[2024] R3 Panthers v Broncos - Game Day Thread

2025 Game Day Archive 2024
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R3 Penrith Panthers v Brisbane Broncos

Game Day Information
:rugby_football: Match Penrith Panthers v Brisbane Broncos
:stadium: Venue BlueBet Stadium, Penrith NSW
:clock10: Time Thursday, March 21 8:00pm
:tickets: Tickets Tickets via Ticketek
:rugby_football: Other Matches NSWCUP Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs v Penrith Panthers 23/3 12:40pm
JFLEGG Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs v Penrith Panthers 23/3 11:00am
:sun_behind_rain_cloud: Weather :cloud: Cloudy 18°C (:cloud_with_rain: Chance of Rain: <1% / :wind_face: Wind: SE 10km/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]

:rugby_football: Telstra Premiership | Full Time
Penrith Panthers 34 Tries Izack Tago (2), Brian To’o (2), Sunia Turuva, Mitch Kenny.
Goals Nathan Cleary (5/6)
Brisbane Broncos 12 Tries Deine Mariner, Jesse Arthars.
Goals Kotoni Staggs (2/3)

:rugby_football: Knock On Effect NSW Cup | Full Time
Penrith Panthers 34 Tries Trent Toelau (2), Tyrone Peachey, David Fale, Luke Sommerton, Daine Laurie.
Goals Paul Alamoti (5/6)
Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs 10 Tries Harry Hayes, Bailey Biondi-Odo.
Goals Bailey Biondi-Odo (1/2)

:rugby_football: Jersey Flegg Cup | Full Time
Penrith Panthers 35 Tries INick Murphy (2), Samuel Lane, John Sagaga, Josh Ruxton, Lachlan Blackburn, Joseph Nohra.
Goals Billy Scott (3/7) Field Goals Joseph Nohra (1)
Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs 18 Tries Jack Underhill, Elijah Mataale, Jonathan Sua.
Goals Cassius Tia (3/3)

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: Panthers v Broncos :rugby_football: Bulldogs v Panthers :rugby_football: Bulldogs v Panthers
:clock3: Thursday 21/3 8:00pm :clock3: Friday 15/3 12:40pm :clock3: Saturday 23/3 11:00am
:stadium: Bluebet Stadium :stadium: Belmore Sports Ground :stadium: Belmore Sports Ground
TEAM
1. Dylan Edwards 1. Isaiah Iongi 1. Tim Carson
2. Sunia Turuva 2. Jesse Mclean 2. Angelis Hotere-Papalii
3. Izack Tago 3. Tyrone Peachey 3. Casey Mclean
4. Taylan May 4. Paul Alamoti 4. Sam Lane
5. Brian To’o 5. Daeon Amituanai 5. Nick Murphy
6. Jarome Luai 6. Trent Toelau 6. Joseph Nohra
7. Nathan Cleary © 7. Brad Schneider 7. Blake Moore
8. Moses Leota 8. Preston Riki 8. John Sagaga
9. Mitch Kenny 9. Luke Sommerton 9. Billy Scott
10. Lindsay Smith 10. Jordan Grant 10. Ahmani Leilua
11. Scott Sorensen 11. Harrison Hassett 11. Riley Wake
12. Liam Martin 12. Mavrik Geyer 12. Aston Warwick ©
13. Isaah Yeo © 13. Riley Price 13. Lachlan Blackburn
INTERCHANGE
14. Daine Laurie 14. Soni Luke 23. Noah Nailagoliva
15. Matt Eisenhuth 15. Ativalu Lisati 15. Josh Ruxton
16. Liam Henry 16. Luron Patea 16. Siotame Hansen
17. Luke Garner 17. David Fale 17. Francis Manuleleua
RESERVE
18. Soni Luke 19. Zac Lipowicz 18. Cooper Egan
19. Mavrik Geyer 20. Niko Apelu 19. Jirah Liddiard
20. Preston Riki 20. Cooper Ferrari
21. Paul Alamoti
22. Brad Schneider
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

