Yes, those ‘guess agains’ are the wildcards of the NRL.
2 Likes
First of all - what a great atmosphere at the game last night. Everyone deserves congrats on that - a fitting way to bring down the curtain on Penny Park.
I was always confident we could beat the chooks if we played anywhere near our best. Well that first 40 was the dictionary definition of BEST. I was always hoping that when the time came ie finals we would be able to lift & that sure happened.
I refused to mention the name of the ref all week, as I knew that he would be the biggest danger to us, but even his efforts early in the 2nd half could not beat us.
I thought the only way the chooks could get us was to play razzle dazzle to run up a score, but we absolutely dominated them for most of the game & their coach aka the ‘ground announcer’ with his microphone setup, was again making excuses postgame.
We were great all across the park - no bad performers for the good guys. OUTSTANDING!!!
Week off and then two games to win!!! 
4 Likes
Couldn’t agree more. After the second Rorters’ try there was plenty of talk around me about Klein’s brown paper bag. And did I miss something, but wasn’t there reason for the sin bin when one of them held back two of us under their crossbar?
3 Likes
My biggest gripe is for the f#$%wit who controls the PA at NRL finals. Every year that we are well into our victory song, the prick shuts it down because he can’t wait to have his few words. It really gives me the s#$%&s - every time.
On the plus side, how do you pick only 3 players for MOM. Was there a bad player in the 17? Even Eisenhuth didn’t give away his obligatory penalty. There was so much media chatter about how we limped into the finals, and that we were about to be ambushed by the Rorters. Only one team was ambushed there, and the ground is still covered in feathers.
5 Likes
With Storm winning today, I’m thinking we will get the Saturday prelim. Storm & NRL won’t want to clash with the AFL GF.
So the first week of finals over we will get a weeks rest before playing the winner of the Cowboys v Sharks Semi Final.
2 Likes
Who would everyone prefer Cowboys or Sharks? I think we will beat either and then beat Storm in GF. Lets go Panthers
3 Likes
I don’t think I have a preference to be honest. I think with Sorenson back and some of our guys getting a needed break to recover (Edwards / Martin), and with a game under Nathan Cleary’s belt I think we should comfortable beat either of those sides.
4 Likes
It’s finals time, we simply went back to what works…straight through the middle. I am LOVING Lindsay Smith and Liam Henry impacts after Fish & Moses go off…I know Fish is a big loss, but we as a club are in very good hands up front.
Mitch Kenny pound for Pound is the biggest hitter in the game…modern day Adam Docker with a shitload more skill lol
4 Likes
Not sure what to say.
That first half was amazing and was a near replica of the Eels GF.
Back end of the season looked scratchy AF and gave me little confidence. Last two rounds looked promising and I had hope that the ship was turning around.
Edwards is clearly starting to move more freely. He got himself into position defensively in circumstances he’s missed in the past few weeks and looked so much more threatening in attack.
Somehow you add Cleary back into the mix and it’s like we woke up and played the dominant 2023 brand football.
They’ve clearly been working on new plays. The number of times I saw guys (perhaps To’o?) sprinting across field to get in the mix was well above other weeks.
Thankfully we have seen the week off in Finals only helps the Panthers to refresh (scary), focus and be more dominant. Only 80 minutes away from a 5th straight GF!
I can see an epic Storm v Panthers GF. Here’s hoping a true GF revenge!
4 Likes
For personal reasons I would prefer to play Cowboys (won’t hear the end of it from the Sharks supporters, regardless of what happens).
Realistically, I find it hard to see anything but a Panthers v Storm GF.
2 Likes
There are no certainties in life, but going into a very winnable preliminary final with a full strength team is as good a position as we could have hoped for & likely as good as we could have possibly hoped for for most of 2024
1 Like
I really think we will play the cowboys, the sharks are pretenders and Nicho can’t play big games.
I won’t take any comfort in defeating the cows, but then again I took no comfort in 03 against the warriors either - but that’s league.
Manly will likely beat the Roosters to the. Line up against the Storm.
As long as we have the right mindset and play like we did against the roosters , I see a 4 - peat on its way
2 Likes
There was plenty of media post-match chatter about the extraordinary amount of time that Cleary seemed to have for his 5th tackle options. For me, one of the keys to this is the superb service from Kenny at dummy half. Is there any other hooker in the NRL with his quality of service? And that applies further out, with passes in front of the receivers fundamental to a smooth attack.
3 Likes
Cleary won’t have the amount of time for his fifth tackle options if/when we play the Storm. They will make cutting his time to the bone a priority.
3 Likes
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Websites