Why are the panthers all of a sudden so good?

[franklin2323]

do you want to start another thread and compare teams ?

The thread title posed a question - I answered it.

Travel was a lot different this year and was required on the same day of the game.

Put it this way - ............. if it didnt have an effect on a teams performance Clubs would save a fortune on travel/ hotel expenses by not traveling the day before

Yes but WT and Parra atleast had less travel this year and there wasn't a noticeable improvement in their performance

 

[Knight Vision]

Yes but WT and Parra atleast had less travel this year and there wasn't a noticeable improvement in their performance

and they are a shit show. Imagine where they might have finished.

Warriors, Canberra , Newcastle, Titans and to a lesser extent Storm have done very well considering the restrictions on them this year.

The Broncos and Cowboys terribly.

 

[soc123_au]

Melbourne & the Donkeys have been pretty successful since their inception & had to travel every other week. Didn't effect them too much. Donkeys issues this year had f**k all to do with scheduling as we all know.

Every Sydney based team gets an advantage if travel is an indicator, every year.

Our draw was better than the regional teams for sure, but that isn't the key to 17 straight & a GF spot when for the last 15 years we have been fringe top 8 at best.

What actually happened is the foundations Gus put in place are kicking into top gear.

A decent run of injuries & great depth to cover the ones we had also played a big part.

To base it off travel, or lack of is just salt.

 

[soc123_au]

and they are a shit show. Imagine where they might have finished.

Warriors, Canberra , Newcastle, Titans and to a lesser extent Storm have done very well considering the restrictions on them this year.

The Broncos and Cowboys terribly.

If this thread is about Penrith as the title suggests, claiming Newcastle as hard done by is a stretch. Newcastle to Sydney is about 2 hours. Penrith to Sydney is about an hour & a quarter. Newcastle got their home games, we had a lot of ours an hour away. We win marginally on travel, you win the having an actual home game advantage. The gap between the 2 teams draws isn't that significant.

 

[franklin2323]

and they are a shit show. Imagine where they might have finished.

Warriors, Canberra , Newcastle, Titans and to a lesser extent Storm have done very well considering the restrictions on them this year.

The Broncos and Cowboys terribly.

All of those are out of Sydney teams. Every year would be the same yet besides GC all of had recent success. If Travel is so bad why have Storm been in so many finals? And Canberra the GF last year

 

[Front-Rower]

Penrith fans crying they had to travel an hour or so to a game. Cry me a river.

 

[Knight Vision]

If this thread is about Penrith as the title suggests, claiming Newcastle as hard done by is a stretch. Newcastle to Sydney is about 2 hours. Penrith to Sydney is about an hour & a quarter. Newcastle got their home games, we had a lot of ours an hour away. We win marginally on travel, you win the having an actual home game advantage. The gap between the 2 teams draws isn't that significant.

as mentioned earlier in this thread - TRAVEL WAS VERY DIFFERENT THIS YEAR

 

[Knight Vision]

All of those are out of Sydney teams. Every year would be the same yet besides GC all of had recent success. If Travel is so bad why have Storm been in so many finals? And Canberra the GF last year

mate are you a f**king moron ? Sweet f**king lord ya aint the sharpest tool in da shed yeh?

Read my posts champ

 

[Tenacious Titans]

Do Penrith supporters think Ivan would have been able to work his magic if Gus was still around? I know many of you have a hard-on for him, but don't you think he may just have had a hand in too many roles at the club when he was there?

 

[soc123_au]

Do Penrith supporters think Ivan would have been able to work his magic if Gus was still around? I know many of you have a hard-on for him, but don't you think he may just have had a hand in too many roles at the club when he was there?

Gus was there a year too long. He did say when he first arrived that if he was successful he would become redundant, which was dead right. Knowing when to go is the tricky part.

 

[Bazal]

Honestly I think it's just that every year almost there are going to be one or two teams that surprise. This year it's Penrith.

For a combination of reasons including not having to travel much, a dream run with injuries, rule changes that were beneficial to their style, the fitness and energy of a young side in a year that's been quite crazy and a good helping of luck at times, they've stood out so much more.

