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Round 19 Vs Sharks

betcats

Referee
Messages
23,956
Nice to see Spencer get on in the first half and have a good stint.

I like Huth and if yeo out huth starts imo but if Leota is out start sorro for the better leg speed through the middle. Sorro been our best back up prop consistently this year he should start it a prop is out particularly leota, yeo and fish are both taller guys I like a point of difference through the middle, some quick feet and lower centre of gravity to go with the others helps.
 

Girds89

Bench
Messages
3,239
Easy api mom tonight. No two ways about it..

For me the bloke who was the closest wnd was scott sorensen. He single handedly turned the tide in the 1st half.. he was simply brilliant when he came on.

The work he did allowed api to get on the front foot. He really got over the advantage line and got super quick play the balls. Was on a mission in defence too. 160m... god he was good.

Not sure who gets the 1 point..nathan played well the last 50 without being spectacular.. doing nice things when we are on a roll but not under the pump kinda exactly like origin. Having said that he had a few big plays.

Edwards had a few mistakes but was just everywhere again.

Kiks had a few dumb moments but was solid..

Yeo was good.

We did what we had to. We looked much better when nathan kicked early and turned them around and made them bring it back off the deck.. the big bombs that continually landed on the 20m line allowed them to start every set feom the 25m line which just put us under the pump at times.

But yeah api was the best on ground by a shitload tonight. Lifes going to be tough without him.

We saw tonight how much a loss kiks is too... he set up the tago try without even touching the ball... dragged in 4 players with his hard line run... space for luai and tago boom try.. thats not happening next year.

Is it too late to unload blokes too keep them haha!!!!
 

betcats

Referee
Messages
23,956
Easy api mom tonight. No two ways about it..

For me the bloke who was the closest wnd was scott sorensen. He single handedly turned the tide in the 1st half.. he was simply brilliant when he came on.

The work he did allowed api to get on the front foot. He really got over the advantage line and got super quick play the balls. Was on a mission in defence too. 160m... god he was good.

Not sure who gets the 1 point..nathan played well the last 50 without being spectacular.. doing nice things when we are on a roll but not under the pump kinda exactly like origin. Having said that he had a few big plays.

Edwards had a few mistakes but was just everywhere again.

Kiks had a few dumb moments but was solid..

Yeo was good.

We did what we had to. We looked much better when nathan kicked early and turned them around and made them bring it back off the deck.. the big bombs that continually landed on the 20m line allowed them to start every set feom the 25m line which just put us under the pump at times.

But yeah api was the best on ground by a shitload tonight. Lifes going to be tough without him.

We saw tonight how much a loss kiks is too... he set up the tago try without even touching the ball... dragged in 4 players with his hard line run... space for luai and tago boom try.. thats not happening next year.

Is it too late to unload blokes too keep them haha!!!!

Nathan did some great things when we were under the pump, got momentum back for us and kept it there the end of the first half and most of the second half. To me he was the clear motm. Api had a great play on our first try and two nice kicks but he also threw the ball to no one and killed our momentum once and didn’t really run much, cleary ran a lot more had a number of great kicks and a couple of big tackles forcing a crucial error once. He had two poor grubber attempts besides that he was clearly our best tonight.
 

martielang

Bench
Messages
3,499
Thought Leniu swung that game tbh. Played with real intent when we were treading water a little. Sorensen the same.

Api ridiculous again. Cleary too, although few times I thought he should’ve kicked earlier to turn the screws a bit. Yeo really stepped up too in the second half.

Think people overplay how bad our bench is tbh. They aren’t world beaters but they do their job. Kenny had a stinker but not the first or last player to do so.
 

Girds89

Bench
Messages
3,239
Really dont get th
Nathan did some great things when we were under the pump, got momentum back for us and kept it there the end of the first half and most of the second half. To me he was the clear motm. Api had a great play on our first try and two nice kicks but he also threw the ball to no one and killed our momentum once and didn’t really run much, cleary ran a lot more had a number of great kicks and a couple of big tackles forcing a crucial error once. He had two poor grubber attempts besides that he was clearly our best tonight.

Api was best on ground my soo much tonight. Not even close.
 

