Positives from the Panthers game.

[Teddy]

We went within a whisker of going 16-0 possibly 18 up if JMoz pass lands in front of Toops, even with half the bears squad we had Penrith on the ropes they were rattled were making errors and no officials getting their dirties all over it inside 15 mins they’re not invincible a very good side and very beatable.

I love Teddy but JWH doesn’t play like he did we don’t lead and we get beat by more simple, the man should be at least co-captain he deserves it.

Joe Suaalii this kid belongs in FG, unfortunate not to grab the try still it was as good as his, the defence and the strength is just phenomenal for a 17 yr old, with a mature mindset of a man twice his age, very exciting over the next few years.

Sammy V- No question he is the future dummy half got his hands dirty 28 tackles off the bench none missed from what I remember his defence is as good as anyone.

Adam K- much better defensively still has some improvement in that department, I like him at dummy half, lovely vision and scoot and try after a great charge by JWH, best goal kicker we have when all fit I don’t see how he starts?! First choice 14 no question.

Joey Manu- just get on the ball son keep doing what your doing, and work on catching the ball during kick off that was a costly mistake and we lost all momentum downhill form that point on, however, you are an attacking weapon and have that x-factor in you.

Fletcher Baker- great start but don’t disappear when it gets tough, still young a lot to learn and a lot of upside looking good keep developing him.

Gus- great line break, got through a mountain of defence just get up quicker man laying all over players, if your going to be the new Cords you need to take the tough carries as well, your a leader now step it up.

I know we have a lot of outs people playing out of position but our mental fortitude is that of a toddler we make a mistake or get ****ed by the officials and heads go down Robbo I’m looking at you that ones on you.

We’re in second tier on the comp with Manly, Penrith Melbourne Tier 1, Victor and Sammy Walker back possibly Nat Butcher, what’s the prognosis on Hutch by the way?

[Kentucky_Fried_Rooster]

We're in second tier on the comp with Manly, Penrith Melbourne Tier 1, Victor and Sammy Walker back possibly Nat Butcher, what’s the prognosis on Hutch by the way?

I feel the Storm and Panthers are the two teams so far ahead it isn't funny.

Next you have Manly not far behind and if they continue the way they are playing could win it but I don't think they can without a lot of luck and the bounce of the green going their way.

Then Souths, Parra and us, with injuries being the reason we aren't equal with the top 2 teams.

[zac]

not wanting to sound like a smartarse or a polyanna but it was as good a 26 pt loss as you can get. they were full strength except for kikau and we were without walker and rads our 2 biggest ball playing threats. they were at home after a couple of stinging losses. we had a bloke sin binned.
26 is a blowout but by the standards of 2021 blowouts it was a nail biter.

put the shoe on the other foot and if we meet them in the semis and they are without cleary and get a bloke binned we will win.

the odds are v us this year but i'm hoping we hang tough

[Nicola Tesla]

not wanting to sound like a smartarse or a polyanna but it was as good a 26 pt loss as you can get. they were full strength except for kikau and we were without walker and rads our 2 biggest ball playing threats. they were at home after a couple of stinging losses. we had a bloke sin binned.
26 is a blowout but by the standards of 2021 blowouts it was a nail biter.

put the shoe on the other foot and if we meet them in the semis and they are without cleary and get a bloke binned we will win.

the odds are v us this year but i'm hoping we hang tough

I was looking at the team line ups form the other night and many of our players could interchange and the result would have been the same! However if it was just the halves coming over (manu stays but plays center) . I think we win! They may have also had a little bit more depth in the forwards!
But generally I would judge teams by how many players could interchange and what different it would make.. and with the top teams it’s not a lot!
For us I feel that even at full strength we might just lack a little speed and size in the halves… at this point and even next year!