What will be interesting is whether they stay near that level next season or fade like so many teams have before. Lots of them being my own useless merkin team.

 

[soc123_au]

as mentioned earlier in this thread - TRAVEL WAS VERY DIFFERENT THIS YEAR

Yes, it was. The whole year was different with the bubble etc. If travel was the key indicator you would expect the regional teams to have a markedly different win ratio home & away compared to most years. Guess what? They didn't

Storm- Home 9-1 Away 7-3 Fairly typical for them
Raiders - Home 6-4 Away 8-2 It seems the travel agreed with them
Knights - 7-3 Home 4-5 with a draw away Again pretty typical for Knights historically
Titans - Home 5-5 Away 4-6 Not much difference
Warriors - Home 5-5 Away 3-7 Warriors are always stronger at home
Cows - Home 3-7 Away 2-8 Shit all round
Broncos - Home 2-8 Away 1-9 Just lol.

Panthers Home 9-0 with a draw Away 9-1

It was a pretty even split with the other Sydney teams as well. Manly, Tigers Dogs were better away. Roosters 7-3 both sides & Sharks 5-5 both sides as well.

The stats dont lie.

 

[Legends]

The follow up question should be:
Why has it taken 17 years to make another Grand Final for a club with such huge natural advantages?

 

[Tommy Smith]

First and foremost we need to acknowledge that this is a great Penrith team. You don't win 17 games in a row otherwise.

They have all the ingredients needed for success. Not just in the traditional sense, with the great spine and well balanced quality footy team across the park.

But also to take advantage of the new rules and the modern game with big, powerful backs and forwards who possess great footwork before the line as well as plenty of skill.

As for their age and how they've "come from nowhere". Well the saying goes that you can look and feel too old overnight in sport. So perhaps in the same vein you can be just old enough overnight, too.

The core of their young forward pack - JFH, Yeo, Kikau, Leota, Martin - are actually in and around their mid 20s.

Cleary is only 22 but has 100 games behind him. And Edwards & Luai are again approaching their mid 20s. So hardly babies.

The younger players are the likes of Crichton, To'o, Staines - outside backs who always develop and star at a younger age.

Then throw in a few experienced veterans like Tamou, Mansour, Tetevano, and the signing of a world class hooker in his prime and it's actually a squad ready and primed for success now. They certainly don't feel ahead of their time.

The other key factor to success in any given year is luck. You can't deny it. There's no doubt that Penrith have benefited from a very cushy draw with minimal travel.

They've also had one of the better runs of luck with injuries that I can recall - similar to the Cowboys in 2015. In contrast, the other top teams that ran out of steam in the finals - the Roosters, Raiders, Souths - had pretty terrible runs of luck with injuries. You simply don't win Premierships with a huge injury toll for the majority of the season.

Also there's been no rep footy mid year which can normally act as another landmine to navigate for the top teams.

None of the above is to downplay Penrith's achievement or mean that they aren't worthy of the hype.

It's just that when you add the above good fortune to what is a great young footy team primed for a huge breakout season, well you can end up with a monster and this sort of run - a record breaking 17 in a row and a charge to the GF in very smug style.

But, and it's a big but, you gotta bring it home now. It's all about the Premierships and it'd be a terrible letdown to not win it from here.

Make no mistake about it, Penrith's time is now. And they need to understand that. The luck might turn next year with injuries and a huge rep workload, then the cap may bite the year after, then another team peaks the year after that. And what looked like a big Premiership window in hindsight closes fairly quickly.

So the pressure is on. And yet, after a shaky Prelim, I have a feeling that Penrith will respond and fire on all cylinders to seal the deal in the GF. Here's hoping they do.

 

[age.s]

The other key factor to success in any given year is luck. You can't deny it. There's no doubt that Penrith have benefited from a very cushy draw with minimal travel.

Of course I can deny it. It's a geniused non point. We had 3 games outside of Sydney. Parra had 2. Tigers had 3. Most Sydney teams had 4.

