PREVIEW
One week down and 3 to go. The Panthers of old had returned and put on a impressive performance against the Warriors, for 60 minutes the Warrirors had no answer for the onslaught the Panthers brought.
But that was last week. The Panthers are a mere 2 games away from a Grand Final, but in their way are the Sharks. They won’t make this as simple as against the Warriors, they will have answers to what the trow at them. This game may very well come down to the Forwards. Whoever can get on to of the defense and keep them working will walk on to Week 3.
No real changes to the squad this week, with the same lineup starting this week, the Sharks will be without Wade Graham after succumbing to a ACL injury last week against the Roosters.
Only 3 games separate the Panthers from another Premiership Title. Get out to Allianz on Friday and cheers the team on.
Also get out to Leichhardt Oval on Saturday to watch our Intrust Super Premiership and Jersey Flegg teams qualify for a Grand Final appearance. ISP are playing Newtown at 1:15pm and JF are playing Newcastle at 3:15pm.
Who knows, the Panthers may very well be on track for the coveted clean sweep!
Well it’s game day. This time last year we were in Brisbane ahead of the clash with the broncos, which didn’t go our way.
Here’s hoping for a win tonight - it will be tough, but we can do this!
See you all one the bus, or at the stadium, or both.
“There can only be one winner, and you dreamed it could be you”. Dare to dream!
I’m still hoping we play Hetherington - I saw footage last night from the last clash when he was getting into Fifita in the tunnel - some of his mongrel could just prove the difference.
No nerves at this stage, but that could change between now & kickoff. It’s usually a good sign for me when I don’t have nerves. In saying that I’m not overly confident either.
To me this game could either be a dream come true or my worst nightmare. Needless to say I might need to disable my Facebook account for a few days if things don’t go our way, I know what to expect from the Sharks fans (and they wonder why I hate them so much🙄).
Will probably follow my usual regime tonight.
Start watching the game and turn off the TV after Sharkies score the first 2 tries.
Check the score just before I go to bed to find that we have run all over them.
Watch the highlights on nrl.com.
Go to bed.
Wake up tomorrow to plot how to roll the Storm next weekend.
Geez we nearly had that. We blew it in that first half.
Proud of the second half resurgence but we fell short.
Maloney was a marked man but Cleary rose to the
occasion. Katoa and Leota were good and Yeo and
JFH were mighty in a gruelling encounter. DWZ was
fearless and outstanding @ f/b. I think we missed
Whare’s defence and VK’s tackle bust had me on my
feet. Blake was quiet by his standards.
Thanks to CC for filling Griffens shoes and best wishes
to Peachey, Aitken and CHN who move on next season.
Can’t get away with giving away starts all the time, especially against a team like the Sharks. Our execution in the last 5-10 mins, with the game on the line, also left a lot to be desired.
In saying that, I question the 2 penalties for high shots against us, both of which led to points. The first looked to be a good shot on the chest, the second barely made contact.
Time to kick back & enjoy the off season. Got plenty to keep me busy over the next few months, so I might be quiet for a while.
It was disappointing to loose the game, but the team didn’t disappoint.
1 point after being behind by 18, the boys sure showed resilience.
Luck just didn’t go our way in the first half, questionable refereeing, and general poor discipline again.
Despite his missed field goal, Cleary should hold his head high.
Some interesting bench rotation by Ciraldo, included Merrin only playing limited minutes. I think May didn’t come back on at the end either.
Great atmosphere from what was a smallish crowd that would have fit into Penrith Park. Although the Hobbits may have outnumbered us, we certainly made up with from a noise perspective, at least that’s how it seemed from being in the thick of it lol.
Future looks bright next year, Edwards and Whare back, maybe Macca, and Maloney fully fit and uninjured. Work on whoever our Hooker is too.
If we can just get the little things right, we have the team to beat all.
Proud to be a Panther! Fell at the same hurdle 3 years in a row, so we are consistent
The boys gave their all - they were totally wasted in the end. The fans were great also, and almost every single one stayed well after the final whistle to support our boys.
A few too many errors, & once again some calls against us. To go down to a scrubby FG after coming back like that, well that’s how it goes.
Time for the post-season review later, just enjoy what was a remarkable season, in more ways than one.
Ho Hum…I guess now we can all just wait and see what was so incredibly urgent to get rid of a Coach 4 weeks from finals footy.
On Merrin limited minutes, maybe we need room in the cap, one way to terminate a persons attitude is to leave him off the field when he is desperately needed, then to lose by a point screams DRAMA…
Merrin is a bloke everyone likes - he’s just a good bloke. That said, he came to our club as a trumpeted marquee signing, a test player and current SOO player. His game has gone way backwards, he is not even close to be our best forward, and would be maybe 20th in line for a rep spot. Something has gone terribly wrong & I understand he is moving on… I wish him well, but if you think he would have had an impact in the back-half of Saturday’s game, I would ask, when did he last have an impact?
Not arguing his form is not it’s best or even what it was, but I would also suggest when sides are reviewing the Panther middle, they would highlight his running style of straight ahead with the ability to offload, although his stats wouldn’t say it, he has a significant impact through the middle, always has a minimum of 3 on him with each run, plus a quick play the ball potential. But being marked comes with the territory I guess. Yes I personally think we would have benefitted from him being on the paddock in the last 15 minutes if for nothing more than his experience, Maloney was way off in that Dept. Anyway post mortems lol - Where is he going?
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Match
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Time
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Partly Cloudy 18°C (10% Chance of Rain 
)
Broadcast
NRL Live Pass [LIVE]
ABC Sydney 702AM [LIVE]
Teams and Officials
Cloudy 31°C (10% Chance of Rain 
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