[zac]

I was looking at the team line ups form the other night and many of our players could interchange and the result would have been the same! However if it was just the halves coming over (manu stays but plays center) . I think we win! They may have also had a little bit more depth in the forwards!
But generally I would judge teams by how many players could interchange and what different it would make.. and with the top teams it’s not a lot!
For us I feel that even at full strength we might just lack a little speed and size in the halves… at this point and even next year!

fair enough - if cleary plays like he did last friday the panthers will be hard to beat. i'm not sure i've seen a better kicking game.

keary and walker will go alright next year but that's a long way away and this year if we have some combination of walker, manu and radley at first or second receiver we'll win a few games

[ism22]

not wanting to sound like a smartarse or a polyanna but it was as good a 26 pt loss as you can get. they were full strength except for kikau and we were without walker and rads our 2 biggest ball playing threats. they were at home after a couple of stinging losses. we had a bloke sin binned.
26 is a blowout but by the standards of 2021 blowouts it was a nail biter.

put the shoe on the other foot and if we meet them in the semis and they are without cleary and get a bloke binned we will win.

the odds are v us this year but i'm hoping we hang tough

Agreed. I don't want mediocrity to creep in as the norm, but I reckon a win woulda been a miracle. The biggest positive is that we were beaten by a quality outfit... we didn't choke or randomly cave. It showed character to step up even when the game was completely outta our grasp, minimising the scoring (which woulda frustrated Pemriff IMO as they were keen to keep scoring, over-celebrating and heckling like a bunch of j3rks... instead of ending with a ton of meat pies and heckles, they were scoreless for the last 15+ minutes, despite having all the possession against tired / defeated legs).

Storm will probably be another such and such game but what can you do about it? They'll probably have more Origin players out, so I expect us to approach it with a winning attitude. Remembering... if the Riff go down to a shyte team and we beat Melbourne then we're still in the running for a top-2 finish. Unlikely but IMO we need to keep aiming for the top-4 at very least. Walker, Sitili, Rads and a few others will return. We're in this and we know our attack (even without Walker & Rads) is good enough to beat the best 12-0 in the opening 20 (at home, after they've just lost 2 in a row). Have faith!!!

[Ray Stehr]

souffs are a mile ahead of Manly. Manly have a snowball in hell chance of winning the comp. It's Penrith and Storm, then souffs then us and Parra then Manly. Bear in mind we still have Radley, Butcher and Hutch to come back in. When at full strength our forward pack will match it with any team.

[ism22]

souffs are a mile ahead of Manly. Manly have a snowball in hell chance of winning the comp. It's Penrith and Storm, then souffs then us and Parra then Manly. Bear in mind we still have Radley, Butcher and Hutch to come back in. When at full strength our forward pack will match it with any team.

Yeah I reckon having 1st grade reserves all around (I include Baker as one of those) will make a massive difference.

In my mind we SHOULD beat Parra and Souffs when full strength and be a smoky to upset Pemriff (IMO with Keary, Friend, Cords, B-Moz and no other injuries/suspensions the Drizz/Riff would would be praying for lotsa dubious sin-bins and 6-against in order to keep in touch with us).

[ism22]

souffs are a mile ahead of Manly. Manly have a snowball in hell chance of winning the comp. It's Penrith and Storm, then souffs then us and Parra then Manly. Bear in mind we still have Radley, Butcher and Hutch to come back in. When at full strength our forward pack will match it with any team.

Yeah I reckon having 1st grade reserves all around (I include Baker as one of those) will make a massive difference.

In my mind we SHOULD beat Parra and Souffs when full strength and be a smoky to upset Pemriff (IMO with Keary, Collins, Friend, Cords, B-Moz and no other injuries/suspensions the Drizz/Riff would would be praying for lotsa dubious sin-bins and 6-against in order to keep in touch with us).

Fark man, the team that never was...
1. Teddy
2. Toops
3. J-Moz
4. Manu
5. B-Moz
6. Keary
7. Walker
8. Collins
9. Friend
10. SST
11. Cords
12. Crichton
13. Rads

14. Verrills
15. Liu
16. JWH
17. Sitili

18. Suaalii

[elo]

It was a pretty similar first half to the final out there last year, we started hot, grabbed a 2 try lead, made a few dumb errors then Cleary kicked us into the ground leading to Penrith having a gluttony of possession and we couldn't hold on.

It's a high possession and territory game now and it's never really been out style, we've always relied on our defense to frustrate and break down sides and that just doesn't exist in V'Landy Ball.

[King Salvo]

The positive was they didn't put 50 plus on them - the Negative so many - poor set completions again and the defence - they let the Riff run at will - Cleary running across field dummying left and right Cliff Lyon like and the defence just watching and admiring it.

The Riff don't give the opposition an inch in attack with their defence line speed in meeting the ball carrier before they reach the advantage line - numbers in tackles as well.

