How was that first try OK? Surely DWZ was shoulder hit in the back. Surely a penalty to us. Maybe I was watching a different game.
And has the rule changed about 2 in a tackle with a strip? When Edwards was stripped near our goal line, there were either 2 in the tackle, or the tackle was completed. Either way, itâs our ball, perhaps with a penalty. I also agree about Dylan Edwards having some time in reserves. How many first graders can have a game as bad as that and survive? Dufeyz makes a good point about this being an opportunity to bring MWZ back in.
To be fair, we have been Melbourneâs bitches since they came into the competition. Even when we are playing good we struggle against them.
In saying that, it doesnât excuse dropped balls, one on one strips & bad 5th tackle options.
Edwardsâ howler that led to the first try was inexcusable, he should have dived on the ball, no question, instead he looked like mentally he was under the posts at the other end before he picked up the ball & made a meal of it.
Edwards looks like he is protecting his shoulder & isnât up for full contact yet. Maybe a shift to wing, with DWZ to fullback for a while?
We are missing the punch on the edge that Kikau provides. The sooner he returns the better. Missing Yeo tonight didnât help matters either.
âEgan & Luai with more minutesâ - quote rabbit
100% agree.
whoâs running the show Cleary or Maloney?
When you make up your mind, let the others know.
The rudders jammed, boats goin nowhere.
Winterstein & Sele are benchwarmers, leave 'em there.
Edward confidence shot, DWZ to f/b, Malakai to wing.
We need to tinker before the boat sinks.
whilst all points are valid what is being suggested are wholesale changes and as we all know that wonât happen so what is a simple thing we can do to try and fix what is obvious to us all because next week we play Tigers at home and whatever they did off season is working brilliantly for them
To make the simple moves i would do 3 thingsâŚhave a SINGLE captain at the club and on the field
Then move Maloney and Cleary back to where they played last year
Put Luai on the bench
Thats about the extent of what can be done with such a short turnaround till Friday night
Of course there are players in dreadful form but there are so many you cannot drop them all
Luai on the bench gives us options in attack which is terrible atmâŚwe had Storm at our mercy in the first half and we couldnât breach them as we were either clunky or made schoolboy mistakes and when Storm worked down to our end, we were at sixes and sevens in defence and Storm also a little clunky but got through us easily
In 3 games we have scored 30 points and had 66 put on usâŚand we are 14th on the ladder only because Titans and Bulldogs are worse.
That was our best squad on the field minus Kikau and Yeo and whilst they will make a difference they alone cannot fix what is wrong.
And on the much vaunted Storm hoodooâŚisnt that the very thing which should motivate you to put in the âbigâ effort?
Being off 5% at this level will hurt you, we are off much more and the results are all there for anyone to see.
the Round 3 Coaches interview
I took a couple of things out of this which actually surprises me.
1âŚClearyâs arrogance
2âŚClearyâs bristling at a certain line of questions
3âŚCalling our effort inept from the 46th minute
Makes me wonder sometimes about coachesâŚi thought Hook was terrible at interviews but i think Cleary has found a new low.
Alright. I have had a night to sleep on what I was going to say.
Went out to Bathurst yesterday and watch the game and first I wanted to say how much I enjoyed the venue. I have been a few times, and the venue gets a little better everytime. The venue is very intimate (you feel very close to the field) and suits rugby league very well. The field condition was excellent and despite the rain was in amazing conditions with 3 games of footy on it, it would leave the fields at Brookvale and the SCG for dead.
I enjoyed the setup regarding the food as well. The junior teams had stalls setup and was selling a large range of food raising money for their clubs, I feel this is something that Panthers should look into for Game Dayâs at Penrith in the near future. It was a real professional setup but had that friendly bush footy feel, and it will keep me coming back for as long as they have this game.
Ok⌠onto the game.
I was impressed with the first half. The defense was giving Melbourne all sorts of headaches, and despite the single try scored against us, I really felt we were in the game with a real shot of causing an upset.
