Round 10 v NZW

[herbert henry1908]

We won the comps with him doing 90% of kicking. The problem is the poor service from hooker

Yeah but we obviously now need to adapt. Even if we get a better hooker, they’re not going to be as good as Api.

 

[GongPanther]

The Good.

We won.
An improved performance completion wise from last week. 95% first half. 85% by FT.
Our defence.
SJ. His last tackle options were poor enough to relieve pressure on us.
Spencer. I wish you were staying


The Disappointing.

The Attack.
On a dry track, against an opposition that lost 3 players to injury, lost two players to sin binning. And were buggered the last 20 minutes. It was disappointing to only score 3 tries with such a glut of possession.
We bombed a few tries again but the biggest disappointment was 5th tackles options. Clueless at times. Shades of 2019 Imo.

Why wasn't Luke on in the first half? If Ivan persists with Kenny he can at least get Luke on before HT. At least 10-15 minutes before HT.
I really don't like the way he has been used at times this year.

The Bad.

Peach =Terrible. Surely we have someone else that can cover Tago's spot for a few weeks other than Peach.


Garner better play reserve grade tomorrow. If not the last 2 weeks have been a waste for him.

Freddy has just said on Nines Sunday Footy Show that Luke needs to start ASAP. I think Cleary is shielding Luke from the rough and tumble of the first 30 minutes of the game. Whatever he does, he has my vote being that we are ATM still up there in 3rd place of the ladder.

 

[Iamback]

Freddy has just said on Nines Sunday Footy Show that Luke needs to start ASAP. I think Cleary is shielding Luke from the rough and tumble of the first 30 minutes of the game. Whatever he does, he has my vote being that we are ATM still up there in 3rd place of the ladder.

Ladder can be decieving.

we have our 2nd bye in 2 weeks. Some clubs are yet to have one

 

[herbert henry1908]

Freddy has just said on Nines Sunday Footy Show that Luke needs to start ASAP. I think Cleary is shielding Luke from the rough and tumble of the first 30 minutes of the game. Whatever he does, he has my vote being that we are ATM still up there in 3rd place of the ladder.

The “shielding“ argument doesn’t fit with the minutes Luke is playing.

 

[Chins get the wins]

Luke isn't even particularly good. Sure he's better than Kenny but everyone is

 

[GongPanther]

Ladder can be decieving.

we have our 2nd bye in 2 weeks. Some clubs are yet to have one

And at the same time it means we have two games up our sleeve to play.

 

[Chins get the wins]

And at the same time it means we have two games up our sleeve to play.

Thats not a good thing

 

[GongPanther]

Thats not a good thing

Could be when we win.

 

[The Realist]

There's honestly no advantage in forcing goal line drop outs anymore. Especially not for us. Teams go short and have the advantage in knowing where and how they're kicking. Meaning they have a slightly better than 50% chance at getting it back.

Forcing drop outs and dominating field position and possession was the reason we could dominate so consistently.

But that footy isn't possible anymore. I don't celebrate when we force drop outs anymore because it doesnt mean we're getting the ball back.

Oddly its not even a rule change. Teams just slowly started doing it. With decent success and other teams copied. We tend to only do it if we need tge ball. But some clubs like Souths, Eels etc. Will do it every single time

Insightful post. This is yet another reason why Panther ball isn't working the way it was. Oddly enough we were a team who used to go short more than others but the irony was other teams would return serve quite often and we were poor at defending it.

I have been banging on about this for years now and it seems that Ivan has still not addressed this issue. It also highlights the danger of having too many short outside backs. A player like To'o (God bless him) could have a 200m game - but if he gets outcompeted for possession on a short kick say 2 or 3 times a match - in terms of field position you could say each possession lost this way is -50 metres at least, yet alone all the extra tackles that have to be made and the chance that the opposition would score.

 

[herbert henry1908]

Luke isn't even particularly good. Sure he's better than Kenny but everyone is

Luke will only be a placeholder until we find something better, I don’t think anyone is under illusions otherwise.

But the fact is we didn’t do enough to sort the hooker position this year, it’s our biggest recruitment/retention blunder for some time.

 

[The Realist]

You speak a lot of truth. But two weeks ago Souths played a great game against us and only won in the last 2 minutes.

Lots of time for the attack to click and we have the game to thrive when the games slow down at the end of the year.

Souths have gone an extra gear or even two since beating us. We play today and they beat us 13+. Yes, I honestly believe this.

 

[Murraymob1]

The positive today we got the 2 pts and we didnt suffer any other serious injuries.The negative our attack is absolutely rubbish.Twice they had 12 men and we went for goal and took 4 hit ups and a kick for every set instead of going wide and stretching there defence.Either ivan has gone backwards in his coaching this yr or his 2 assistants are hopeless.Garner needs to come in for either luke or kenny this 2 hooker bullshit is killing the team.1 bad hooker is better than 2 bad hookers.We lack size and we are picking 2 midgets.Im happy for turuva to get dropped and go with jenkins or mclean on the other wing but im pretty sure mclean is injured end of rant.

Garner being in the team is not going to help it based on what he has delivered so far

 

[Iamback]

And at the same time it means we have two games up our sleeve to play.

Not if we don't win them

 

[Iamback]

Another loss for NSW Cup.

