[2021] R7 Panthers v Knights - Game Day Thread

I think that all players, including our current ones, need to think carefully about signing with the dogs. Whilst the money & the opportunity to play 1st grade may be attractive, they need to recognise that they are likely to be putting their career aspirations & future earnings in danger. After all, who was the last player to improve/enhance their future prospects with the dogs?
For me, the dogs (& tiges) are like poison to a players career. And that doesn’t change with Barrett - has everyone forgotten what happened at Manly - the dope couldn’t even arrange himself a desk!

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perhaps, so that would mean Burto switching sides I guess. If Edwards is not available, for me either Naden or TMay slot straight into RC this week, but IC seems to have TMay locked in as #14

Yer the only one happy with Burton signing was his manager for the extra $$ from his % take. SURELY Burto is trying to find a way out of that.

He will be our dominant half during Origin if Luai gets picked

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Eddie Blacker has disappeared from the team sheets,
anyone have news re his status ???

Bulldogs maybe?? :slight_smile:
As Steve indicated he did play only around 20mins or so on Sat, so maybe he had an injury?

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And that’s never going to change, sad to say, HP. We are always going to be cannon fodder for the NRL’s bigger agenda. As with politics, if something doesn’t seem right and you want to know why, just follow the money. I am reminded of a naive question from an acquaintance, a fan of the Easts Rorters; he assumed that I was a bit envious of him because he supported a ‘glamour’ team. I suggested that he zero understanding of demographics, Sydney politics or the class system.

I’d like to see Tago given a shot. He seems impressive in reserves.

Some late changes dues to the suspensions of Paul Momirovski suspension.

Kurt Capewell has been moved from second row to centre, replacing Paul Momirovski
Liam Martin has been moved from the bench to the second row to replace Kurt Capewell
Robert Jennings has been added to the bench replacing Liam Martin.

Apisai Koroisau and Dylan Edwards remains named in the extended squad with Scott Sorensen playing for NSW Cup on Saturday.

Changes can been seen on the Updated Team List here.

Everything points to a Panthers victory and i like the move of Capewell to centre but remain still concerned about Crichton

Ponga is their ace and he had a mighty game last week but he alone cannot get them up tonight and we will have to take on their forwards who will turn up big time.

I just hope Cleary lets the boys go back to what we were doing prior to last weeks effort.

Will be almost perfect conditions tonight so no excuses.

Can someone please confirm on what are the rules regarding the naming of the initial 21 players & any changes allowed. I know you have to name 21 on Tue, reduce to 19 the day before the game, and then final 17 1 hour before kick-off. Can someone be added to the 21 in the case of injury or in this case suspension.
If you can make a change, what is the point of the 21?
I recall seeing a player in 22 recently, so how would that come about?
Did IC even have the option to bring in Naden for this game?
Note: I am talking about the rules of the NRL competition for all clubs, not the rules that would apply to the roosters.

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Jennings played a strong game last week in reggies. He is a very solid player who knows his role. He looked a very good player at the rabbits & then, like for all, went downhill at the tiges.
That said, unless we have an injury to outside back, not sure what role he would fill off the bench? Maybe Dylan will play & Jennings is cover just in case?

I think the idea for Jennings is to have another option at centre.

In the event of a injury to a forward they can shift Capewell into the forwards and Jennings at Centre.

But there is a possibility for Edwards and Korisau to start as well.

Hey, Puss. The injury update video on the Panthers website said Blacker picked up a hamstring strain on the weekend and will be out for 2 - 3 weeks.

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Thanks Bryan. :sunglasses:

OK, answered my own question. According to the published rules:
“Clubs wanting to bring in a player from outside the 21-man squad or the 19-man squad after they have been announced must apply for an exemption which will be evaluated by the NRL’s Head of Football on a case-by-case basis.”
There are no notes re grounds for exemption, so just like the judiciary, I guess it’s Rafferty’s rules. Although we didn’t apply for one, you would think a player being suspended on Tue night for a game 48hrs later may well see the granting of an exemption - well for the rooster anyway :slight_smile:

Praise from Andrew Johns into today’s SMH:

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Sorry Mr Walker… I missed your question. That’s correct. Once you pick your 21 man squad you need to draw your squad from that pool.

It was why Dylan and Api were named in the squad, if they are to be a late inclusion then they would need to name them on Tuesday. Naden was virtually an 0% chance of playing the second the team list came out at 4pm on Tuesday.

I’m not 100% sure if this is accurate, but I think the whole “Stick to the team you named on Tuesday” stemmed from betting agencies complaining about chopping and changing by some teams affected the betting markets.

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The naming of Capewell in the centres makes sense, but still leaves Cleary plenty of room for swapping the line up on game day;

Dylan to Fullback, Crighton to centre (maybe swapping sides).

Jennings to Wing, Staines to Fullback, Crighton to centre.

May to Centre

Jennings to Centre

Lots of good options there.

Danger game again for us, for the most part the knights have a good team on paper. Just haven’t fired and loosing Pearce does them no favours.

I agree with the above on the bulldogs and Tigers, you may get good money playing for them but a backwards career move for sure.

Today is probably the least confident I have been going into a game all year.

We have been well below our best the last 2 weeks, despite the results.

Newcastle are a strong side, even with the players they are missing, and Ponga seems to be coming into form.

They can probably match us in the middle, but our halves & outside backs are better than who they have.

If we can get back to the form we showed in the early weeks, we should win.

I have every reason to be cautious here. I predicted blowouts the last two rounds and was surprised to see us fall short of the mark.

…and this week is no exception.

I think there is a lot of reasons why the Panthers are due to turn it up today. A few players returning from injury will have some players pushing hard to keep their spots in the side in coming weeks.

I also think there have been some big lessons to unpack over the last few weeks. I expect them to learn from these and hit the reset switch. I expect them to put on a show back in front of a home crowd.

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