Match Officials

Telstra Premiership K.O.E NSW Cup Jersey Flegg Cup
Referee Gerard Sutton TBA TBA
Sideline Official Kasey Badger TBA TBA
Drew Oultram TBA TBA
Video Referee Ashley Klein - -

Referee Success Rate

Referee Active Since 2024 Overall Pen. For Pen. Against Ratio
Gerard Sutton 2009 (0/1) 0% (30/53) 56.60% 210 217.5 0.97
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It’s going to be interesting to see who takes Fish’s place. Logic would suggest Smith starts, but I get the feeling he is better as an impact player off the bench. I don’t think Henry is ready to be a starter either, especially in a Grand Final Rematch.

This leaves 2 options:

  1. Start Eisenhuth to weather the early exchanges
  2. Move Sorenson to the front row, with Garner starting & Eisenhuth on the bench.

Will be interesting to see what gets posted tomorrow afternoon, and if that changes before kickoff.

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Eisenhuth would be my choice. While I had some concerns early last season, he has earnt his wings.
And I think Sorenson is better left where he is.

2 Likes
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I think Smith has earned the spot through his efforts, but I would go with Liam Henry, he was my 3rd pick on MoTM honors last week. If you watch his game from last week, absolutely solid in defense, he and Mitch Kenny are our new bruise brothers, bashed em - I LOVED IT…AND he never went backwards once in his runs.

This early in the season, you can give him this taste of what the BIG TIME looks and feels like, we have plenty of weeks ahead for recovery and education in the starting role. Moses & Fish didn’t just turn up and become the best, but I think in time Henry could quite easily become the number 1 front rower in the game. Just my 2 bobs

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I don’t disagree with anything said above, but knowing Ivan he will just play Eisenhuth in the 10, and leave the rest unchanged.

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:mega: Teams and Match Officials have been added

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Fair reward for Lindsay Smith, I’m not unhappy with that selection. Would have been questioning the Eisenhuth pick to start though, that would be akin to Roycey and the John Cross ever lasting lock position regardless of form or ability.

THANK GOD (IC) those days are behind us…

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I don’t know if we should be giving our opponents advice on how to handle the GF loss…

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Shame in some ways there are players missing from both sides but i suspect they will miss Haas more then we will miss JFH.

Haas plays big minutes in the middle for them and Reynolds will be another they will miss badly.

Of course i hope we don’t think they will be easier without them because that causes all sorts of problems.

We need to keep Walsh quiet tonight as he is the player who has kept them in their first 2 games and he has come up with some howlers too but he in my view has been their only spark in their side to date.

we on the other hand whilst clunky we are slowly getting it together in attack, our defence is sound save for the 3 soft tries last week.

I expect us to win this and if our attack is on song we could run away with it.

Should be a real cracker of a game, cool and fast conditions.

2 Likes
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Pretty clinical first half. We controlled possession well, and had some luck with Walsh’s injury. I think that really hurt the Broncos.

Kenny’s try was terrific, but if it had been ruled a double movement, I wouldn’t have argued.

Smith has done a job replacing Fish, but I thought Leota was down on his last couple of performances. Too much fancy footwork, rather than straight & hard. Maybe the try last week against Parra went to his head?

Tago is a beast. Some great runs by To’o, Yeo’s been great… really, where do I stop?

Cleary’s been enormous. You can see how much the Broncos are missing Reynolds - and Haas.

Lots to like, but we need to go on with it & make a statement in the 2nd half to send a message to Manly. They will try to bash us next week.

4 Likes
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the first half was pure class and executing your game plan.

Disappointed Walsh got hurt as i would have liked to see how we handled him but on a side note for May to be on report for that tackle is beyond a joke and the reason given by the ref had just added a new rule.

Cleary was back to his best and our game plan with keeping the ball alive and these major shifts of play are quite interesting to watch unfold.

But we fleshed out some major problems for the Broncos tonight and how they play in the next few weeks will be interesting and they may struggle to win any of their next 4 which will make them 1 from 6.
The second half wasnt as classy by us but their 2 tries came from forward passes but didn’t count in the end as we had a large enough lead.
I hope our boys all recover nicely and enjoy the win.

