Round 18 VS Dragons

[martielang]

We needed more attack from somewhere. Your original point was why I said Leinu in for Leota but Martin in for Winterstein will give us 2 edge attecking threats anyway

For all the good work Martin does, he does seem to bounce off tackles pretty frequently though. It’s almost as if his tackling is too textbook.

I’m probably in the minority but I’m not changing the 17 until there is a need to. I don’t see the need atm, others might.

 

[herbert henry1908]

FFS

 

[herbert henry1908]

They’re charging Kikau with a shoulder charge, probably because they realise the on field call of a late tackle was rubbish. Now they get to justify the sin bin.

 

[Dave's mate]

They’re charging Kikau with a shoulder charge, probably because they realise the on field call of a late tackle was rubbish. Now they get to justify the sin bin.

He'll get off

 

[mxlegend99]

Shoulder charge?


His arm is wrapped around him ffs. It's not even a tackle worthy of a penalty. Yet they penalise it... then bin him and now want to suspend him?

These merkins are f**king useless. Not late or a shoulder charge.

 

[Panther Pete]

Sure but credit where due Enormous turn around from 2 months ago Cleary deserves alot of that as well as the players

Yeah I find it interesting since being on this winning streak Ivan no longer seems to be referred to as Dave’s Mate. We no longer hear we could have had Wayne Bennett, we no longer hear Ivan didn’t train them in the off season and they only partied. And we are no longer the unfittest team in the comp (we must have miraculously got fit over night).

 

[Flashstep]

For all the good work Martin does, he does seem to bounce off tackles pretty frequently though. It’s almost as if his tackling is too textbook.

I’m probably in the minority but I’m not changing the 17 until there is a need to. I don’t see the need atm, others might.

I get what your saying but I don’t think we need to carry both Egan and Luai on the bench. I reckon start Winterstein and Martin in the 2nd row and use Kikau off the bench In the same role the Cowboys used JT13 a few years back.

(Bring him on after 20 minutes and let him play 40 straight then rest him for the final 20 if we can. I think Kikau would have even more impact coming on fresh running at tired defenders and it seems to me he does struggle with big minutes)

 

[herbert henry1908]

Yeah I find it interesting since being on this winning streak Ivan no longer seems to be referred to as Dave’s Mate. We no longer hear we could have had Wayne Bennett, we no longer hear Ivan didn’t train them in the off season and they only partied. And we are no longer the unfittest team in the comp (we must have miraculously got fit over night).

Id still prefer Wayne Bennett. And he’s still Dave’s mate to me.

We may be on a winning run, but nothing in Ivan’s coaching history demanded he either be poached from another club or given a 5 year deal. Career win rate of 45%.

 

[franklin2323]

For all the good work Martin does, he does seem to bounce off tackles pretty frequently though. It’s almost as if his tackling is too textbook.

I’m probably in the minority but I’m not changing the 17 until there is a need to. I don’t see the need atm, others might.

JFH was the same but we need someone that cuts defenders in half

 

[franklin2323]

Surely Kikau fights that charge. Arm wrapped around

 

[tripster]

I was at the game. Dragons were lucky to be in it by the end of the first half. When the scores were 12-10 we were much more dominant than the scoreboard suggested. However Dragons converted their two opportunities into tries. I felt, however, that the longer the game went on the worse it was going to get for them. The Dragons body language even looked negative when they were warming up on the ground before the match.

Once we get to 40-12, there was about 20 minutes to go and it felt like we were going to put more than 50 on them. Then we lost our way, and it was compounded by a few (what seemed like odd) refereeing decisions. If we had remained focused it would have been a big total.

None of us where I was sitting in the members' stand even knew what was going on when Kikau was binned. I have since seen the replay, and it doesn't even look like he used his shoulder at all? He appears to have made a normal tackle - but because he is twice the size of Nicholls he just smashed him. The game against the Raiders is huge and we need him - I actually hope the club challenges it and risks him being rubbed out for two games (particularly given the second game he would miss is against the Bulldogs and Liam Martin will be back from injury by then).

Also, it was f**king cold last night at the ground. Sheesh.

 

[Pomoz]

Yeah I find it interesting since being on this winning streak Ivan no longer seems to be referred to as Dave’s Mate. We no longer hear we could have had Wayne Bennett, we no longer hear Ivan didn’t train them in the off season and they only partied. And we are no longer the unfittest team in the comp (we must have miraculously got fit over night).

