Round 6 vs Rabbitohs

[TheFrog]

Walker was the difference I thought. Every time he had the ball, they looked likely. We did well to level up in the latter stages, but probably weren't quite the better side. It was close though.

 

[betcats]

None of our senior players really stood up. Wallace was bad, two tries off his dumb mistakes. Whare a rare poor defensive half but made up for it by laying on the try, Merrin is struggling. Overall the halves were great and Edwards was solid but we missed Moylan. CHN is a gun. I'm f**king sick of losing though, there's always some bullshit with this club.

 

[mxlegend99]

The buck stops with Anthony Griffin........he is a dud coach end of story.

I want to blame him for dropping our players. But they broke the club rules... that's their own fault.

Moylan. Hiku and Blake cost us a huge win here. Even Hiku in for aoldfield gets us a win and he's average at best. Blake or Moylan in makes it a comfortable win.

Any other club puts results ahead of standards. Fans are happier with results though.

 

[abpanther]

WTF is up with Merrin?

Dude looks like he spent the entire offseason eating donuts

 

[PenrithPanther45]

Don't think Griffin will be keeping those 3 in reserve grade next week. Our forward pack was easily dominated tonight. Lucky to have only lost by 1. With the news of Whare's re-signing it's bye bye to Edwards can't see us keeping him. In the end we had chances but our attack in the 20 is still lacking significantly. Burns' drops were one of the only reasons it was that close tbh. Not looking forward to next week - get on Cronulla were $2.50 before this game.

 

[Caged Panther]

We lost tonight because three players couldn't stay off the piss and poor defence and simple mistakes at crucial moments.

Ben Cummins complete and utter bias against this club was just icing on a bitter tasting cake.

 

[PenrithPanther45]

WTF is up with Merrin?

Dude looks like he spent the entire offseason eating donuts

missed 6 tackles tonight...

 

[ashton]

I want to blame him for dropping our players. But they broke the club rules... that's their own fault.

Moylan. Hiku and Blake cost us a huge win here. Even Hiku in for aoldfield gets us a win and he's average at best. Blake or Moylan in makes it a comfortable win.

Any other club puts results ahead of standards. Fans are happier with results though.

Griffin was a poor coach at the Broncos . Ask bronco supporters.
No structure
No set plays
Poor interchange.......why would you have Katoa on the bench? Katoa offers nothing.
Why drop the players........they should have been fined, like other clubs do.
I said from day one that Griffin is a dud coach and nothing changed.

 

[kinghippo]

missed 6 tackles tonight...

Probably cost himself and Australian and nsw jersey too

 

[herbert henry1908]

We lost tonight because three players couldn't stay off the piss and poor defence and simple mistakes at crucial moments.

Ben Cummins complete and utter bias against this club was just icing on a bitter tasting cake.

There's always some excuse though. Good clubs find a way to win, even under such trying conditions.

I dunno, I'm very frustrated.

This much talent should be doing a lot better.

 

[herbert henry1908]

Can't see them making the top 4 with this start to the season. Sharks and the Broncos coming up soon..

The form of some of the experienced players like Tamou is below par and Merrin is not playing like last year.

Next 3 games

Sharks
Eels
broncos

We could very easily be 3 from 9.

If that's the case the bell is truly starting to toll for Griffin.

 

[Caged Panther]

There's always some excuse though. Good clubs find a way to win, even under such trying conditions.

I dunno, I'm very frustrated.

This much talent should be doing a lot better.

No excuses. We should find a way to win regardless of Cummins or any other outside influence doesn't make his performance any less frustrating.

 

[souths_reborn]

I think what really cost you guys tonight was Nathan Cleary's last tackle options. I like the guy but he clearly overplayed his hand in continually going for those spirally torpedo kicks on the last tackle. I don't mean to be biased by Adam Reynolds has been doing them for years but he uses them selectively because they are hard to execute and they are a high risk play. It just seemed that every time you guys got a roll on and made good field position Nathan Cleary would let us off the hook.

On the contrary, Te maire Martin was a real handful all night and showed his class. He looks a magnificent ad lib footballer and I'm just wondering whether or not he'd be better served playing at fullback and having Moylan play in the halves? Your forward pack is also among the best in the competition. However, what is holding you back is their discipline. I mean the penalty conceded at the end of the game by Latu that lead to the field goal was criminal, even though I didn't think there was much in it - surely at that stage of the game though you play the percentages and just let Johnston take it and tackle the guy. Similarly, Merrin's offload on the second tackle which gifted us possession was criminal from such an experienced player.

In saying that, I don't think it is all doom and gloom for you guys. Both teams' completion rate was in the mid 80s, which is excellent and the problems that I've mentioned, such as discipline and erratic play are easily fixed. It is still early in the season and with the amount of attacking fire power you guys have, I expect the Panthers to finish around 5th-6th. In these early rounds, everyone is going to be losing games to opposition that aren't as good as they are simply because every team has something to play for at this stage; it is during the middle and the end of the season where you start getting a few easy games when some of the teams start falling out of the running for the finals. Remember, the season where we won the comp, I can recall us losing 3-4 straight games at the start of the season to mediocre teams!

