Round 1 vs Panthers @ AAMI Park

[Scooter]

It was a bit of a weird game. But incredible effort to keep the Panthers scoreless.

A number of times we looked shot and then somehow we would lay a last ditch tackle to stop the Panthers after they had beaten 3 or 4 players. (A lot of the time it seemed to be Josh King making these tackles).

[Mattpoet]

Wamt to highlight a moment from Pezet late in the first half. About 3 minutes left and Penrith are about 40m out and isolate him in defence 2 on 1. He stays on the ball until it is passed and then makes a solud 1 on 1 tackle.

(Also, why hasn't anyone mentioned Penrith challenging when they clearly knocked the ball out off To'o? I thought lying was a sin Brian, been suspiciously quiet... )

[Scooter]

Mattpoet that was obviously a desperate challenge with less than 2 minutes to go.

The two Panthers were both significantly higher in the air than Xavier. Xavier was in a different suburb to the ball.

The other one that interested me was sometime in the first half when the Panthers were ruled to have knocked the ball on at the play the ball. A number of Panthers players blew up deluxe at the ref. I said you have a Challenge, if you don't like the call Challenge otherwise shut up.

[Papenhuyzen23]

Papenhuyzen23, Will Warbrick 3/10 is very harsh.

128 metres gained (5th for Storm)
39 post contact metres
1 tackle break
5 tackles
2 missed tackles
2 errors (Meaney and Papenhuyzen had 3 each)

Surely worth a 6/10 at least.

Fair enough point Scooter, I should probably elaborate, and again this is purely my own opinion I’m no expert just my own thoughts, a lot of things that bother me about his game the last few weeks aren’t stats based, like last night the amount of times he jammed at the wrong time (admittedly he got it right once or twice), was positionally in the wrong spot, stats don’t show missed tackles when you are too far away to even attempt them due to poor play, also when and where on the field his errors occur, he has always had a knack of bad situational errors and misjudging kicks and completely whiffing on the catch.

I just don’t see what he offers over throwing someone like Fa’alogo in, yes he is taller but it’s not like he makes that even work for him, didn’t out leap Sunia for a ball once last night just wasted opportunities, he also played one of the worst games I’ve ever seen someone play in the Knights trial, I just hope this isn’t a sign of things to come, he hasn’t been great to start the year but I hope he makes me eat my words soon, I just don’t see this great superstar winger everyone else sees, he has his moments but I’ve always thought he was just ok.

He is on report so he might get the week off anyway.

[yourhero]

No chance I would drop Warbrick for Sua - and I love Sua. Forget the metres stat alone, Warbrick took tough carries all night when we were parked on our try line, often the first carry off a turnover/slow play the ball when the defence were in our face. Those are the toughest carries in RL.

As amazing as Sua is, that’s not his game and asking him to do that is not setting him or the team up for success.

[Papenhuyzen23]

Genuine question, if we wanted Sua in the run on side who would you drop? He needs to be on the field somewhere.

[Mattpoet]

Anyone seen Ivan Cleary having a sook about the obstruction call?

[Mattpoet]

Genuine question, if we wanted Sua in the run on side who would you drop? He needs to be on the field somewhere.

Can he play centre? I'd think Reimis Smith's spot is the most shaky out of the back 5

[yourhero]

I would think that Sua could only play in the starting line as a 1. With time and experience, he might be able to be an effective ball running 6.

Outside of fullback, the super sub approach seems his most likely route into first grade and then see how the season pans out with injuries and opportunities presented.

But knowing Craig, he could probably play him anywhere and make a decent go of it.

[blazza18]

I think it's very hard to get Sua in the team if Paps is healthy and playing well. Maybe play him as the "utility" off the bench but then what happens when you need to give Harry a break?

[riders of the storm]

Interesting points from the coach in the post-match:

- Bellamy was really unhappy with the handling (almost seemed a bit miffed despite the win).
- Impressed with Pezet. Noted he’s intelligent but wanted him to work on his defence in the off-season. Was pleased with his efforts.
- Unsure if Munster will play next week as he seems to be good one day then bad the next.
- Liked Chan’s performance but says he needs to do more work off the edge. Noted he views him long term as a middle forward and says he’s a great athlete.
- Grant was taken off late in the game because he was gassed from making 40 odd tackles. It wasn’t initially part of the plan.

[yourhero]

I think after last year with Trent on the edge, Bellamy knows we need more attacking effort on both edges. It can’t be all Eli again…

Joe looked strong early. But then he went quiet and his defence fell away and reading between the lines from Bellamy, I think he was disappointed with that.

[Papenhuyzen23]

Howarth must be missing something that we aren’t seeing, I thought he was decent on debut against the Broncos last season and looked like he was more than up to the All-Star game level, it almost beggars belief that he can’t get a look in at that back row spot that we seem to have trouble filling, he is on big money too what is the problem with Jack?

[Papenhuyzen23]

Warbrick just fined for his careless high tackle, free to play next week.

[blazza18]

Rugby league is in trouble if that's classed as a high tackle both on the field and by the match review.