Round 7 vs Souths

[herbert henry1908]

Good point you make with Naden. The try he scored Mansour would of. He too bombed a difficult chance. Got put into 4 or 5 gaps. Adds the metres like that.

I don’t remember too much problems he caused coming off the line. Ivan admitted to resting Mansour. You would think more guys will get rested as the year goes on before the top 17 is settled

Mansour wouldn’t have made the break down the line that led to the try. And you don’t make 238 easy meters.

 

[Blues Riff]

Wayne Bennets presser is a classic

throw back to the old days when he refused to talk to the press.

Haha that's awesome. Exit stage left. SOC.

 

[herbert henry1908]

Very impressive win and incredible start to the season. We've beaten 3 of last year's top 4 and had tough games against two of this year's most improved. To be 5-1-1 after 7 is incredible. Key now is to not let the intensity drop as we come to a theoretically easier few games.

A few thoughts:

- Naden did nothing wrong, but you could see how much we missed Sauce coming out of our own end. We were lucky not to be punished at the end of the first half with several 20m sets off our own line.

- I think we have the best defensive halves in the comp. We know how good Nathan is but Luai has really surprised me here. Having two halves who can defend makes you so much harder to break down.

- Souths rushed up hard all evening (can't believe they barely got pinged for it) and we adapted well, getting around them or going close to it. Old Penrith doesn't do things like that.

- Refs have been shafting us (no way we were that much worse in the ruck tonight) but we haven't let it affect us. Part of that is the ruck changes leading to refs having much less effect on game flow, but part of it is a new resilience as well.

Very proud of the team so far. Stay healthy boys, please!

If we’re relying on a winger to get us out of our own end we’re doing something wrong. We need to find a way around that, not default to it.

 

[age.s]

Good point you make with Naden. The try he scored Mansour would of. He too bombed a difficult chance. Got put into 4 or 5 gaps. Adds the metres like that.

I don’t remember too much problems he caused coming off the line. Ivan admitted to resting Mansour. You would think more guys will get rested as the year goes on before the top 17 is settled

Like I said, I dont think Naden did anything wrong and I think he looked much better than Sauce has in general this year. But Sauce's work off our line is about as good as it gets and getting 7-10 meters off that first hitup completely changes the rest of those kind of sets. He's a big part of why we next to never get pinned back like that.

Anyway not sure I'd go back to Sauce as Naden makes our left edge much more threatening. But I wanted to mention it because meters out of your own end is an unfashionable strength to have. Sauce has never really gotten enough credit for how good he is at it.

 

[age.s]

If we’re relying on a winger to get us out of our own end we’re doing something wrong. We need to find a way around that, not default to it.

I don't really agree. It's something you need your backline doing in the modern game.

Not that it's the only thing a winger should do, but having a winger (or at least one of your 1-5) that can do it is enormous.

 

[herbert henry1908]

I don't really agree. It's something you need your backline doing in the modern game.

Not that it's the only thing a winger should do, but having a winger (or at least one of your 1-5) that can do it is enormous.

Exactly. You need your backline doing it, not just one player. We can make up the slack if it’s coached. We’ll be a better team with more attacking options in our backline as well.

 

[MugaB]

Wow, we have a winger amongst the top metre eaters in the NRL and we don’t think his absence will hurt of effect us?

I so hope you are proven right but again I can’t help but feel the work Josh does is so undervalued.

As i pointed out way back, opposition keeps targeting sauce, he has lots of metres coz they assume he is an easier target, he has been good, but those silly brainfarts are costing us possession, and making us tackle more, i see Naden as our future no.2, sauce is done for me.
Whare was needed at the last minute of the game, im sure burns, burton and To'o all on one side was a glaring mistake, had cleary or whare stayed on the field that last try doesn't happen

 

[MugaB]

Jerome played well, he is good for 2-3 set restarts and penalties a game though the last two weeks, he’s gotta improve that discipline.

