Round 1 vs Panthers @ AAMI Park

[Scooter]

Regarding Sua, I love him too, but I think he breaks into the team as bench utility.

If he trained a bit at hooker, in attack he could inject some speed when the opposition is tired similar to Wishart last night. The concern at him playing hooker would be how much tackling he would have to make given his size.

[Papenhuyzen23]

Yeah I can see him being eased in off the bench but I don’t know why people think he can’t handle the wing, is his size the issue? Penrith have proven shorter wingers like Turuva and To’o can be very effective, he is a full back by trade and is used to positioning at the back and diffusing kicks, and he can finish in the corner look at his try with his first touch against Brisbane last year, he has played on the wing for the Falcons too.

I agree with Billy Slaters comments earlier in the week, you just have to get him on the paddock somewhere.

Good problems to have I guess, after a shut out win against the best team of the NRL era we have to decide how to fit in Sua, Munny & NAS, happy days

[Mattpoet]

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

Perhaps more to the point, no panther player charged despite multiple similar incidents

[The Black Dot]

I understand much smarter posters than I saying about how Sua, Tepai and Jack being included but unless there are injuries, who actually is to be dropped to allow this to happen.

[Papenhuyzen23]

I think from last night if fit the only obvious ones are:

Fa’alogo in for Wishart
Munster in for Pezet
NAS in for Lewis

Also how good was Alec MacDonald? Looked in sensational condition, played very hard & was very direct.

[Storm Spirit]

Cleary not being able to be blocked by teammates as he has been for the last 3 years (due to the new rule) showed that applying enough and the right type of pressure on him will lead to small gains for oppo teams.

he's a brilliant player...so he won't make the same mistakes too often but it was good how Harry and the other fwds applied constant pressure on him to take away his time

[Mattpoet]

Thing is, they always had the ability to penalise what Penrith were doing, they just chose not to. Theur blockers often moved to make contact with the chasers, that was always covered under the rules.

[Mattpoet]

I think from last night if fit the only obvious ones are:

Fa’alogo in for Wishart
Munster in for Pezet
NAS in for Lewis

Also how good was Alec MacDonald? Looked in sensational condition, played very hard & was very direct.

MacDonald is phenomenal, needs to be the pack leader long term

[TC]

Bold of you to think Penrith will be called for blocking the ruck

The irony being that the only call for that was against us.

The Panthers had a try disallowed for blocking Hughes... (I didn't think there was much in it but hey, I'll take it) There certainly were other occasions but a Craig Bellamy team isn't coached to deliberately run in to players and fall over - and maybe that's our downfall

The Hughes thing was quite different, not only did he need to change his line because of the block runner, but Luai clearly ran behind his own player. Penalty every day of the week (except the 2020 GF).

No, what I was referring to was all the media commentary over the off season about Penrith defenders blocking players chasing the kicker and Annesley saying they were going to crack down on it. Then Clearly dives soccer style and milks one.

[Mattpoet]

I assume To'o gave him a lecture on the sin of lying afterwards

[yourhero]

Watched the replay. Specifically wanted to take another look at our centres. I was skeptical of Meaney playing there this year and Reimis doesn’t get much love from Storm fans (I rate him though).

Overall, I think both guys did an excellent job. Izack Tago and Taylan May look to be the most damaging ball running centre pairing in the comp. And whilst both ran for 160m, May in particular looking dangerous on Meaney’s side, both were pretty well handled.

Taylan May (opposite Meaney)
14 Runs
157m
7 Tackle Breaks
2 Line Breaks

Izack Tago (opposite May)
15 Runs
168m
4 Tackle Breaks
0 Line Breaks

Reimis Smith
12 Runs
93m
3 Tackle Breaks
0 Line Breaks
12 Tackles
1 Missed Tackle
2 Errors

Nick Meaney
16 Runs
166m
1 Tackle Breaks
0 Line Breaks
20 Tackles
2 Missed Tackle
3 Errors

[yourhero]

In terms of defence…

Meaney

12th Minute - Meaney comes in when he doesn’t need to and May breaks the line, running 30m.

60th Minute - Taylan May shrugs off Meaney. Cover defence tackles May.

71st Minute - Panthers overlap and Taylan May looks likely to score but trips over his own feet. For some reason Meaney is defending at half and Hughes at Centre. Looks like it was after Meaney was at marker in an earlier tackle and just didn’t push out.

Numerous great 1-on-1 tackles throughout the game. Not as many as Reimis, but definitely held his own.

Reimis

64th Minute - Panthers throwing the ball around, Sonny Luke with a beautiful kick through into our in goal area. Reimis beats two Panthers to the ball and knocks it dead.

73rd Minute - Poor defensive read from Reimis who comes in to shut down a Panthers backline play when they have numbers. Luckily Coates hammers Liam Martin causing an error and we don’t get punished for the overlap or poor read.

Reimis shut down so many sweeping backline plays from Penrith. 1-on-1 tackles on Isaac Tago, Lim Martin, Dylan Edwards and Sonny Luke.

He is the best 1-on-1 defender from our list of outside backs.

[yourhero]

In terms of offence…

Meaney

40th Minute - Meaney gets over but can’t get the ball down in time. Should have.

45th Minute - Meaney coughs it up 10m out from our try line. Lucky to not concede points from the ensuing set.

Reimis

14th Minute - Reimis under pressure, quick pass the Coates who had to reach back for it. Coates was up very flat, probably a bit of both of them in that error, but more Coates overrunning his inside man IMO.

50th Minute - Reimis positioned perfectly to collect the tap back from Coates and score the only try. Warbrick and Meaney tried the same thing earlier and couldn’t get it to work. Pass back from Warbrick was low (Panthers player knocked his arm down) and Meaney knocked it on.

63rd Minute - Knock on from Reimis. Backline shift in our own end. Just didn’t grab it cleanly. Should have and Coates was unmarked outside him.

[yourhero]

Unrelated to our centres…

One other thing that stood out to me in the replay - McDonald finds his front better than any of our forwards. Almost always. Even when two and three defenders are on him. He will be great for us this year.

[Papenhuyzen23]

Agree on MacDonald, he looks to be a really good player we need to stick with him.

I rewatched the game this morning and a few other things jumped out at me:

- Josh King is growing into my new favourite player, Mr perpetual motion, he does so much work and is so good at cleaning up, he was the one that chased down Cleary in open space after Turuva’s line break, unbelievable effort late in the game after he already worked himself into the ground, then he took some monster runs in the final 10 minutes, unreal game by JK

- I’ll double down on my earlier Eli Katoa love, he is turning into a real threat on that right edge, his fitness and defence have improved 10 fold since he came to us, he is such a compete player now, very very happy to have him here what a player he will be for us.

- Trent should never play on the edge again, his is a middle and a very decent 13, worked his socks off and linked up play beautifully, I think he has found his spot.

- I was probably a bit harsh on Warbrick, he wasn’t great but he wasn’t a 3/10, did some good things, do I think he can keep Sua out of the 13 all season? Well …

- Papenhuyzens biggest fan here but he looked a little rusty, made a few errors and was out of position a few times more so when on the attack, he actually was very vocal in defence and joined the line at the right time and made some good tackles, he didn’t get many opportunities in attack though, can only improve.

- Harry Grant was the perfect choice for our next Captain.