Stop spouting Rothfields bullshit. He's a drunken joke for a reason.

 

[age.s]

The follow up question should be:
Why has it taken 17 years to make another Grand Final for a club with such huge natural advantages?

Because we, like many clubs, were a basket case for much of that period.

 

[The_Frog]

the only out of state games - 2

Gold Coast, Queensland as well.

 

[soc123_au]

First and foremost we need to acknowledge that this is a great Penrith team. You don't win 17 games in a row otherwise.

They have all the ingredients needed for success. Not just in the traditional sense, with the great spine and well balanced quality footy team across the park.

But also to take advantage of the new rules and the modern game with big, powerful backs and forwards who possess great footwork before the line as well as plenty of skill.

As for their age and how they've "come from nowhere". Well the saying goes that you can look and feel too old overnight in sport. So perhaps in the same vein you can be just old enough overnight, too.

The core of their young forward pack - JFH, Yeo, Kikau, Leota, Martin - are actually in and around their mid 20s.

Cleary is only 22 but has 100 games behind him. And Edwards & Luai are again approaching their mid 20s. So hardly babies.

The younger players are the likes of Crichton, To'o, Staines - outside backs who always develop and star at a younger age.

Then throw in a few experienced veterans like Tamou, Mansour, Tetevano, and the signing of a world class hooker in his prime and it's actually a squad ready and primed for success now. They certainly don't feel ahead of their time.

The other key factor to success in any given year is luck. You can't deny it. There's no doubt that Penrith have benefited from a very cushy draw with minimal travel.

They've also had one of the better runs of luck with injuries that I can recall - similar to the Cowboys in 2015. In contrast, the other top teams that ran out of steam in the finals - the Roosters, Raiders, Souths - had pretty terrible runs of luck with injuries. You simply don't win Premierships with a huge injury toll for the majority of the season.

Also there's been no rep footy mid year which can normally act as another landmine to navigate for the top teams.

None of the above is to downplay Penrith's achievement or mean that they aren't worthy of the hype.

It's just that when you add the above good fortune to what is a great young footy team primed for a huge breakout season, well you can end up with a monster and this sort of run - a record breaking 17 in a row and a charge to the GF in very smug style.

But, and it's a big but, you gotta bring it home now. It's all about the Premierships and it'd be a terrible letdown to not win it from here.

Make no mistake about it, Penrith's time is now. And they need to understand that. The luck might turn next year with injuries and a huge rep workload, then the cap may bite the year after, then another team peaks the year after that. And what looked like a big Premiership window in hindsight closes fairly quickly.

So the pressure is on. And yet, after a shaky Prelim, I have a feeling that Penrith will respond and fire on all cylinders to seal the deal in the GF. Here's hoping they do.

I cant argue with most of this.
One point worth a mention is the no rep games. Having Origin this year I believe would have given us a bigger advantage. Our only likely selections would have been Cleary & possibly Capewell for QLD. We had Burton itching for a crack to cover Cleary & Capewell was injured most of the year anyway. We would have been in a lot better state than the other teams throughout that period. Next year might be a different story though. Fortunately our depth is still pretty good going into next year.

 

[franklin2323]

mate are you a f**king moron ? Sweet f**king lord ya aint the sharpest tool in da shed yeh?

Read my posts champ

Get the salt out of your eyes and you can probably read mine. What was different for us that wasn't for other Sydney teams?

 

[soc123_au]

The follow up question should be:
Why has it taken 17 years to make another Grand Final for a club with such huge natural advantages?

Terrible management once Richo left for souffs in 2004. We were so badly run it makes me want to vomit. Gus coming in turned things around, but it was never going to be a quick fix. Before anyone sprouts the 5 year plan bullshit, come up with a quote from Gus saying we would win a comp in 5 years from 2012, it never happened. It was 5 years to clean up the mess. he sorted the mess out ahead of time, the moving forward has taken a few years more. The foundations are there now for us to stay up around the top, the big question is whether or not we f**k it up.