Just watched the replay and still not sure how to feel about it.
I am still extremely gutted, frustrated and pissed off that we let that one slip. We were in the game, up by 2 with 10 to go and probably should have been good enough to close it out in a big game. But we didn't. We made crucial errors, gave away a silly penalty and the boys missed their defensive assignments to pretty much hand the Panthers the win on a platter. You can't do that; they are too good of a side to not take advantage. That's exactly what they did so credit to them. However, I still feel that WE lost that, rather than Penrith beating us. I could be wrong, and I'm probably biased, but that's the way I see it. That's what hurts, that's what really sucks and it's just not good enough.
However, in saying that, there are some positives to take out of the game upon reflection. What I'm about to say is by no means making excuses or anything like that, we weren't good enough and we lost but I think it's important to look at how Penrith got their points. The first, terrible pass from Cookie to gift them a try. Our fault. The second, Trell makes a silly error trying to milk a penalty, they score the next play off an obstruction that is usually pulled up every game. Again, our fault, shouldn't have even been allowed to stand. Their third try was pretty lucky to be fair, a loose kick and Leinu was in the right place at the right time, these things happen. And their final try was a simple play where we missed our defensive assignment with the game on the line. Once again, our fault.
We also need to keep in mind that we bombed three or four guaranteed tries. There was the Cookie no-try where if Junior stays still, it stands. Jaxson lost a ball that just about every winger would have scored, and then there was his two other mishaps in the second half.
I guess what I am trying to say is I don't think Penrith were that much better than us, if at all. We beat ourselves and it was our own fault. Hence why I say WE lost the game; the Panthers didn't win it. Despite everything they threw at us, we were able to withstand it and put ourselves in a position to win the game. It was our errors that cost us.
While this almost makes the loss more frustrating, I do see it as a bit of a positive because it just proves that if we can get this stupid stuff out of our game and not beat ourselves, we can beat anyone! The stupid stuff went away in recent times but returned again the other night.
On another note, the other big positive I see out of that game is that we had a plan B. In years gone by, we have failed to come up with and execute a plan B against teams with aggressive defence and line speed like the Panthers showed on Thursday night. It's cruelled us since 2018 and is probably a big factor as to why despite being right up there, we just haven't been able to clinch that Premiership in that time. However, in this game, we changed our strategy and instead of continuing to try go up the guts all the time and get smashed, we were shifting the ball, sometimes early and in our own half, to great effect. Penrith struggled to handle it. That is a huge positive for me as we finally found a plan B and it's something we haven't done in recent years.
Anyway, in terms of individual players, there's a few I'd like to single out.
Mitchell: Very rocks and diamonds in a game where we needed him to just come up with diamonds. He had some brilliant plays on Thursday night. More tough carries than usual, some beautiful passes for line breaks and that big line break he made himself in the second half. The highlight was easily his pass for Cody's try, that was just amazing. However, on the flip side, he came up with some really dumb plays that heavily contributed to our loss. Throwing 30-meter cut-out balls on our own line, putting Jax under pressure with a few other passes throughout the game, made the crucial error before Edwards' try, failed short kick off and line drop out and finally, gave away the penalty that took them to 22 all. I can somewhat understand diving on the ball in that situation as it would be the first instinct, but he needs to be smarter and focus more. Then there was also his goal kicking from the sideline, it hasn't been great all year and really cost us in a big game. Hopefully Trell, like the champion we know he is, learns from this and uses it to fuel him once again.
Paulo: I won't go into detail; we all know what happened and it has been talked about a lot but there's no doubt his errors were a huge factor in the loss.
Graham: Brilliant on return, one of our best! He really hit the ground running and picked up where he left off. A poor defensive read when Edwards scored but aside from that, nothing got past him in defence, he was so good in that area. His carries were strong as he made 166 meters, looked very dangerous at times, a few good passes to put Jaxson in a good position AND scored that crucial try in the second half to get us back in the game. Awesome stuff Stretch, welcome back!
Our halves: One was very good, one was not. I thought Cody was great, really stood up when we needed him to in a big game. Had a hand in all our tries down the left and I particularly loved the first one he set up as that was just great tempo play. Was rewarded with a try of his own and that was great instincts to push up in the hole and go through. Then that dummy was just sensational! His kicking game was solid too. Lachie cops a bit of criticism from me for that one as he wasn't largely effective. His kicking game fell pretty flat, and he got caught on the last once. defence was good though. I'm sure he'll learn from it.
The forwards: I have mixed feeling on the pack in this game. One part of me feels that we were absolutely dominated through the middle. We struggled to make meters a lot of the time and Penrith really came for our pack. However, at the same time, I kind of feel like we held our own in there. Despite what they threw at us and despite their intensity, the forwards managed to get through and hold their own. Really not sure how to feel about it.
Keaon was probably one of our best I thought, his best game of the year. Pretty much everyone else was solid. I did think Cam was a bit off his game though, just not the usual intensity we normally get from him, and it showed. Hope he's okay.
So, in summary, just really mixed feelings about this one. We go again for two must-wins to round out the Regular Season.
One thing I do know, I HATE Penrith!! Sick of luck always going their way, sick of their smug faces and sick of them constantly having the wood on us. That changes next time we meet.
www.smh.com.au
