Had to laugh with the interview of our props on nine news last night, After interviewing Fish and Smith, Leota drops an F bomb when describing Asofa-Solomoa as a âbig fn unitâ 
Our guys are pumped to put in a big performance
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Late mail suggests all tracking well:
Time will tell - team list due to be cut in about 7 hours time
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Luai and Tago will be tested by the Storm big men. Itâs a good strategy to have Cogger on the bench and Peach in the 18 to cover. I think having Garner in the bench will help. He did a great job in centre for the qualifier.
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Updated NRL Teamlist - Penrith Panthers
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary has updated his squad for Friday nightâs Preliminary Final against Melbourne Storm.
Jarome Luai (shoulder) and Izack Tago (pectoral) have been confirmed to return for the clash at Accor Stadium.
Zac Hosking, Luke Sommerton and Tom Jenkins drop out of the squad.
The Panthers will wear the 2023 alternate kit for the match.
Updated NRL Teamlist - Melbourne Storm
Craig Bellamy has named his Melbourne Storm squad to take on the Panthers in Friday nightâs Preliminary Final clash.
The initial 19 named on Tuesday will remain unchanged, while Sua Faâalogo, Tepai Moeroa and Chris Lewis drop away.
well its come down to facing an old well known enemy in the prelim final with a chance to go for the 3peat if we get through this game with history beckoning.
but we have to get through this game yet and despite lacklustre efforts from Storm in their 2 finals efforts, they will be ready for the game with Bellamy demanding a big effort from his charges.
That being said their 2 efforts have been terrible in the finals series and notably the Storm forwards have been beaten up and overcome by Broncos and even the Roosters bested them.
and this is where this game (like most) will be won, our forwards are a vastly superior outfit and if they play to form will give our backs especially Cleary room to weave their magic.
we are running out our best 17 and many have commented on the bench but i think we have a nice balance there where Cogger and Garner could be called to play in the backs if required.
If the game goes as expected Luai should have an easier game with our forwards belting them up and as some have suggested they will target Luai but this only works if they are in control which i doubt they will.
My only hope and wish is the game is not in anyway affected by poor ref calls and or dirty play (from Storm)
If the result is not influenced by the ref i expect we should win this easy with Storm simply capitulating as i feel their last 2 efforts have drained them mentally and physically.
What lies beyond this is simply too salivating to consider and as i said we have to get through this one first.
On the other side i expect Broncos to win but i think Warriors will really give the Broncos a fright with Broncos and Panthers to face off in the GF
Exciting times and we are privileged to be witnessing something historic for a Panther fan who is enjoying what we have hoped for many many seasons.
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Iâm never confident against the Storm, they always seem to find something in big games.
In saying that, they are running out of troops, and we are back to full strength. We are also rested, while they have had to play a hard game last week.
If they go with their tactic of targeting Luai returning from injury, they could be doing themselves a disservice. You only have to go back to the 2018 Grand Final to see how targeting an injured playmaker can distract them from other parts of their game.
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This article reads pretty rough:
No one know the truth except for our club medicos and the coach. Anything else sis pure media speculation.
Iâd rather relaxed about this game, not so much by expecting to win (which I do) but from reflecting upon our clubs success the last four years;
4 prelim finals
3 grand finals (with a chance to tonight to make that 4).
3 minor premierships
2 premierships (with a chance for a 3rd if we win tonight).
In anyoneâs book this is some successful era we are living in. Sit and dwell on that for a minute or two, and you may come to the realization as I do that win or loose tonight we have much to be thankful for.
Donât take me wrong, I want a Penrith victory, will be at the game cheering the boys home. Iâm just hoping to be a little more relaxed tonight and enjoying the game.
Panthers by 12
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Our win rate over the last 4 years has not been seen since the great St George side of the late 50s-early 60s.
Since then only 2 teams have made 4 consecutive Grand Finals (Parramatta 1981-4 & Melbourne 2006-9).
Only Parramatta have won 3 in a row in that time.
If we go on to win the premiership, we will have achieved something that has not been seen in decades, and many (including myself) thought would not be possible in the era of salary caps & full time professionalism.
Even if we fall short, what we have achieved in the last 4 years is truly remarkable.
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Melbourne are trying to unsettle us. We have to stop taking the bait, we have a Grand Final to play next week
PS. How NAS didnât get some time in the bin is beyond me. I get the feeling he will be missing the next Storm game, not that it matters in Round 1
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yes we have been sucked into a few things but somehow Storm are getting overs on the Tago side and they have missed opportunities
Expect us to go on with this but we need to go back to process.
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quite a bit about that game.
I am a little concerned about the Tago side in defence and suspect Tago is still worried about his pec judging by his missed tackle on Olam.
Despite our errors and i believe our game was a mix of good passages and poor passages and we still put 38 on the Storm.
On the storm i held Bellamy in the highest regard but how his team carried out dirty play on some of our team has really disappointed me. I understand you need to ruffle a team but some of his players were simply grubs.
