Round 19 vs. Penrith Panthers Discussion

[Big Pete]

Penrith Panthers vs. Brisbane Broncos
Suncorp Stadium, Saturday 24 July 2021
Kick Off: 7:30pm

1. Dylan Edwards 2. Charlie Staines 3. Stephen Crichton 4. Matt Burton 5. Brian To'o 6. Jarome Luai 7. Tyrone May 8. Moses Leota 9. Apisai Koroisau 10. James Fisher-Harris 11. Viliame Kikau 12. Kurt Capewell 13. Isaah Yeo

Interchange: 14. Mitch Kenny 15. Scott Sorensen 16. Spencer Leniu 17. Liam Martin

Reserves: 18. Brent Naden 19. Paul Momirovski 20. Matthew Eisenhuth 21. Izack Tago

1. Tesi Niu 2. Corey Oates 3. Kotoni Staggs 4. Herbie Farnworth 5. Jamayne Isaako 6. Tyson Gamble 7. Brodie Croft 8. Thomas Flegler 9. Jake Turpin 10. Payne Haas 11. Alex Glenn 12. Jordan Riki 13. Kobe Hetherington

Interchange: 14. Cory Paix 15. Rhys Kennedy 16. Keenan Palasia 18. Ethan Bullemor

Reserves: 17. TC Robati 19. Jesse Arthars 20. Xavier Willison 21. Xavier Coates​

 

[Big Pete]

Surprisingly not too many changes after conceding 42 points against the Wests Tigers. Flegler and Riki come into the starting place and Cory Paix has once again been named in the 17. According to Ben Dobbin Paix will actually play this week which is a promising development for the Broncos. Paix had shown improvement at Souths Logan and was a real threat for them around the ruck. It's going to be tough since he hasn't played a lot of football this past month with COVID restrictions limiting his opportunities.

This is a big game for Brodie Croft. Last week he just tried too hard and either overran the play or shot off the line too quickly causing his outsider defenders to hold since he couldn't make his tackle. I'd imagine they've given Kelly an extra week so he can be right for the Cowboys game. If Brodie can somehow find the form that saw him rated as one of the best young halves in the game it could be the platform for him to make something of his career.

Once again I'm hoping to see more from the Broncos younger players like Niu, Riki, Hetherington and Robati. There's been some good signs there but also some really poor rookie errors as well. I'd just like to see continue to develop and stick in the contest even when things don't go their way.

Hopefully they'll put together a similar effort as their last meeting and make Penrith sweat a little. The last couple of meetings have not been walk-overs by any means for the Panthers.

 

[Big Pete]

Ethan Bullemor has joined the bench with TC Robati moving into the reserves following the cork to his leg.

Paix has retained his place for the time being. Jesse Arthars, who has replaced Paix in recent weeks, has also been retained as a reserve.

Both Coates and Willison have been cut from the squad named on Tuesday.

 

[Nerd]

Better performance than last week but same as the last 2 years unforced errors are just killing us. Deadset Kevvie should just stick one of the bench forwards in at 7 because Croft has no clue and is easily the worst halfback in the comp.

 

[Showtime]

Alex Glenn 9 runs for 58m

 

[Big Pete]

It looked like it was going to be a long night when Flegler came up with a mistake, a set restart and then later a sin-bin inside the opening exchanges.

Fortunately for Brisbane they received a lucky bounce and controlled possession during the majority of that sin-bin.

However their attack on the Panthers line was far too clunky. They didn't throw enough options at the Panthers so their plays were all telegraphed and often the halves would second guess it and kill the play altogether. I think Brisbane had an opportunity to win ugly but they just made so many fundamental errors. Forward pass from Turpin, forward pass from Gamble to Riki, not getting to a 5th tackle kick and conceding a penalty to let Penrith kick a 2 point field goal etc.

Start of the second half was rubbish. They've been doing it since the Cowboys trial, they switched off and let the Panthers put on three really soft tries. All three of them should have been prevented. Isaako came in when he didn't need to, Oates came in and missed his assignment and Oates failed to pick up the loose ball when it was there.

Then it appeared the Payne Haas line-break sparked them. They got some belief but they just couldn't string together enough good plays. In the end, it just took a loose offload from Kennedy and a strong effort from Hetherington up close to open the Broncos account.

I liked the second try. Oates wasn't getting any quality ball out-wide so they bring him in for an inside ball, he gets a Panthers player on the ground and then Bullemor follows it up with a run off the back fence to score. That was exactly the type of play the Broncos needed to come up with in the first half.

At 18-12 it was a fair reflection. A scrappy loss, but some players really put a nice effort together and it was refreshing to see them not completely give up like they've done in the past.