Maloney had double that amount, what impressed me was he had a chance to grubber on a 3rd tackle for the left side attack, but didn't waste an opportunity to grind out the set, which set nathan up better.... even tho it didn't pan out, just shows a bit of composure from jerome

 

[WestyLife]

Naden had 283 run metres and post contact metres and 96 post contact.

That's better than every game of Mansour's except the knights in round 3. You're getting similar or better output while improving the other areas.

 

[mxlegend99]

Naden makes more metres than Mansour averages and there's still a defence force for us needing his metres at the expense of everything else

Naden took the hard hitups just as Josh would. At most Josh makes an extra few metres total over him from our line. But Josh doesn't make that linebreak and stay in then score that try moments later that Naden did. Naden got momentum for us with that which helped create the try he scored.

Naden did all the work to score another try and only dropped it because the defender hit his extended arm and jolted it loose. Naden probably should have been able to control it with one arm but it was his first ever NRL game on the wing and he was inches away from a hat trick between that and Crichtons forward pass.

Naden looked more a winger than Josh has in some time. Aside from all that he looked safe fielding kicks and it was his first game in months. He should only improve.

Although i have no doubt Mansour strolls straight back into the team for him. Just as Burton had no chance at keeping his spot ahead of Luai or Nathan. Naden at best might replace Crichton but more realistically will be dropped. When both should be in the team.

 

[mxlegend99]

Naden had 283 run metres and post contact metres and 96 post contact.

That's better than every game of Mansour's except the knights in round 3. You're getting similar or better output while improving the other areas.

Josh Would have run for 500 metres though.

 

[WestyLife]

Josh Would have run for 500 metres though.

Indeed. We were stuck in our own 20m last night because of it. Good to get the win despite that hardship

 

[Westernised Panther]

Aekins offered literally just nothing. Edwards in form is a solid 7 or 8 out of 10 player. My biggest concern was how he could return. But thankfully unlike last year he has returned well.

I can’t see Aekins score the try that Edwards scored last night.

 

[Westernised Panther]

Nathan being a team player counts against him for fans but coaches see it. He is selfless. He does what is in the best interest of his team. Sometimes him taking control might have been better. But unlike Mitchell Moses he doesn't play for the personal glory.

He's not flashy like others can be. But he can control games pretty f**king well. Joey and freddy were impressed. If he didnt take goal kicks i would say he was perfect tonight. Those kicks really sucked though.

From memory, the last time Cleary kicked (in terms of conversions) that badly was the last time (apart from this year) we beat Melbourne, which was the last game of the 2018 regular season.

Even Girds had his off day in terms of the boot.

 

[hindy111]

f**k Brian To’o impresses me. His defence is awesome.

Too has a step the reminds me of Anthony Minenchello.
I wonder how he would handle fullback

 

[betcats]

I don't really agree. It's something you need your backline doing in the modern game.

Not that it's the only thing a winger should do, but having a winger (or at least one of your 1-5) that can do it is enormous.

Naden had 96 post contact metres and Too had 88. Brian is great at those early hit ups and Naden showed the ability last night. We didn’t miss sauce at all last night imo.

 

[hindy111]

The easy run in the next few weeks has me worried. We can go from superstars to derp in quick succession

I reckon chances of a minor premiership are looking good. Easy run home. Faced 5 of the best sides in comp already. Blew it against Knights and prob should of beat eels. Should be undefeated.

 

[hindy111]

Cut out passes..linebreaks..try assists..who cares..WE HAVE THE BEST NUMBER 7 IN THE COMP..Nathan was not 100% but was the master and commander and the team responded..would we swap him for any other number 7..NOOOOOOOOOOO
Go the Panthers..

I don't agree. I rate DCE as the best

 

[hindy111]

If Martin is injured along with Capewell being out long term what about CHN?

 

[WestyLife]

If Martin is injured along with Capewell being out long term what about CHN?

We have Burna and Yeo can shift back although you'd not want to unless necessary.