Just on âtheirâ grubs, the ref faltered big time. In the first half he warned both Captains and said he would sit players down. Nelson knees Yeo and simply went on report and wasnt binned, Seve blatant shoulder charge on Lenui and he isnât binned.
On a concern, Too had a noticeable limp and i think Martin did something to a finger.
I hope they are right for the big game.
Congrats to Luai for getting through the game and Garner has been hit in the arse by a rainbow, coming from wooden spooners to a GF teamâŚgo figure!
we were sublime in patches and terrible in others but i guess our attention turned to the GF and if we put it altogether we will give this a great fright.
Enjoy the win boys, you are now in rarified air and you deserve all of the accolades but the biggest accolade comes by winning next week and making it 3 GF wins in a row.
They are building and its just a wonder to sit back and enjoy.
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Panther Pride Man of the Match voting is now open Iâm still in disbelief, four Grand Finals in a row, and a chance of making the three peat happen. From sitting in a cold, mostly empty blue bet stadium to prelims and GFâs at Accor. What an incredible ride this team has taken us on.
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I remember those days well. Sad days indeed, but the beer lines were short.
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Pinch me Iâm dreaming
Fourth grand final in as many years, opportunity for a three-peat.
I would never believed in in my wildest dreams.
Yet this year, it seemed somewhat predictable.
What a game! One I will never forget.
In typical panther fashion of late, then ran with us for 20, then we blew them off the park.
No one had a bad game, and many exceptional performance. Often I use a motoring analogy to describe our performance. Scary that I believe we still have an overdrive 5th gear left.
While Toâo deserves every accolade, and Cleary put on a stand out performance, the game was won by our forwards, who did more than just lay the foundation. Leota, Fish, and Yeo all ran for high metres, breaking the middle. Kenny with exceptional dummy half service, and all their defense in the middle stood solid. The performance did our middle, led to no Storm Forward breaking 100m.
Martins line break and try assist, wow I loved that!
That grub Nelson should have been binned a number of times.
How sweet it is, so much to love about this team - again
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And one final thing (not related to the Panthers);
Last night just reinforced who much I hate watching games at Accor stadium. Terrible sight lines (despite having silver tickets), the low pitch of the stands, too far from the field etc. I always feel like I am the background crowd for a tv show, rather than watching a game live.
Donât get me wrong, the atmosphere was ok with the panther crowd around me, and was great we had a wave going for a bit. But give the cowbells over the PA a rest.
NRL should drop that stupid Telstra crowd-o-meter as well, everyone knows itâs not real.
In the most part NRL have made great progress with game day experience, with the music and all, so drop the trashy gimmicks.
And as for the viewing of the game, so from row 14, canât see the near touch line due to the advertising signage, spend most the game watching the big screen due to the poor angles and distance.
Might sound like a winge, but I never feel these issues at any other ground.
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It seems like we all have the same opinions, more or less.
NAS again proved that he is a grub; he got off lightly.
We let Melbourne get under our skin, as was presumably their plan. Pretty normal tactic when youâre being done over. We should have been ready for it. Same for short kick-offs. We seem to have a relatively poor record of defusing them; at times we seem to be not even ready for it. I was astonished when Yeo gave away a penalty on one goal line dropout.
The bad parts of the Penrith game were few and far between. But they included two stuffed up play-the-balls. That must be one of the most inexcusable mistakes in the game, since the defenders can no longer strike at the ball. It exemplifies âcoach-killerâ. And all for the sake of a couple of seconds.
Cleary clearly wants a mobile, fast, skilful pack of forwards, rather than the kind that Melbourne presented. That might be part of why we are so good at the long game.
The lower level seats at the Olympic stadium suck. But I have never been able to purchase a ticket on the next level up. Are those seats belonging to members of that stadium, and hence unavailable for events like the NRL finals?
These are absolutely our golden years; after so many years when any game won was a reason to celebrate, this is like living in a dream. I thought that, after 1991, the nineties was building as a Penrith dynasty, but we imploded. Ben Alexanderâs death didnât help, but there were other reasons too.
People love winners, to a degree, and we are gaining a following all over the place. My nephew went to the Gold Coast match, and the numbers of Penrith fans there was amazing. Back in the nineties I remember a local journalist (might have been a 2KA announcer) noting that, when talking to classes of kids (in Emu Plains, I think) most kids supported other clubs, like the ScumDogs, mainly because their parents did. That really sucked. How things change. Another nephew lives in Qld now, and has a mate who took his kids to a sports store in Brisbane to buy Qld or Broncos jerseys; he was pissed off when the kids walked out wearing Penrith jerseys.
One more week, then we have to endure 5 months of NRL void. I hope the cricket gives us something equally good to revel in; the Rugby World Cup sure wonât. Then we come back to a team minus Crichton and Leniu, on top of the absence of Koroisau, Kikau, Burton, Momorovski and Capewell. It gets harder and harder.
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If you havenât watched it yet, watch the press conference by Craig Bellamy. Pretty much summed up what should be said about Penrith this year, probably the most humble I have seen bellyache.
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