Then the second half happenedâŚ
What happened the the team that ran out in the first 40 minutes, after Melbourne scored the next two tries it looked like a fair few players had âclocked offâ. The second half could only be described as embarrassing.
It looks like the forwards were doing their job, but the back were playing like it was the first time they had played together.
âŚand then Edwards. Wow! It had to be the worst game of football I had watched him play, and the more things were going wrong for the kid, the more nervous he looked, and then would make more mistakes. Ivan seems to think the kid was in a small slump last night and I hope this is the case, but if it continues them maybe looking at a DWZ/MWZ Fullback/Winger option may need to get a run.
It been 3 games and we are 1/2. We got the Tigers and Titans. If all things straighten up at Penrith we could be looking at 3 wins after 5 games, which isnât too bad, but if things keep on their current trajectory, we could be looking down the barrel of a long, painful season.
Anyway⌠onwards and upwards. Bring on the Tigers.
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I watched the replay on Fox so a few minutes were excluded, but overall I didnât think it was that bad. You do have to take into context though.
- How can a shove in the back when your about to take the ball be considered play on or try in the review, even blocker in commentary said what about the involvement of carr on DWZ?
- I will keep singing this song about momentum provided by the refs, it will kill our game. We attack the storm line early (storm are fresh) and get repelled, then through penalties and missed calls (50/50 all storm) the momentum goes to the storm. It is very hard to come back from that.
- Uncharacteristic mistakes (Edwards) from quality players, this will be fixed sooner rather than later.
- Halves - I hate the current set up, Maloney was running the entire show and it doesnât look good for Nathan, itâs almost as if his dad has found a way to limit his contactâŚ
- Liam Martin looks the goods, I would pick him before Sele and winter stein every day.
I am not too concerned ATM, the storm are well drilled, and we deserved to pay after our errors, which they made us do.
We will flog the Tigers - trust me
After some time for reflection, and a good day out yesterday (not footy related) it doesnât seem so bad after all. The photo of sad sack Gould posted on FB Saturday night suggests a broken man - maybe the karma bus has arrived??
Two tries gifted to Melb & two soft tries thru the middle from close range were telling. The only try constructed by Melb, saw a pretty poor effort from DWZ in tacking his opposing winger - thatâs two weeks in a row. Errors have been crazy high in the 3 games. Did we not do any ball work during the off-season?
Edwards had the type of game thatâs usually only in nightmares & he is better than that - it was not from not trying.
DWZ & Mansour are below their best - I guess the injuries are still affecting them.
Switching the centres did nothing to address how poor #3 is, in both attack &, his supposed strength, defence. Waqa is the ONLY attacking threat we have in the backline at this time.
Our halves are way off the pace from where they need to be. We are totally impotent in attack - maybe we need the much maligned Luke Walsh back, as he could at least put up a few well-placed bombs 
The forwards are slow and not much impact at all, and our dummy halves offer no real concern to the opposition. When Yeo and Kikau return, they will need to put their Superman suits on if we are going to be any chance in this years comp. I know Hetherington has some errors & penalties in his game, but he does offer some sort of âfear-factorâ to the opposition. I would set him loose, starting with him against the tiges.
I think we need some sort of x-factor coming off the bench, so Luai instead of a second D/H.
Maybe we are not just mentally with-it & perhaps all the off-field drama is still front of mind. Good players donât just become poor players overnight. Perhaps there is some disharmony within the group, with the âniceâ guys pissed off with the trouble makers.
Well the players got the coach they wanted it seems, or at least got rid of the coach they didnât want, and three poor performances is all we have to show for it. A big shake-up is required to maybe shock them into action. Only something like Gould quitting would seem to be a big-enough action, but heâs not likely to give up his million dollar deal. But the âGusâ aura is certainly on the downhill slide.
See you all Friday night!
Wash your mouth out with soap mrwalker, suggesting Luke Walsh 
not sure that wasnât an April Fools joke
You laid out almost all of our issues and anyone else know NOT a single back has scored a try for us this year as yet?
All been forwardsâŚgo figure
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