In Attack they support the ball carrier with players in motion and options whereas the Chooks are very much one dimensional in attack and the better teams easily combat this

The Riff play the same way week in week out so there should be no surprises with the way they play not the Storm and Parramatta and somewhat the Verms either

The Chooks after a fast start fell away and it was a signal of what was to come when the Riff scored their first try in their first trip down the Chooks end from the line drop out after Manu's knock on from the Kick off.

Unless the Chooks can improve their set completions rates ( 90% plus ) and defence for starters they won't be in the game against the better sides currently in the top 4 and will have to rely on winning all their games against the teams currently below them - some of whom are finding their form.

Be making up the numbers in the Finals otherwise - they still have plenty of work to do in guaranteeing a finals position as it is.

[Mickie Lane]

Yeah I reckon having 1st grade reserves all around (I include Baker as one of those) will make a massive difference.

In my mind we SHOULD beat Parra and Souffs when full strength and be a smoky to upset Pemriff (IMO with Keary, Collins, Friend, Cords, B-Moz and no other injuries/suspensions the Drizz/Riff would would be praying for lotsa dubious sin-bins and 6-against in order to keep in touch with us).

Fark man, the team that never was...
1. Teddy
2. Toops
3. J-Moz
4. Manu
5. B-Moz
6. Keary
7. Walker
8. Collins
9. Friend
10. SST
11. Cords
12. Crichton
13. Rads

14. Verrills
15. Liu
16. JWH
17. Sitili

18. Suaalii

The Roosters should be given a trophy for being the on paper Premiers

[BraveTheWorld]

The positive was they didn't put 50 plus on them - the Negative so many - poor set completions again and the defence - they let the Riff run at will - Cleary running across field dummying left and right Cliff Lyon like and the defence just watching and admiring it.

The Riff don't give the opposition an inch in attack with their defence line speed in meeting the ball carrier before they reach the advantage line - numbers in tackles as well.

In Attack they support the ball carrier with players in motion and options whereas the Chooks are very much one dimensional in attack and the better teams easily combat this

The Riff play the same way week in week out so there should be no surprises with the way they play not the Storm and Parramatta and somewhat the Verms either

The Chooks after a fast start fell away and it was a signal of what was to come when the Riff scored their first try in their first trip down the Chooks end from the line drop out after Manu's knock on from the Kick off.

Unless the Chooks can improve their set completions rates ( 90% plus ) and defence for starters they won't be in the game against the better sides currently in the top 4 and will have to rely on winning all their games against the teams currently below them - some of whom are finding their form.

Be making up the numbers in the Finals otherwise - they still have plenty of work to do in guaranteeing a finals position as it is.

You seem to make mention of completion rates a lot. While I agree that we tend to give away cheap possession, which is definitely a weakness of ours, and frustrating as a fan, it is not the be-all-and-end-all.
In 2019 I recall us having a bottom 4 completion rate, and I'd wager that was true in 2018 as well. And you just need to look at the Titans against Manly to see that there is more to the game than that stat.

Further to that, the Chooks had terrific rushing defense early on against the Panthers. When the tides turned the sting went out of our defense and we hardly saw the ball for half an hour.
This isn't an attitude problem in my opinion. The reality seems to be that try's come easily for teams when they get a bit of momentum. We scored two rapid try's against the Panthers early, and even the Tigers put three on the Storm across a 15-minute period or so.

What the Panthers did terrifically was maintain their momentum for as long as possible. Cleary's short kicking game was vicious and we just couldn't get the ascendency back, and when we had a small opportunity to, we did something silly. I'd argue it's not the completion rates as a whole that is the issue, but the timing of those incomplete sets/errors. A few of those mistakes came at literally the worst possible times.

[barryd]

Problem was when the Riff did knock on at dummy half , it was overlooked and Cleary kicks the ball down field and we get caught in goal.

[The Corner Post]

There were positives, but.....
We could have actually competed with them if it wasn't for our errors and discipline.
Our first big error was from the kick off that followed our second try. Then came the knock ons, head high (and sin bin), poor kicks, not finding touch.
Compare that to Penrith, they gave us nothing. No silly errors or penalties, no poor kicks.
We've always had errors and penalties in our game, even in 18/19 seasons, but in those years we had the talent to make up for it. This year we just dont have that talent.
Unfortunately I feel our only real shot this year is if the teams above us get key injuries or we play them on their worst day.