your neck of the woods (Dungog) must be one of the few NOT in lockdown Bryan. What’s your secret ???
No secret, Puss. We’re in lockdown. We’re part of the Hunter region.
Bummer. Sorry mate didn’t realise !
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No worries, Puss. We’re all in it together.
How good is Lockdown?!! Thanks, ScoMo!
LATE CHANGES
Charlie Staines, Tevita Pangai Junior and Apisai Koroisau have been omitted, with Taylan May returning to the wing and Mitch Kenny at starting hooker.
Lindsay Smith has been granted an exemption from the NRL to join the extended squad.
Moses Leota this week celebrates the milestone of his 100th NRL game.
The Panthers will wear the 2021 Home Jersey.
INJURY UPDATE
Nathan Cleary is still a 50/50 prospect for tonight. Not sure it will be confirm until an hour before kickoff. Judging by the video, if he plays it will most likely be off the bench and in limited game time.
Cleary to start & thus a reshuffle
LATE MAIL
Nathan Cleary will play. Matt Burton moved back to the centres and Stephen Crichton to the wing.
Taylan May to back to 18th Man.
We haven’t been at our best, but we have taken our opportunities. Hopefully all the defence we had to do early hasn’t taken too much petrol out of the tank.
Good in patches, should improve as more troops come back.
I was impressed with our bench forwards tonight, especially Hopgood.
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Panther Pride Man of the Match voting is now open - How was the tackle by NC on their kicker penalised, when the, arguably, worse tackle on him when he was kicking ignored?
- Is Charlie Staines injured, or is he paying the price for having no impact running the ball back? Does he need more bulk?
Staines is invisible outside Momirovski apparently !!! 
Momo is a good solid defensive centre, but his passing is so seldom, his winger grows cobwebs.
That said, Critta seemed to have a down game, maybe the sooks at playing wing?
Naden showed why we are letting him go. Great at attack for sure, reasonable in defense, but absolutely error prone.
A great effort from our spine + Burto. One of Edwards best games and glad he’s coming into form at the right end of the season.
We didn’t miss Capewell at all, he really hasn’t offered much since SOO.
I really like our bench at the moment with Soronson, Hopgood and Tago. I do wonder how we would go with Tago in the centres instead of Momo, with Critta on the wing. That would allow Eisenhuth to come into the bench when Fish returns and still leave a spot for Kenny, who I thought had a great game.
The second half was pretty good, I reckon Souths are in for a shock next week
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I like Sorenaen, Hopgood & Tago as well, my only problem is that they’re all small (for an Nrl forward.) Tago is 93 kg, Hopgood & Sorensen are 102 & 100 kg. I don’t think you can carry 3 small players on the bench, need more size & variation in body type.
Of course, when we get to full strength, at least 2 of those 3 will drop back to reggies.
I was wrong about Cleary, I thought he’d only come on for 15 or 20 mins. Great to see he lasted 75 mins & got through it well.
Not a great psrformance, but we’ve cemented a top 4 spot now, and being on the road means there’s no advantage to finishing 1st or 2nd. So, we’ve got 3 weeks to experiment before the finals & work out how to beat the Storm.
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What about a spot for Leniu?
Don’t you get more bites at the cherry if you finish 1st or 2nd and lose the first week of playoffs?
My understanding is 1 that none of the top 4 can be knocked out in the first week. 1 plays 3 & 2 plays 4. Winners get a week off. Losers get to play the winners of the elimination semis that bottom 4 teams play. From then on, it’s knockout.
So, the first 4 get the luxury of surviving a loss in the first week. The advantage of finishing 1st or 2nd is a home semi final (in theory.) But that doesn’t apply this year, cos all the top 4 sides will be away from home.
Correct. All top 4 teams get a second shot if necessary. 1 & 2 normally have a home game advantage, but for Sydney teams that is not likely this year. While winning the minor premiership would be nice, 2 or 3 is more likely. This year it probably doesn’t make too much difference between 2 & 3. But a winning streak going into finals would boost confidence.
Let’s see if MRC are consistent? Souths should be without Mitchell next week from his kicking from the tackle & making contact with head is punished in line with Critter missing a week from the Munster incident
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