 

[billypilgrimnz]

Cleary has obviously been directed to do those by Griffin; he showed a LOT more variety in his kicking last season, but this one it has been bomb, bomb, bomb and then put it through the hands on the last if you are in the 20 and hope some miracle happens (I didn't see tonight's game, so I'm basing this on the other five games). Not a fan of Griffin at all - I don't see what he actually brings to the team except for not being shy to give young guys a chance.

 

[souths_reborn]

Griffin was a poor coach at the Broncos . Ask bronco supporters.
No structure
No set plays
Poor interchange.......why would you have Katoa on the bench? Katoa offers nothing.
Why drop the players........they should have been fined, like other clubs do.
I said from day one that Griffin is a dud coach and nothing changed.

What surprises me as an outsider is the fact that Griffin was brought in to eradicate all of things that you have mentioned and fix the overall culture of the club. I was under the impression that Hook was brought in to fix a lot of the off the field indiscipline in particular. Isn't that why the likes of Segeyaro were given their marching orders? If so I applaud him because while you can win games with ill-discipline you can't win a competition with it. Just on that issue, it can't be a good thing when the captain of your club is acting up like that. I find it strange that someone so young was given the captaincy in the first place! Wouldn't it have made more sense to give it to a more experienced and responsible player, like Peter Wallace?

The reason why the Panthers struggled under Cleary is because he perpetuated a style of ad-lib football; you won't win anything with ad-lib football as it is too unreliable. Part of the problem is that you've got a team full of players that love playing that way, in particular Matt Moylan and Te maire Martin. Now don't get me wrong - having a couple of players who play that way if always handy as they can win you games. However, when you have an entire back line full of those players it can hurt you. In saying that, the reason you guys did so well last season and are such a threat is because Peter Wallace adds a calming presence at dummy half and bring much needed stability and structure to the team. In saying that, he can only do so much from dummy half. Nathan Cleary has the right idea but needs a bit more tactical nous and that will come with time. Hence, the biggest challenge facing Hook is get these young, talented backs to stop playing touch footy and stick to a set plan. Once he does that Penrith will be a true force to be reckoned with.

 

[souths_reborn]

Cleary has obviously been directed to do those by Griffin; he showed a LOT more variety in his kicking last season, but this one it has been bomb, bomb, bomb and then put it through the hands on the last if you are in the 20 and hope some miracle happens (I didn't see tonight's game, so I'm basing this on the other five games). Not a fan of Griffin at all - I don't see what he actually brings to the team except for not being shy to give young guys a chance.

That is pretty much what happened tonight! Don't get me wrong, the guy can't put those spiraling bombs up as well as anyone in the competition. However, the thing is that sooner or later you are going to miss hit one, particularly if the opposition catches onto the fact that you are doing it ALL THE TIME on the last tackle as they will sprint up and shut you down quicker. I remember Adam Reynolds' having a similar problem for a while in 2015 where he just try and put spiral bomb after spiral bomb but would miss cue a few and cost us valuable field position.

The coaching situation in the NRL is really interesting at the moment. It seems that no one is willing to take any chances on young coaches at the moment and that is why guys like Griffin, Jason Taylor and Ivan Cleary are being given chances even if they are mediocre coaches. I put it down to the fact that everyone barring the Knights is pretty much after instant success. I think for a while the Bulldogs were thinking about trying someone young before they came to their senses and resigned Des Hasler.

 

[mxlegend99]

Those spiraling bombs got us numerous repeat sets. They were the only thing that ever got momentum in our favour

As far as results from kicks go .. the bomb seemed to be a 50/50 shot at a favourable outcome. Pretty much the safest play he had.

 

[billypilgrimnz]

Those spiraling bombs got us numerous repeat sets. They were the only thing that ever got momentum in our favour

As far as results from kicks go .. the bomb seemed to be a 50/50 shot at a favourable outcome. Pretty much the safest play he had.

Top halves have more than one trick in their bag, though. If Griffin really thinks that the best way to control a game is to just boot the ball high whenever we cross our own 40, well, we aren't going to see Clearly develop all that much until Griffin is gone.

 

[souths_reborn]

Top halves have more than one trick in their bag, though. If Griffin really thinks that the best way to control a game is to just boot the ball high whenever we cross our own 40, well, we aren't going to see Clearly develop all that much until Griffin is gone.

I agree and to put all your eggs in one basket on such a risky play isn't the best move tactically. I actually liked the Nathan Cleary of last season as he seemed to take the ball to the line more, bring players outside him into play and use his vision in playing like a more conventional halfback. This season I get the feeling that Hook has limited his role and wants him to be more of a steady halfback, sort of like an Adam Reynolds clone, and to leave the creativity to the likes of Moylan and Martin.

 

[TheFrog]

Wouldn't it have made more sense to give it to a more experienced and responsible player, like Peter Wallace?

Wallace was, of course, club captain in 2014 and 2015. I think the reason he wasn't made captain last year was because he wasn't guaranteed a spot in first grade when playing half.

Merrin could have been made captain, but he'd only just walked in the door. Or it could have been Elijah Taylor, but he didn't see eye to eye with the coach. With Moylan as captain we had an excellent year in 2016.