[2022] R2 Dragons v Panthers - Game Day Thread

R2 St George Illawarra Dragons v Penrith Panthers

Game Day Information

:rugby_football: Match St George Illawarra Dragons v Penrith Panthers
:stadium: Venue Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, Kogarah NSW
:clock10: Time Friday 18th March 2021 6:00pm
:tickets: Tickets Tickets via Ticketek
:rugby_football: Other Matches NSWCUP St George Illawarra Dragons v Penrith Panthers 19/3 3:00pm
JFLEGG St George Illawarra Dragons v Penrith Panthers 19/3 1:30pm
:sun_behind_rain_cloud: Weather :cloud_with_lightning: Scattered Thunderstorms 24°C (42% Chance of Rain :cloud_with_rain:)
:tv: Broadcast :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 20 Tries Viliame Kikau (2), Spencer Leniu.
Goals Stephen Crichton (4/4)
St Goerge Illawarra Dragons 16 Tries Tyrell Sloan, Jaydn Su’A, Zac Lomax.
Goals Zac Lomax (2/3)

:rugby_football: Knock On Effect NSW Cup | Full Time

Penrith Panthers 52 Tries Thomas Jenkins (2), Chris Smith, Eddie Blacker, Niwhai Puru, Taylan May, Preston Riki, John Faiumu, Robert Jennings, Matt Stimson.
Goals Kurt Falls (6/10)
St Goerge Illawarra Dragons 6 Tries Dean Blore.
Goals Dean Blore (1/1)

:rugby_football: Jersey Flegg Cup | Full Time

Penrith Panthers 20 Tries Connor Mason (2), Daniel Sykes, Kristian Li Mai, Isaiah Iongi.
Goals Connor Mason (4/5)
St Goerge Illawarra Dragons 16 Tries Cooper Roberts, Alexander Lobb, Duke Grant.
Goals Sam Hooper (3/4)

:trophy: Dally M Points

Pts Player Team
:1st_place_medal: 3pts Isaah Yeo Penrith Panthers
:2nd_place_medal: 2pts Viliame Kikau Penrith Panthers
:3rd_place_medal: 1pts Ben Hunt St George Illawarra Dragons

Judge: Nathan Hindmarsh

Postgame Media

MATCH REPORT

PRESS CONFERENCE

HIGHLIGHTS

FULL MATCH REPLAY

https://www.nrl.com/watch/matches/telstra-premiership/2022/round-2/full-match-replay-dragons-v-panthers---round-2-2022/

PANTHER PRIDE MOTM VOTING

Teams

Telstra Premiership Knock On Effect NSW Cup NSW Jersey Flegg
:rugby_football: Dragons v Panthers :rugby_football: Dragons v Panthers :rugby_football: Dragons v Panthers
:clock3: Friday 18/3 6:00pm :clock3: Saturday 18/3 11:15am :clock3: Saturday 18/3 1:00pm
:stadium: Netstrata Jubilee Stadium :stadium: Collegians Sporting Complex :stadium: Collegians Sporting Complex
TEAM
1. Dylan Edwards 1. Sunia Turuva 1. William Fakatoumafi
2. Charlie Staines 2. Taylan May :small_red_triangle: 2. Daeon Amituanai
3. Izack Tago 3. Robert Jennings :small_red_triangle: 3. Jack Garrod
4. Stephen Crichton 4. Matt Stimson 4. Kristian-Li Mai
5. Brian To’o 5. Thomas Jenkins 5. Simon Tito
6. Jarome Luai 6. Niwhai Puru 6. Isaiah Iongi
7. Sean O’Sullivan 7. Kurt Falls :small_red_triangle: 7. Jack Cole
8. Spencer Leniu 8. Eddie Blacker 8. Tyreece Tonga
9. Apisai Koroisau 9. Soni Luke :small_red_triangle: 9. Connor Mason
10. James Fisher-Harris 10. Lindsay Smith :small_red_triangle: 15. Ilai Tuai :small_red_triangle:
11. Viliame Kikau 11. Chris Smith :small_red_triangle: 11. Ativalu Lisati
12. Liam Martin 12. John Faiumu 12. Sunita Lotoaniu
13. Isaah Yeo © 13. J’Maine Hopgood 13. Daniel Sykes
INTERCHANGE
14. Mitch Kenny 14. Hohepa Puru 14. Ryley Smith
15. Scott Sorensen 15. Alex Susino 16. Kyson Kingi
16. Matt Eisenhuth 16. Liam Henry 17. Aston Warwick
17. Jaeman Salmon 17. Preston Riki 19. John Sagaga :small_red_triangle:
RESERVES
18. J’Maine Hopgood 20. Braith Alexander
19. Chris Smith :small_red_triangle_down: 21. Maxwell Pritchard :small_red_triangle_down:
20. Robert Jennings :small_red_triangle_down: 10. Brad Fearnley :small_red_triangle_down:
21. Taylan May :small_red_triangle_down: 17. Jack Garrod :small_red_triangle_down:
22. Lindsay Smith :small_red_triangle_down:
23. Soni Luke :small_red_triangle_down:
24. Kurt Falls :small_red_triangle_down:
COACH
HC Ivan Cleary HC Peter Wallace HC Jono Rolfe
AC Andrew Webster AC Kevin Kingston
AC Cameron Ciraldo

