A lot of changes, but this is a game we need to win. A win puts us in a good position, the highest we can finish this weekis 12th but keeps up in check with the top 8ā¦ we are about one or two good wins away from breaking in, and this is the only match we will have without our Origin stars, the rest are byes, we have a good patch of games coming up, and hoping these lower ranked sides can spark something in the Panthers and get some consistency and momentum.
I also have to say, whoever planned this years Bathurst match, what the hell were you thinking? They get a single game a year, an the week do decide to have the match all the origin stars are unavailable. Iām sure the Bathurst faithful would have liked to meet and see our top flight side play this weekend. ANY other week would have made sense.
I donāt know if there where last minute changes, mistakes, or what with the team list but it seems this wonāt likely be the 17 who runs out;
Foxās team list and the wordage before the team list on NRL both have Garner instead of Riki in the second row.
Rumour has it Riki is being shopped before June 30, and no mention of Garner injury or naming in cup.
Unless we have released or plan to release a top 30 or development player before the game, I donāt think Austin Dias can play as heās on a secondary contract (as far as I can tell). He is also named in the cup side to play Sunday.
Pretty well a must-win game with an under strength team playing a team that has not been going well.
Weather looks to be a little better in Bathurst than here, so hoping for reasonable conditions. I am concerned at the appointed officials & donāt understand there is not a better ref with only 5 games in the round. Of course the rules & interpretations have all changed since the fiasco in the Manly game.
Looking for a good team effort & 2 points to kick us up the ladder. Fingers crossed.
Late change with Harry Hassett to make NRL debut from the bench wearing #21, with Preston Riki back to bench.
Tago moves to start in backrow with Jesse McLean starting on wing #20, and Jenkins into the centres.
Weather fine, ground good.
23 minutes in & Iām ready to turn it off. The last thing we need when we are missing half the side tis terrible refereeing, penalising us out of the game.
Morbid fascination kept me watching the game, but I was far from happy with what I saw.
The first 20-25 minutes we were penalised out of the game (1-4 penalties, 0-2 six agains), and the damage was done. Without our more experienced players we didnāt have what it took to wrestle our way back into it.
Once again, I raise the point of having SOO on stand alone weekends. We are the only major sport that cannibalises our competition for rep games. Something that needs to be looked at when the next TV deal is done.
For me the positives were the performance of Hassett on debut, and the performance on Jenkins, who probably saved 2 or 3 tries.
The only positive Iām taking away is that the boys made some superb and desperate try savers in the second half. Really wish we showed more of that desperation in the first half.
Knights first try had Mitch and Leota simply watching. So many tries conceded this year with players expecting someone else to do the job.
I know the squad has had a big 5 years, and no doubt many factors have contributed to the form this season. It just feels so disappointing watching this side struggle week in week out.
Like Ivan said in the post match - that second half needed to be the first half. Kind of shocked at the lack of second row depth but Haslett was strong when he came on - very positive.
Maybe we are the victims of other teams waking up and raiding our depth, but after years of hearing about Penrithās ājunior nurseryā itās a shock and disappointing to appear to have no depth again. Not sure if itās complacency or mismanagement or what - maybe they all just need time to emerge & the next two years will be rebuilding similar to what the Storm did these past few years. As a fan I was hoping we had left the mid-late 90s and pre 2020 eras behind for good but shades of those dark times are creeping in.
As a side note I wish Lindsay Smith would just run hard instead of trying to ball play or hit and spin. Heās been doing this all season, wish heād get back to his hard running of last year. Leota needs to find another level as well - seems not to have much of an intimidation factor on the field.
Too many fringe/youngster players in the side at the one time, each trying to do their bit, but just not working. Many of the ones that played last night would do a serviceable job as part of our āfullā team, or in cameo roles, but all in there together exposes too many frailties.
Too many missed or ineffective tackles, giving away penalties and guess-agains & we canāt withstand the pressure/momentum.
I thought Milky was outstanding.
Time to get the troops back and re-group. Rep games, injuries and suspensions are killing us!!!
If we get a good run over the next 6 weeks or so, with a relatively āsoftā draw, who knows what can happen. I know we are not the worst team in the comp, but our ladder position is disappointing.
Anyway, our situation is giving all the haters there 5 mins of fame, and the bandwaggon supporters are exposed.
Iāll keep supporting the boys. I would anyway, but the last 5 seasons demand that those who enjoyed the highs need to stick tight in the lows.
Just one last point. The club needs all hands on deck at the game on Sunday to support the team, and I now see that trackwork on the weekend means NO TRAINS between Emu & Blacktown to get to the game!!!
Disappointed would be the obvious feeling, after being bombarded by the Knights (and the ref) we played ourselves out of winning that. Iām sure the same thing will be said too, missing players, bad ref, etc.
But the problem is thisā¦ after a poor start to the season we had a chance to right the ship and put us in a good position heading into origin. First we drew with the Cowboys blowing a lead, and no we have come up with nothing against a struggling Knights side.
Now the Knights are a single win outside the top 8ā¦ and usā¦ well mathematics is a starting to turn on us, we are a few losses away from finishing in the top 4 and a few more on top of that of missing the finals all together.
Iām not going to look for reasons why we are where we areā¦ Iām sure the coaching staff are asking all kinds of questions, Iām just looking at the math here, and it doesnāt paint a rosy picture.
We can ill afford to drop ANY more games this season, really only a massive win streak will put us in a position to give this a shake at the end of the season.
Iād say this needs to start next weekā¦ but in reality it should have started weeks ago already.
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Match
Venue
Time
Tickets
Weather
Parly Cloudy 14ĀŗC (
Chance of Rain: 15% / 
Wind: NW 10km/h)
Broadcast
NRL Live Pass [LIVE]
Kayo Sports [LIVE]
ABC Sydney 702AM [LIVE]
Saturday 24/5 5:30pm
Team Lists and Match Officials have been updated.
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