[2023] R18 Storm v Panthers - Game Day Thread

2024 Game Day Archive 2023
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R18 Melbourne Storm v Penrith Panthers|100%

Game Day Information
:rugby_football: Match Melbourne Storm v Penrith Panthers
:stadium: Venue Marvel Stadium, Melbourne VIC
:clock10: Time Friday 30th June 2023 8:00pm
:tickets: Tickets Tickets via Ticketek
:rugby_football: Other Matches NSWCUP Canberra Raiders v Penrith Panthers 1/7 12:40am1
JFLEGG Canberra Raiders v Penrith Panthers 1/7 11:00am1
:sun_behind_rain_cloud: Weather :cloud: Cloudy 12Ā°C (:cloud_with_rain: Chance of Rain: 24% / :wind_face: Wind: W 11km/h)
:tv: Broadcast :tv: Channel 9 (FTA) [LIVE]
:tv: Fox League (Channel 502) [LIVE]
:desktop_computer: NRL Live Pass [LIVE]
:kayo: Kayo Sports [LIVE]
:radio: ABC Sydney 702AM [LIVE]
:radio: 2GB Sydney 873AM [LIVE]
:radio: MMM Sydney 104.9FM [LIVE]

1. NSW Cup and Jersey Flegg Cup fixtures to be played Saturday at GIO Stadium, Canberra ACT

:rugby_football: Telstra Premiership | Full Time
Penrith Panthers 34 Tries Izack Tago (2), Stephen Crichton, Liam Martin, Zac Hosking, Brian Toā€™o.
Goals Stephen Crichton (5/6)
Melbourne Storm 16 Tries Harry Grant, Nelson Asofa-Solomona.
Goals Nick Meaney (4/4)

:rugby_football: Knock On Effect NSW Cup | Full Time
Penrith Panthers 18 Tries Chris Smith, David Fale, Mavrik Geyer.
Goals Kurt Falls (3/3)
Canberra Raiders 22 Tries Chevy Stewart, Matt Frawley, Ethan Strange, Clay Webb.
Goals Xavier Savage (3/4)

:rugby_football: Jersey Flegg Cup | Full Time
Penrith Panthers 6 Tries Timothy Sielaff-Burns.
Goals Joseph Nohra (1/1)
Canberra Raiders 14 Tries Delahia Wigmore, Kane Rushton, Keahn Skipps.
Goals Keahn Skipps (1/3)

Postgame Media

MATCH REPORT

PRESS CONFERENCE

HIGHLIGHTS

FULL MATCH REPLAY

PANTHER PRIDE MOTM VOTING

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Team

Telstra Premiership Knock on Effect NSW Cup Jersey Flegg Cup
:rugby_football: Storm v Panthers :rugby_football: Raiders v Panthers :rugby_football: Raiders v Panthers
:clock3: Friday 30/6 8:00pm :clock3: Saturday 1/7 12:40pm :clock3: Saturday 1/7 11:00am
:stadium: Marvel Stadium :stadium: GIO Stadium :stadium: GIO Stadium
TEAM
1. Dylan Edwards 1. Isaiah Iongi 1. Luke Hanson
2. Sunia Turuva 2. Tom Jenkins 2. Tim Sielaff-Burns
3. Izack Tago 3. Tyrone Peachey 3. Luke Philp
4. Stephen Crichton 4. Jesse Mclean 4. Sam Lane
5. Brian Toā€™o 5. Daeon Amituanai 5. Cody Lawson
6. Jarome Luai 6. Trent Toelau 6. Joseph Nohra
7. Jack Cogger 7. Kurt Falls 7. Ryley Smith
8. Moses Leota 8. Eddie Blacker 8. Peter Taateo
9. Mitch Kenny 9. Luke Sommerton 9. Connor Mason
10. James Fisher-Harris 10. Liam Henry 10. Sunita Lotoaniu
11. Scott Sorensen 11. Zac Hosking 11. Harrison Hassett
12. Liam Martin 12. Luke Garner 12. Zac Lipowicz
13. Isaah Yeo Ā© 13. Matt Eisenhuth 13. Billy Scott
INTERCHANGE
14. Soni Luke 14. Matt Stimson 14. Kristian-Li Mai
15. Lindsay Smith 15. Ativalu Lisati 15. Luron Patea
16. Spencer Leniu 16. Chris Smith 16. Billy Phillips
17. Jaeman Salmon 17. Mavrik Geyer 17. Riley Wake
RESERVES
18. Zac Hosking 19. John Faiumu 18. Jack Garrod
19. Matt Eisenhuth 20. David Fale 19. Tyreece Tonga
20. Luke Garner 21. John Sagaga 20. Fletcher Haycock
21. Tyrone Peachey
22. Tom Jenkins
COACH
HC Ivan Cleary HC Ben Harden HC Jono Rolfe
AC Peter Wallace
AC Ben Garnier