I get they are building for the future but it doesn't help the depth for this year

 

[Iamback]

Luke will only be a placeholder until we find something better, I don’t think anyone is under illusions otherwise.

But the fact is we didn’t do enough to sort the hooker position this year, it’s our biggest recruitment/retention blunder for some time.

No the dire all round depth is slightly worse.

Full strength we can still carve up most teams even with Kenny/Luke

 

[Iamback]

Yeah but we obviously now need to adapt. Even if we get a better hooker, they’re not going to be as good as Api.

I'd take a hooker with good service, that takes the right option. The running and kicking game are a bonus

I came up for Magic Round, seats were pretty much over the ingoal. So I got to see more than usual.

Atleast 10 times we had numbers one way only for BOTH hookers to go the other side. If Cleary and Edwards are set and calling it on the right that is where you go. They had a backrower marking Crichton.

It is like we get to certain points on the field and can only run what we run at training. Instead of playing what is infront of them.

 

[Girds89]

Another loss for NSW Cup.

I get they are building for the future but it doesn't help the depth for this year

A lot of guys in that team aren't as good as people are hoping they are.

Turuva was absolutely was knocking the door down every week in cup to get his chance last year...

No one in that team is doing the same...

Iongi has good moments but lacks a bit of consistency

I just don't see it with Jenkins.. he is just a solid player.. in a team struggling for points he isn't going to create anything

Cogger and falls don't offer much chop

Liam Henry is just solid.

Geyer probs needs to decide whether he wants to be a fg player or not... he's got a lot of work to do...

You've said lisati is the closest we have to Spencer.... it's not even worth comparing them.. lisati is further of fg than a lot fo the others.

Garner doesn't offer anything different..

Chris Smith is just solid...

Casey McLean will no doubt go straight into flegg. If he can jag a game or two in cup towards the back end of the year and maybe Jesse gets a game or two in nrl than that should be the plan.

Jesse and Casey both look quality... daeon looks the goods.. they are the most promising backs imo.. iongi isn't getting a look in over Edwards

The forwards we are struggling...

We need a few to kick on in sg and flegg...

 

[Iamback]

A lot of guys in that team aren't as good as people are hoping they are.

Turuva was absolutely was knocking the door down every week in cup to get his chance last year...

No one in that team is doing the same...

Iongi has good moments but lacks a bit of consistency

I just don't see it with Jenkins.. he is just a solid player.. in a team struggling for points he isn't going to create anything

Cogger and falls don't offer much chop

Liam Henry is just solid.

Geyer probs needs to decide whether he wants to be a fg player or not... he's got a lot of work to do...

You've said lisati is the closest we have to Spencer.... it's not even worth comparing them.. lisati is further of fg than a lot fo the others.

Garner doesn't offer anything different..

Chris Smith is just solid...

Casey McLean will no doubt go straight into flegg. If he can jag a game or two in cup towards the back end of the year and maybe Jesse gets a game or two in nrl than that should be the plan.

Jesse and Casey both look quality... daeon looks the goods.. they are the most promising backs imo.. iongi isn't getting a look in over Edwards

The forwards we are struggling...

We need a few to kick on in sg and flegg...

The mix is either plodders like Chris Smith and Cogger or 19 year olds who are a way off.

Take today, McLean was out and replaced by another one from Ball last year

There are some FGers in there but down the track. Short term though it is concerning

Hassett still looks the best option for backrow. I reckon Wayne would of used him by now. He is better than Teague who is getting gametime

 

[Red&BlackBear]

It wasn’t the perfect game and being there live to watch it I could see a few things the Panthers will without a doubt be continuing to improve in the coming weeks.

Turuva jamming in is a big one, way bigger than his finishing off tries because whilst capitalising on chances is important - defending and stopping tries is just as important. Almost got found out a few times with kicks in behind him just like last week vs Tigers. His returns were good and his work overall was good. He’ll get better he is after all only 10 or so game so in to his NRL career.

The defence was intense at times from both sides. Everytime a Panther or Warrior got smashed, they returned serve not long after. Real entertaining end to end at times.

The attack was average and with the amount of opportunities it did look stifled many times but I suspect it’s still growing and improving. As long as the defence is there, the attack will get better as the season goes on.

 

[Girds89]

The mix is either plodders like Chris Smith and Cogger or 19 year olds who are a way off.

Take today, McLean was out and replaced by another one from Ball last year

There are some FGers in there but down the track. Short term though it is concerning

Hassett still looks the best option for backrow. I reckon Wayne would of used him by now. He is better than Teague who is getting gametime

You can call Chris Smith a plodder but he's better than geyer and the others this year.

Hassett is way to small and under developed..

It's very concerning the lack of quality particularly in the forwards..

I think marto coming back fit and finding form on the left will help us a lot.

Personally I think there's not a whole lot of changes we can make..

Kenny and Luke are the best hookers at the club atm... we have shit 2nd row depth... and we lack a bit of X factor.

Even tiny offered that bit of X factor last year.. some of the tries he finished were incredible that he had no right to score...

I think at full strength we can give most teams a run... but our attack and skills and X factor is nowhere near what the bunnies is.... our defence would need to be at its absolute best to even have a chance