Well Pete, since you mentioned it. I still would have preferred Bennett, or Hasler and the process for selecting Dave's mate was wrong and we were the unfittest team in the competition. If you are unfit, you will slowly develop fitness from playing every week. It's no coincidence we have got better as the season has got on in terms of fitness.

Let's not gloss over we were last and bottom of all the attacking stats worth mentioning for a couple of months at least.

None of that is changed by winning 7 in a row. Manly and South's are going ok with Hasler and Bennett and without having such a poor run of form. I still don't want Dave's mate back but he has my support and I hope he is successful this time because I love the Panther's.

 

[Black Diamond]

Whether or not you agree that Dufty put a shoulder charge on Naden, the fact remains he was penalised for a shoulder charge. No sin binning. Kiks gets binned for a late tackle that now the match review say is a shoulder charge even though he has his arms wrapped around Nichols. How can one bloke be charged and not the other. The inconsistency of the referees and the match review committee is an absolute joke.

 

[forby]

So how does Dufty not get charfed for his shoulder charge?

 

[GongPanther]

I see the roosters & rabbits improving going in to the finals. Maybe we can catch the roosters if we beat them at the SCG.

Speaking of which, when would’ve the Panthers last played at the SCG? Must’ve been 1985 I think.

V Parra in a forgettable semi-final.

 

[GongPanther]

Nah on replay it’s not late or a shoulder charge, would’ve looked much worse live than it really was.

He was braced and ready for the tackle with his head down before Nichols passed the ball and he made a definite attempt at a real tackle, no shoulder charge.

Vossy said there are 25 clips of film in a second, kikau was 4/25ths late on that hit according to fox which is nothing. Penalty at the worst.

The on field ref actually said just a penalty and the bunker overruled them which is mind boggling because on replay it’s really hard to see anything wrong with it, not high, not shoulder charger, barely late and he hits him from right in front not from the side or in the back.

Another apology on the way from Annesley on Monday in front of a wide screen TV. The f**kerz in the bunkerz.

 

[Pomoz]

Since I have berated him plenty of times, I want to doff my cap to Cleary for his tactics. It was clear to me at least that the Dragons have a tough and monstrous forward pack. We were all worried that our bench was too light and should have another forward. From the kick off, we moved the ball around to make their forwards have to do more running. By half time, they were gassed and had virtually no impact. Their SOO reps were hardly sighted and we avoided an arm wrestle by using the ball really well against their compressed defence. They wanted to smash us, but they couldn't catch us because of that ball movement.

Other points from the game:

• We started using JFH and Whare at the line as ball players. It really added to the variation in our attack. Whare passing? Who'd of thought! Then when Luai was on the field I thought Dave's mate maybe taking something. Cautious, conservative? Nah......

• JFH is taking over from Gallen and competing with Jai Arrow as the NRL machine. His stats this year are unbelievable, but he also makes an impact with the ferocity of his tackling. Now he is adding ball playing to his repertoire. 166m and 38 tackles. He is an elite player. Cut down the penalties and he is close to the best forward in the game.

• Mitch Kenny made 49 tackles and had a good game. I still think Egan is the slicker dummy half, but Kenny is perfect for battles in the trenches.

• Egan should get his spikes on and get down to Jamison park and do sprint training. If he can get his running game going, he can be a real point of difference but he just doesn't seem to want to run even though the dragons were on the rack and going backwards.

• RCG and Tamou both played 42 minutes and made 132m and 139m respectively. That's great input from the props. I was worried our bench was too light but we rolled up the field quite nicely using good ball movement and the forwards not shirking their jobs. 5 forwards with 100+ metres. Wow!

• If there was any doubt about letting DWZ go, against the Dragons Too showed why you needn't worry. He also showed that size isn't everything, strength, speed and balance are just as important.

• Our juniors rock!

 

[GongPanther]

Sharks did something like 12 in a row in 2016. No reason we can't. I'm not so confident about next week though.

That thrashing by the Raiders in Wagga a few months ago will have the Panthers chomping at the bit. Game of the round next Sunday week.

 

[TheEroticGamer]

Who’s excited for another edition of “Weekly Apology to the Panthers” by Anneslely on Monday?

 

[TheFrog]

Kikau charged. Ridiculous as it is, they nailed Sims for something very similar just a few weeks back. I wonder why Dufty wasn't charged?

I find it hard to understand why a shoulder charge to the body is 200 points minimum, whereas a high tackle starts at 100. They REALLY need to look at the shoulder charge rule, they should have last year after the Slater farce.