:small_red_triangle::small_red_triangle_down: Promoted/Relegated | :small_orange_diamond: Positional Change | :injured: Out due to injury | :small_blue_diamond: Rested due to Origin

Match Officials

Telstra Premiership K.O.E NSW Cup Jersey Flegg Cup
Referee Adam Gee Damian Brady Paul Eden
Sideline Official Phil Henderson Nick Beashel Nick Beashel
Belinda Sharpe Tom Cambourn Tom Cambourn
Video Referee Gerard Sutton - -

Referee Success Rate

Referee Active Since 2023 Overall Pen. For Pen. Against Ratio
Adam Gee 2011 (3/4) 75% (18/29) 62.07% 142.5 126.5 1.13
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Did anyone catch the Christian Welch comments after their Manly game? Sitting at the post match presser he says to Bellyacheā€¦whatā€™s the go with the Knights getting beat, the Panthers had no-one :rofl:

IC should pick the same side against Melbourne, i.e. rest the SOO group and see what happens, would be absolute gold if we beat them :thinking:

1 Like
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Interesting that they rate international players like JFH & Leota so lowly!!!

I heard an interview with Cogger on the radio yesterday, and he spoke about our systems & how everyone knows whatā€™s required when they go up a grade. No doubt that is a big reason for our success in recent years.

2 Likes
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Yer modelled it on the Storm/Bellyache system, cept (miss Puss lol) IC doesnā€™t blow up deluxe if something goes wrong.

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:mega: Team Lists and Match Officials have been updated.

TELSTRA PREMIERSHIP TEAMLIST

KNOCK ON EFFECT NSW CUP TEAMLIST

JERSEY FLEGG CUP TEAMLIST

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Solid squad and is our best starting 13 except for Cleary.

Still not sure about Lukeā€¦i wonder how Hosking would go at 9?

He is pretty mobile, good defensively and would be a good switch out for Kenny to maintain the middle of the ruck for defence and he can break the line.

1 Like
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Iā€™m not sure we need a dedicated hooker on the bench. Salmon has shown many times he is capable at playing at dummy half and has some damaging play in attack.

Sometimes a feel what is needed is a second Utility or even another second rower or forward.

I feel maybe having Peachey on the bench might be a better use of a bench slot.

1 Like
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I agree with the above.

I think our best strength bench is Salmon, Hosking, Smith and Leniu. Substitute Hosking for Martin if you want to mix things up.

Salmon has shown he can provide both injury coverage and chip in at dummy half if required. Mind you Kenny has also shown he can play 80, so no pressing need to carry a dedicate dhalf on the bench

2 Likes
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Peach in for Salmon.

Guess Cleary wants thinks sweet rather than savory :rofl:

I hope this doesnā€™t backfire - must just think that Salmon deserves a rest, but not sure this is the game to roll the dice

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Very ordinary for the first 25, until a questionable try to NAS seemed to wake us up. Have been brilliant since then, showing why we are leading the competition.

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There was no way that was a try, nor did Luai deserve a penalty let alone being placed on report.

How good is Lindsay Smith going - boy oh boy he is making a big difference.

This game fees like one of the preliminary finals against the Storm, Parra and Souths the last few years, they come out hard but we get back on top by half time.

