It was a good game to watch as a Panther’s fan. Finally we had something to cheer about. A couple of points:
- I am guilty of underestimating the impact of surgery on our players in the off season. I saw Cleary on 27 December or thereabouts training in the gym. His workout was a run on a treadmill and then an hour of stretching bands trying to strengthen his shoulder. He started the season unfit and out of condition. His shoulder injury meant he couldn’t do ball work for a long time. Roll forward 7 rounds (two of which he played very little part in) and there he was against the Roosters looking out of breath, and struggling to get onside.
Edward’s and Kenny were the same. Dylan was clearly not fit at the start of the season and against the Dolphins looked like a v8 with four cylinders turned off. You only need to be off a few percent and it’s enough to see you lose. Remembering that teams lift their game against the Premiers, we don’t get an easy game. The opposition always start at 110%. With the injuries, lack of off season and a draining trip to the USA, we started the season way off the pace. You could blame the conditioning staff, but the more I have thought about it, I just can’t see what they could do. Injuries need time to heal and you can’t practice ball work and attacking moves if a player can’t move their arms.
- The lack of practice in the off season has seen: Cleary pass to a spectator in row z; the edge defense looking like ushers helping show the opposition where the try line is; we have conceded 30 points a game; Yeo miss more tackles in one game than he did in the entire finals series in 2024; our attack at its best execute finally choreographed plays like a well drilled troupe of ballet dancers, fluid, elegant and displaying power and poise. Instead we have executed moves with the co-ordination of Mr Bean on roller skates in a China shop being pursued by an angry swarm of bees. There’s a lot of effort, a lot of flailing arms but ultimately you end up face down in a pile of broken Wedgewood bone china.
- Having noted the above, against the Roosters the ring rust was starting to fall off and we looked to have some timing back. Cleary’s kicking game was effective again, Edward’s looked fit for the first time this season. Best of all, the edge defense sacked the ushers and replaced them with the assassins we had before. Our attack started to show some form of coordination, not quite choreographed ballet, but certainly not Mr Bean on roller skates either.
- Have we turned the corner? Not sure, we are at least checking the mirrors, indicating and pulling over to the right ready to turn. The coordination is improved, the fitness looks better. Let’s see how we do against Manly before we get too excited. If our ushers are back at the edge, DCE and Tommy Turbo will have a field day.
- I knew Robbo was whinging because his lips were moving. He grinds my gears. He never has anything good to say about the opposition, he just trots out a list of refereeing decisions he didn’t like. FFS, be a man and take accountability for your team. The contrast between his whining and Ivan’s blunt “we were shit and we know we were” is like chalk and Blue Stilton. I know what I prefer, crackers anybody?