Girds89

Bench
Messages
3,239
Thought Leniu swung that game tbh. Played with real intent when we were treading water a little. Sorensen the same.

Api ridiculous again. Cleary too, although few times I thought he should’ve kicked earlier to turn the screws a bit. Yeo really stepped up too in the second half.

Think people overplay how bad our bench is tbh. They aren’t world beaters but they do their job. Kenny had a stinker but not the first or last player to do so.

Spencer was good. Drop ball first run was a pain but after that he was strong. I get nervous every run though hes going to drop it haha
 

Kilkenny

Coach
Messages
13,864
Just got home, HT in the Storm v Bunnies game, have just had a quick look at a few posts.

Difficult conditions, 10-0 down, a lot of character showed tonight to come back and win.

Disappointing some see the need to single out anyone for not being up to it.

Terrific win under the circumstances in my opinion.

The Sharks were terrific, particularly in defence, but from the 20 minute mark there was only going to be one winner and we got the job done.
 

betcats

Referee
Messages
23,956
I thought Nathan pilled it on when we finally turned the game. Api had us in the game to allow that

It was Nathan’s kicking and running that turned the game imo. Api had two good touches the first half the bit of deception in our try and a good kick. Nathan had a number of good kicks when we were under the pump and while he didn’t make a linebreak he had a number of half breaks where he threatened leading to fast play the balls, it was him who got us the penalty to end the first half wasn’t it? He had a few runs like that in second half as well and his kicking game was great. In the second half Api had one bad pass Nathan had one bad kick besides that they both did their part getting the team around in between mistakes from other players. Api didn’t hit the mark with his running tonight, once or twice he had a couple nice bits of deception with his passing but so did Nathan along with running and kicking exceptionally well.
 

Girds89

Bench
Messages
3,239
I thought Nathan piled it up when we finally turned the game. Api had us in the game to allow that
Yep..once we got on a roll nathan started to come into the game.

Under pressure in the first 25mins nath didnt deliver the goods.

Id say atm hes kicking game is probably about 50% of what he is capable. Really not trying to hate on him. Hes one of my fav panthers ever. Brilliant player.

But under the pump the 5 out hit ups and bombing it on the 5th to land on the 20m line just doesnt cut it. If sharks had turned up for 80 tonight we were in trouble. The game turned when soro and to a lesser extent came on and got over the advantage line. Than api really started to own the ruck with his deception and just craved them up.

I just feel wed be a much more lethal team if we played early sometimes. We can be very predictable.

Part of me honestly thinks we are playing the long game here with the game plan..

I remember against the storm in the finals nathan kicked for critta cross field to score in the opening mins... ivan said hed had that up his sleeve all year after seeing the chooks do it in the early rds.

Cant help but feel come the finals nath and ivan might flick a switch and kick long early. Wingers all year generally wait till the 4th or even the 5th to run back to cover naths kicks cause they know 9 times out of 10 that inside our own 50 nath will bomb.

Wouldnt be suprised to see a lot more kicks on 3 and 4 in the finals when teams arent expecting it as theyve seen us play this way all year.
 

Smug Panther

First Grade
Messages
7,004
It was Nathan’s kicking and running that turned the game imo. Api had two good touches the first half the bit of deception in our try and a good kick. Nathan had a number of good kicks when we were under the pump and while he didn’t make a linebreak he had a number of half breaks where he threatened leading to fast play the balls, it was him who got us the penalty to end the first half wasn’t it? He had a few runs like that in second half as well and his kicking game was great. In the second half Api had one bad pass Nathan had one bad kick besides that they both did their part getting the team around in between mistakes from other players. Api didn’t hit the mark with his running tonight, once or twice he had a couple nice bits of deception with his passing but so did Nathan along with running and kicking exceptionally well.
I love arguing who was better from 2 of our 3 most important players. A excellent win after a slow start
 

betcats

Referee
Messages
23,956
Never like to knock the champion but To'o looked off. Is he carrying an injury?

first 30 mins both wingers struggled biz still ended up with 200m and 6 tackle breaks so not the worst performance for a quiet game. The intercept was a big play for us back got momentum after some mistakes from team.
 

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