Hope we keep our heads and go on with this

2 Likes
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Great result in the end. For the first 25 minutes I was struggling to pick our best 3. For the rest of the game Iā€™m struggling to narrow it down to 3. Tago probably the standout, but most of the team deserve a vote.

4 Likes
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And I thought Smith was great in the first half!

Wow Tago was awesome! Almost untouchable like Kikau used to be - but in a different way.

Hosking was great as well.

I love beating the Storm, especially in Melbourne.

A 3-peat this year is more than just a dream

3 Likes
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:mega: Panther Pride Man of the Match voting is now open here.

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Presumably this is Luaiā€™s tackle on Jarome Hughes?

Penalty every day of the week according to Graeme Annersley and his presser a few weeks ago.

The gist I got from watching it was its not about whether the contact (tackle / push) is late or high on kickers, rather that kickers are vulnerable when kicking and you cannot put them in a situation where they will have an uncontrolled landing. Itā€™s all about the risk of injury and being completely helpless when kicking.

You basically CANNOT put a kicker on the ground.

The only acceptable kick pressure is the soft approach where you see players getting up close, resting their hands on them or giving them the hug.

Personally I saw nothing wrong with the tackle, but fits the bill from Graeme explanation. My biggest gripe is we will see the same tackle next game and youā€™ll have to flip a coin to see if itā€™s penalised.

1 Like
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Good result but it wasnā€™t looking that way for the first thirty minutes or so.

Stormā€™s first try was lucky; their second questionable.
Still baffled by the six-agains.

Luaiā€™s tackle on Hughes was innocuous.

3 Likes
18

That game had everything, some we would want to see over and over and others we wouldnā€™t want to see again.

A close analogy was the story of the 2 bulls on the hill looking down at the cows and when the young bull says to the older bull lets race down the hill and have our way with the cows and the older bull said lets just walk down and have our way with all the cows.

Storm were the young bulls who raced down the hill only to figure out they couldnā€™t perform all that well.

Panthers on the other hand simply worked their way through the whole herd.

And i have to tip my hat to Cogger, having that kick charged down could have ruined his night but to his credit he continued on as though it didnā€™t happen. Great credit to him.

I hope he learns from the charge down how to step a charging player but on Grantā€¦how far was he in front of the ref to even get to Cogger for the charge down?

On the Nelson try, well the bunker had 3 simple choices.

A double movement which it was
A knock on which it was
Or award a tryā€¦which it wasnt

Then the Luai reporting for the tackle on Hughes was laughable.

Sort of follows a theme many on here have been saying for years, Panther always have to play 14 on the field.

any suspect calls will always go against us.

Storm did what Storm always do, try the blitzkrieg and minus the chargedown and the non try, it was working on the scoreboard but amazingly was having little to no affect on our squad except for some mistakes from players who are normally quite safe and some like Leota who appear to have lost their way in this opening salvo from them.

However Cleary made a masterful change in bringing Smith on who as a forward has to be in the ā€œsuper subā€ class and last night he continued his high workmate and effort.

That change midway through the first half was the game changer we needed and in doing so, we simply reset and went about what we do bestā€¦rolled through them and gave our backs time and space.

As Ivan noted to lead at half time was to him at least unbelievable but to us diehards wasnt that amazing because we got back to do what we do best.

The 2nd half was simply an embarrassment to Storm and an enormous validation of how good this squad is.

We controlled the forward momentum and gave the backs the time to do their job and this was evidenced by how we silenced Munster and Hughes.

The effort showed last night to everyone why this is the team to beat in 2023

We could fault plenty in the first 20 but in the rest of the game we were faultless and importantly ruthless.

Luai and Tago each received fines from the game and now the boys get to enjoy another week off.

This break is key as we now run into the final games of 23.

In my opinion Smith is the find and biggest improver in 23

Enjoy the week boys you deserve it.

I hear Cleary is slated to be back for the Dolphins gameā€¦i am sure the team at Panthers will not rush him back until he is 100%

4 Likes
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Love the analogy SBF.
Was Munster even playing last night? He has lost form or is carrying an injury.

1 Like
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Munster reputedly had the flu all week.