Dylan Edwards, 2. Josh Mansour, 3. Dean Whare, 4. Waqa Blake, 5. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, 6. James Maloney, 7. Nathan Cleary, 8. James Tamou, 9. Sione Katoa, 10. Reagan Campbell-Gillard, 11. James Fisher-Harris, 12. Isaah Yeo, 13. Hame Sele.
Interchange: 14. Wayde Egan, 15. Frank Winterstein, 16. Moses Letoa, 17. Jack Hetherington
Luai would have to think he is unlucky but i understand you cannot carry another half in the squad and its a forward stacked bench so no stars for thinking its going to be heavy going with the big boys.
I posted earlier the Knights looked workmanlike so doubt they will change what they brought to the table last weekend and PanthersâŚwell they all simply have to lift.
Outside lifting i would love to see a hint of a game plan because we didnât have one on Sunday and away from home all the advantages are with the Knights.
hard to select us other then with the heartâŚPanthers JUST in a very close game
⌠side canât afford both Cleary and Maloney at the same time anymore.
Neither of these blokes take on the line, preferring to kick, mostly to the same bloke with the same (for the oldies) âup and underâ. Luai brings
an unpredictability and unbridled creativity that our outside backs are
screaming out for. Let us know how we go, coz Iâm not up for more
of the same crap served up v the eels. Ivan will find it hard to drop his
son, so I hope Maloney has a retirement transitional plan with full
health benefits. For mine Luai has to be in the side.
I wouldnât rush for the exit yet Puss but i will need to see a major improvement from many in the team but to be honest i donât see us making a dent in the Newcastle forwards who are all pretty honest and are not saddled with any expectations save for Klemmer who had a good outing last week.
We should be very wary because Cronulla have a mongrel forward pack and they were tamed by the Knights forwards last week.
If our forwards donât lift as a group it could be a very long afternoon again for us Panther supporters.
Puss, I disagree and would have both Cleary & Maloney in BUT we need to go back to a conventional halves combination, Cleary to steer and Maloney to roam free, this structured crap with one each side is ridiculous.
I like Luai and he seems to have added a few kegs, I would treat him a bit like a peachey ATM and let him feel the game when he gets on, unfortunately itâs usually a specific task if he is a replacement rather than a interchange.
In time yes, I think Luai can be so much to this team in so many positions, all of which will give him a far greater appreciation of his natural job of being a half. Happy to maintain the status quo at this stage, the fact we lacked effort is not Maloney fault, that is something Ivan needs to fix on a wholistic front.
When Maloney starts running the wrong way I will allow you to âput him downâ
Was there improvement? Sure. was there enough improvement? Not so sure.
A dry track today at least gave them a better chance to sharpen things up up in attack, but it was clunky at best. On the other hand though, I thought defensively we looked better than last week and the forwards really took aim.
Tamou was a standout agtain today, and RCG looked to be back into the swing of things. I thought Winterstienâs first hitout in Panthers colours was great, he hit the line hard and had a touch in everything defensively.
The back line though looked⌠how would you put it⌠âOut of Syncâ. the ball wasnât sticking and hitting the mark and you ad players over running the line. It was real clunky at times. The first half was terrible, but it looked to be getting better in the second half.
But Maloneyâs try saving strip over the line was masterful. DWZ look daze as Edrick Lee passed him and for Maloney to get under him and strip that ball⌠well that (to me) what won it for us today. The defence did not want to give the Knights an inch.
Also MWZ pulling the ball back into play leading to a try by Winterstein was a perfect example of the ânever give up attitudeâ that needs to serve as the teams mantra this season.
Still a long way to go, but there was improvement this week, be sure of that.
out of sync and clunky are 2 terms which adequately describe our game.
Is Mansour hurt or was he dropped?
MWZ had a great game and his brother looks to me he is having a dummy spit about not being FB and he looks really out of form but he is not aloneâŚWhare was really flat and Edwards was there but almost invisible.
Clearyâs head also appears to be somewhere else with him missing a kick at goal he would normally have thrown over and his midfield bomb which he fielded himself and dropped was of a much lower grade effort
Maloney still remains a major risk despite his try saving effort and his hit on WatsonâŚhis defence is so poor and his giving away of penalties is deeply concerningâŚat one point we were 1-5 on the penalty count and this level of poor discipline cannot be sustained and against a team like Storm who we play next week will make us pay big time.
Is Kikau that much of the difference for us?
I saw one set play and we scored a great try where Ponga was wrong footed but it almost seemed once we got in front we took the foot off the pedal.
Agree on Winterstein and believe he will be a good bench player when Kikau returns
Maybe at training this weekâŚthere just needs to be a session to allow any disagreements to be aired âŚwhether you think you should be playing somewhere else, you should be in the run on team etc.
They just have to all get on the same page and its more then noticeable to me and i am sure coachesâŚtoo many of our players are distracted by runners aiming at MaloneyâŚour defence all moves in protecting his mistakes and opens us out wide for the winger.
Bellamy will have his team running every play at Maloney and opening us up at will if we donât rectify this weakness.
If you take a closer look, and I donât want to be a ref bagger, but the count early is 5-1 against, and some of them were real 50/50, we then get back to 5-5 on the count, have the momentum and kick out to a lead.
Somehow we have to get rid of the ref penalty KPI, it will kill our game.
My MOTM was Yeo with Maloney a very close second. I donât give MOTM to backs lol
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