No, Iâm with you SHF. I actually like Naden, but heâs shaky in defence & heart attack material under the high ball. I think Souths & esp Reynolds will send plenty of traffic his way.
Worked our way back into it after Souffs dominated early. 2 pieces of Momo brilliance for our tries.
We are back in this for sure.
And who was it that suggested Momo play wing lol 
He may not be able to pass, but his kicking is sublime tonight
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Happy with the effort & result, especially after being down 12-0 early.
I thought this was Kikauâs best game for some time. Maybe he is better coming off the bench.
Chricton had one of his best in a while too.
TPJ looks like a good pick up going into the finals.
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Maybe Kikauâs head knock with Edwards shook some sense into him 
Martin was an absolute animal in defence again, and his pass to Momo for the second of Momoâs try assist was worthy of Cleary.
An all round satisfying effort
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Panther Pride Man of the Match voting is open now Have to give credit to Sorensen no nonsense play great off the bench
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Welcome @Black_magic.
Totally agree regarding Sorensen. He has taken every opportunity this year and impressed. As you said he is a real no-nonsense player and makes great metres up the middle. I think out of all the forwards tonight he had the most impact.
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Well, I thoroughly enjoyed that match last night. A hard fought clash with a lot of âfeelingâ in it.
I was surprised that Souths used the sane tactics as the past weeks with the middle field teams, come in with a lot of intensity early and pile on a lot of points. In the past weeks this has been effective for them and helped them rack up some huge scores. But this was not going to work against teams like Penrith and Melbourne.
I think the team did fairly well to absorb that pressure for the first 30 minutes, and return fire with two tries of their own.
How good was the boot on Momirovski? High pressure kicks from the sideline with the Bunnies defence raining down on him. The second one involving Crichton you could have sworn it was a set play, he just plucked it out of the sky surrounded by defence and planted it.
The second half was all one way traffic. Cleary got into the groove of the game and turned up the offensive pressure. Iâm am continually amazed how the Panthers can just choke out a game and squeeze the opposition. The Bunnies momentum ran dry and they started to get a bit heated⌠that plus some desperation lead to errors and turn over which resulted in the Panthers twisting the knife a bit more.
I think the forwards had a great game. Sorrenson and Yeo were standouts and I thought TPJ had a good hit out considering he hasnât laced the boots up for 8 weeks, he will get a lot out of that game and it will go some way to boost his confidence coming into the finals.
I seems almost chiseled into stone that these teams will meet again in a few weeks for week one of the finals. I think both teams learn a lot from this match up and we will most likely see the intensity dialed up even more.
Iâm excited.
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It was pleasing to see Sauce and the boys together at the end of the game. Gone but not forgotten.
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It was typical of the âexpert analysisâ of commentators after the game that they harped on about the âdowntownâ penalty against Souths. Apparently it was a bit too technical for them. The fact that it was an actual rule infringement seemed irrelevant. Yet, except for the immediate examination of the Edwards lost ball that determined that it was an illegal strip (and followed shortly by Southâs first try), that matter was never mentioned again. Damn, facts can be inconvenient at times for highly opinionated commentators.
This game was like last year and this year prior to SOO, in that it was about impossible to pick only three players for MOM. I reckon 6 or 7 were worthy of mention.
When Fish returns next week, youâd expect Matt Eisenhuth to move to LRO (left right out).
Youâd hope, too, that Toâo wouldnât be brought back if there was the slightest chance of him not being 100% right. His run returns would have to place enormous strain on his ankles, and we donât need him until the finals.
And when Leniu is fit, does he replace Kenny on the bench?
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you guys reckon Momirovskiâs kicking game was a tactic or spur of the moment stuff. Not sure I want him kicking in every game thatâs all !
He either kicks or gets forced over the sideline. I think he took the right option both times.
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Thatâs what I thought too. Souths were protecting their wings⌠they knew thatâs where our points come from.