The bad news for the Roosters is we have plenty of upside.

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

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what a great win!!! Still collecting my thoughts.

Kevin Walters - “I’m not a sore loser!” BAWAAWAAAAAWAAAAAAAAA. So Penrith’s plan was to clash heads with Walsh & take him out of game & now that Tiny hasn’t been charged he says other teams will use the same tactic. He may as well sell his TV because that’s another game he will not watch :slight_smile:

And media reports now that Taylan told the team last night he has agreed to terms to stay thru 2026 :crossed_fingers:

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I note that Taupau was apparently charged for knee-lifting. It seems that the NRL is finally getting serious about this blight on the game. It has to be one of the most dangerous actions that occurs in our game, and it has gone unpunished for far too long. Low tacklers like Koroisau are taking their lives in their hands in these situations. Over recent decades there has been a welcome and progressive crackdown on high shots. On occasion some penalised actions have been little more than a finger slap, yet at the same time knee lifting has not raised an eyebrow. Hopefully it will be now eradicated, and having severe punishments meted out will be a good start.

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It was sure hard to pick our top 3 players this week, not a bad game from anyone.

Cleary was obviously the standout, with one of his best performances.

I thought Kenny had a blinder both in service, defense and attack.

Tago is very quickly working himself into SOO discussions.

While unexpected, I am pleased the May has re-signed. He is quickly developing into an absolute gun.

Remember when we used to talk about our lethal left side? What a distant memory.

Yeo, To’o and Edwards just keep doing what they do every week.

Big call out to Moses, Smith, Henry and Eisenhuth who dominated the forwards in Fish’s absence. I thought Smith really stood up.

Yes we weren’t perfect, and some uncharacteristic errors. But for a round 3 performance against our Grand Final opponents last year, we were on song. Reminded me of the 2022 grand final against Parramatta.

Great to see a new dimension to our game with all the offloads. Also kicking in goal.

On Kenny’s try while on the first replay I wouldn’t have been surprised if they took it off us, when it was played at real speed, he just bouncy and didn’t promote or reach out. Glad it didn’t make a difference to the result though.

Glad May wasn’t charged. That was a ridiculous penalty and him being placed on report, for what was obviously and accidental head clash.

The Roosters next week should be a real test, but based on Thursday’s game I am sure we are up for it.

4 Likes
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Smith and Kenny were awesome, but I am giving MoTM to a back for the first time in god knows how long.

I honestly thought Cleary’s game was on par with one of the best halves performances I’ve seen, I know it’s only round 3 but he was great all-round. Top Game

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I thought Liam Henry was excellent against the Broncos, if he wasn’t there making the tackle he was there backing it up.

Considering we lost JFH for this one, it was good to see Liam step up and bolster the defensive line.

2 Likes
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:rugby_football: Knock On Effect NSW Cup | Full Time
Penrith Panthers 34 Tries Trent Toelau (2), Tyrone Peachey, David Fale, Luke Sommerton, Daine Laurie.
Goals Paul Alamoti (5/6)
Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs 10 Tries Harry Hayes, Bailey Biondi-Odo.
Goals Bailey Biondi-Odo (1/2)

KNNOCK ON EFFECT NSW CUP MATCH REPORT

:rugby_football: Jersey Flegg Cup | Full Time
Penrith Panthers 35 Tries Nick Murphy (2), Samuel Lane, John Sagaga, Josh Ruxton, Lachlan Blackburn, Joseph Nohra.
Goals Billy Scott (3/7) Field Goals Joseph Nohra (1)
Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs 18 Tries Jack Underhill, Elijah Mataale, Jonathan Sua.
Goals Cassius Tia (3/3)
1 Like
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Those are good results in the reserves and Flegg. But what about the two younger grades (Ball and Harold Matts)? They are languishing way down the table. What has happened to our much vaunted depth? Obviously we can’t expect perfection every year (2022 was a year to savour, an extraordinary year), but we don’t even seem to be competitive in those grades this year. Any insights from this forum?