonderland]

Love him with his 'Dorrigo Suntan'.

 

[ColdWetPanther]

There was a moment when the game was in the balance, late on. Dylan Edwards was involved in a tackle, with others to stop a barge over try on the fifth. Dylan was still getting to his feet when the ball was played and the Sharks spun it wide to there right, Dylan Edwards there again involved in a tackle to repel the Sharks resulting in a turnover last tackle. No other fullback in the game is capable of making those defensive plays and he is at 80% match fit. The guy is a freak.

Similar one in the first half when Sharks made a break on their right and he made the tackle. Broken field, they move it all the way to the left and Trindall puts in the kick. Alamoti cleaned it up, but Dylan was right there and could have if needed.

 

[Munky]

Who do you think it should be? I am not sure there is a natural player who covers all eventualities. Unless it is Garner/Toleau 14/15 combo on the bench.

Garner/Toelau is probably the best cover.

Leaves Sorro and Henry as bench props with Pap starting.

Schneider is a hand brake ball in hand but can defend at 6/7 and 9.

 

[Chins]

Garner/Toelau is probably the best cover.

Leaves Sorro and Henry as bench props with Pap starting.

Schneider is a hand brake ball in hand but can defend at 6/7 and 9.

90% true re his attack but he's never really played with Nathan

 

[Kilkenny]

The reality was we went into this game underdone and with a couple of key players unavailable. We lost a player in the opening exchanges as a result of which our right side was somewhat unbalanced, despite the adversity and a few self inflicted brain explosions which allowed the Sharks back into the contest the overall performance was very, very good. There was no poor performers, a few mistakes but it happens, shit happens. There was a lot to like about the win and the overall team performance.