The were waiting to bundle Momirovski over the sideline, and created just enough a gap in defence for the ball to go back on the inside.
there was plenty to take out of that game and Souths used the hit them hard and early tactic,all what Storm did to us and we again were not ready at the first minute.
It was clear Souths couldnât play any better and we could.
The Reynolds strip on Edwards was a disgrace but shows how setbacks do not rattle us, so much so we came back at them albeit off some kicks which at best were lucky but we got to 12-10 and that was key
The second half was remarkable and we absolutely belted them with us using defence as a weapon and the longer the game went the more we were going away from them
I have been super critical of Crichton for weeks and maybe he is reading the site because he had his best game for months but he wasnât alone.
Its amazing how Cleary gives us direction and our defensive confidence is back with him.
The best news out of it all is we can still improve and we are improving at the right time.
Our processes held up in the game and despite some changes forced on us during the game with Edwards leaving the field and others like Naden on the wing, the team is looking pretty settled.
With JFH due back and Too being close we are also getting the right people back at the high time.
We were not at 100% but not only was it a huge confidence booster and a measure of where we are at, it gives the players the belief we are right in thisâŚa fait way ahead of where we were a few weeks ago.
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I came across something last night on a Rabbitohs forum twitter feed. I thought it was disgraceful. Now we here do criticise referees performances. I donât think there is a fan base in the NRL that doesnât.
But to accuse a referee of flat out cheating is beyond the joke. Apparently Rabbitohs fans are up in arms about the penalty count as it âcost them the gameâ, not the ill discipline, not the brain snaps and bad reads in defence, not the hot Mitchell/Mansour âNo you, No youâ in fielding a kick. It was clearly the referees fault, âHEâS A CHEATâ
You know what? I hope the Rabbitohs players feel the same way⌠in 3 weeks we will steamroll them in the finals for the exact same reasons.
They suggest that the Naden try wasnât a try⌠at the time I saw it, even though the pass on the inside had no impact, by the letter of the law it should not have been awarded⌠but⌠Grant Atkins sent it upstairs to be checked. It was awarded by the Video Referee.
Then they go on about the downtown ruling⌠again by the Video Referee, Grant Atkins was going to allow the play to continue.
âŚand of course no mention of the 3 on 1 strip of Edwards leading to the first try.
To think had a referee had a bad game is one thing, accusing the ref of cheating and questioning his integrity is just plain wrong.
Gold - What about Ben Cummins - what is his problem if he isnât cheating for us?
I guess if you start making excuses weeks out from the finals, KNOWING your team doesnât have a hope in hell of beating the top 2, it eases the pain.
Back to the game, I suggest there are good signs for us, with a committed display. We met the rabbits challenge, and they were all fired up up beating up on some lesser teams. I was confident that if we played our game at anywhere near our best we would get over them.
Good players across the park, over coming an early try coming on the back of an obvious strip on Edwards. The confidence gained from having NC on the park is remarkable - everyone thrives off his play and game management.\
Iâm still not sure that IC knows who is his best 17 to start the first final, not because we have weaknesses, but who to leave out.
With the tiges missing the finals again, I expect they will come out early with nothing to lose. If we can get on top, we should be able to put them away.
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Too right, @mrwalker.
Nathan has a good footy brain. When he is behind on the scoreboard he doesnât scramble in panic mode looking to manufacture a try and attempt to make up ground on the opposition.
He is methodical and calculated⌠he knows itâs a 80 minute game, and applying pressure and limiting the oppositions opportunities will yield results.
In the second half, the Panthers choked the Rabbitohs of possession and filed position, making them grind it out of their own half and wearing them down. The more it was working, the more they were losing their cool and letting their emotions get the best of them. (leading to a lopsided penalty count)
All that was left to do is put on the points an put the game away.
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I recall that at least two of the penalties were for blatant facials. Do we interpret that to mean that around Redfern such friendly greetings are just part of life? And why did the referee have to explain his every ruling to Reynolds, just like we had to endure when Tedesco resented each and every ruling when we played the Rorters two weeks ago? Is Reynolds intent on being the next Cameron Smith?
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