Still worried about the go forward

[lucablight]

I'm probably going to get blasted by the people who think I'm being a party pooper but I think it has to be said. I'm very happy with the win tonight and while we had some fine individual performances I don't think we played all that well. Alot of the game we were only making 20-25m per set and conceding 60-70m and were it not for the Panthers errors and penalties I believe we may have lost the game because of this. Although this was the case in 2005 as well I hope we can fix this up because you can't survive like that for too long.
Even though it's good to get a win I think we should be realistic as there's still alot of improvement left in the side.

 

[Ron Jeremy]

Very worried, Wagon has nothing, but he's valuable in other aspects.

Cordoba is good, but no Fui.

 

[mickdo]

Agreed, it's definitely a worry. A lot of Penrith's go forward was due to our line speed in defence (or lack of it), which was a major problem for us for the first half of last year.

As for our own attack, we were running back through the ruck far too much, and being gang tackled by the compressed Panthers line. We did spread it from time to time, but not enough.

 

[Kornstar]

We have always seemed to have the problem of trying to go through teams, almost an arrogance. For the smaller size of our attack i think we should be doing what the Tigers did in 05, go round them, we have the skill in Tahu, Benny, Grothe and Hayne, we need to get moving faster and spread the ball earlier in the tackle count.

I too wish our line speed in defence was quicker, it seems we wait for them to come to us......not really sure why though......

 

[sooperdooper]

cordoba is fine in my eyes
i am not worried bout our go forward more worried bout how we get opened up the middle quite easily

 

[strider]

we really don't have a overly penetrating forward pack .... Fuifui is the only one - caylo can do a little - cannings, well he's the guy you'd think could be a real metre gainer, but he seems to struggle

but i thought we did ok tonight .... the game really see-sawed for a long time, but when it mattered our guys stood up to be counted

 

[V1er]

I too wish our line speed in defence was quicker, it seems we wait for them to come to us......not really sure why though......

im glad im not the only person who noticed that, it just seems instead of going up to the attacking team we're waiting back for them to come to us, i think it could be with the way hagan coaches but hey we've won 3 in a row so we must be doing something right.

 

[Join The Bandwagon]

Cannings just submits once he hits the line. He used to strive for every m.

He needs to be told to pretend the defensive line in 10m behind the actual line

 

[Pazza]

cordoba is fine in my eyes

he is a good yoiung prop, i'd just love to see him put 2 - 3 more kgs on his frame in the off season

 

[Ron Jeremy]

In all due respect Penrith has probably the biggest pack in the comp, so it's no surprise we were going backwards, however last week we also struggled against Canberra at times.

 

[Stagger eel]

I thought they struggled at times but showed alot of resolve...we don't have the pack yet to be a real threat..

 

[Ron Jeremy]

Cordoba is great, but he's the sort of bloke that needs abloke like Fui runing first then him after if you get my drift?

 

[eloquentEEL]

Cannings just submits once he hits the line. He used to strive for every m.

He needs to be told to pretend the defensive line in 10m behind the actual line

he seems to be making decent metres per hit up, but apart from last week (when Cayless was out) he's not making anywhere near enough hit ups for a starting prop

 

[Pazza]

well i guess it works having cayless and cannings together then fui and cordoba, one is a worker and one is a metre eater but i'd like to see more from cannings

 

[Angry_eel]

In all due respect Penrith has probably the biggest pack in the comp, so it's no surprise we were going backwards, however last week we also struggled against Canberra at times.

Bulldogs have a big pack too, and if we play like today against them we'll get hammered.

 

[Pazza]

the bulldogs will destroy us if we dont harden up

 

[Eelementary]

Don't panic yet.

This match was Grothe and Tahu's second and first matches back from injury. Once they regain full confidence and fitness, we'll be better served.

And once Fui gets his match fitness back, he may be starting alongside Cayless, and have Cordoba and Cannings come off the bench. Cannings running at tired defenses could really be a good move.

Yes, we have improvements to make. But you have to say - our defense, apart from a few lapses, was very, very good. Case in point - Hayne and Hindmarsh's amazing try-saving effort on Luke Lewis, as well as a few times when a Panthers player looked all money to score and we held them back.

We're improving every week, and I'm loving every minute of it.

 

[Eelementary]

Here we go with the negativity already...

Who did we play tonight? Because, judging by some of the posts here, I could swear we just got beaten by the Bulldogs...

 

[Stagger eel]

the bulldogs will destroy us if we dont harden up

mmmm!! don't know with Mason, Ryan SBW and possably O'Meley to back up from Friday night we may be in with a shot.;-)

 

[Eelementary]

I think it's also worth noting - Mateo had possibly his worst match for us thus far, and he still looked good. But he didn't make as many metres as he normally does. He had an offish sort of match.

But against the Dogs, introduce Moimoi and Mateo a bit earlier (or start them, even) and watch our go-forward flourish.

It's not really time to dampen the mood and slit our wrists just yet.