Match Officials

Telstra Premiership K.O.E NSW Cup Jersey Flegg Cup
Referee Chris Sutton Keiren Irons Tom Cambourn
Sideline Official Drew Oultram Tom Cambourn Micheal Ford
Wyatt Raymond Liam Nicholls Lachlan Greenfield
Video Referee Matt Noyen - -

Referee Success Rate

Referee Active Since 2022 Overall Pen. For Pen. Against Ratio
Chris Sutton 2012 (-/-) -% (8/13) 61.54% 54 52 1.04

I thought that this was a 6pm game.

2 Likes

Same team as round 1 I suspect, unless Leota unavailable. If so I would replace him with C.Smith either starting or on the bench with Spencer starting.

Cleary will probably go with Eisenhuth though

If it came to that, you would have to think about starting Sorensen.

:mega: Teams and Officials have been updated

TELSTRA PREMIERSHIP

KNOCK ON EFFECT NSW CUP

JERSEY FLEGG CUP

:x: CASUALITY WARD

Player Injury Estimated Return Link
Nathan Cleary Shoulder Surgery Recovery Round 4 :external:
Moses Leota Left Shoulder (Fractured Genoid) Round 10 :external:

As expected same team (excepting Leota) as last week which i am happy for.

I’m a bit concerned about this Eisenhuth situation, I doubt any true fan of Rugby League would have him in front of Hopgood based on late last year and the trials.

Is it a personality thing…If we aren’t careful, Hopgood will be gone and that significantly lessons our back up forwards. Eisenhuth should only be an emergency gap fill.

1 Like

While I agree somewhat with your sentiment Kevin, I think the only reason Cleary may be holding Hopgood back is he sees him as an understudy for Yeo at 13, rather than prop.

Eisenhuth is a plodder for sure, and consistent at that.

Hopgood has shown great creativity in addition to hard running, so for mine is the perfect replacement for Yeo during SOO or injury. He would need to work closely with the team to learn the way Yeo fits into the first receiver role.

1 Like

Good point SHF, but these days 13 is a middle forward anyway. Yeo is next level with his skillset and engine to go 80 so I would still suggest Hopgood is a better option, particularly given he can be part of the bench rotation.

My line of thinking, and this is very left field, is that IC needs ME game fit as early as possible before he brings in the quality. If he breaks our group early, and ME is our only back up (with limited game time) forward so to speak, we will be in a world of pain. The flip side being, Hopgood can cover anywhere in the pack essentially, and in turn will come into his own as the season progresses…I HOPE THAT’S WHAT IT IS :rofl:

2 Likes

Viliame Kikau will celebrate 100 Games in the NRL and for the Panthers tonight.

A link to his jersey presentation by his family below.

Late Change | Updated Teamlist

Robert Jennings, Taylan May, Lindsay Smith, Soni Luke and Kurt Falls have bene omitted from the Telstra Premiership side this week, and will play for the Knock On Effect NSW Cup side on Saturday.

OK Panthers full steam ahead. No Blue Bet choc 'block full of Panther fans. Not to say they won’t be watching from afar. Your off to a good start but let’s see if you can maintain that effort on the road ! Dragons won’t be any pushover so get stuck in from the kickoff !:smiley:

INJURY UPDATE

Player Injury Occurrence Est. Return Link
Nathan Cleary Shoulder - R4 :external:
Maverick Geyer Fractured Wrist T2 R4 / R5 :external:
Moses Leota Shoulder R1 R9 - R11 :external:
Arthur Crichton ACL T2 Indefinate :external:

We’re in front 20-6 HT. Our attack is a little scrappy. Not as precise as last week.
There’s plenty of footie left in this second half. It’s ours, to lose. Need to maintain
our concentration to earn the bickies here.

1 Like

We’re in trouble here. We seem to lack last week’s enthusiasm!
Need to pull our fingers out.

1 Like

Good teams can manage to win even when they are playing badly and this game will be the wake up call we need

Maybe we thought the effort of last week would just happen and we didn’t show the intensity in the 2nd half.

Too could have a significant injury and JFH maybe is injured as well.

Some concerns, Staines is not a first grader at all.

and when we reshuffled we moved Crichton to the wing which caused us major problems in defence

we got the money but may come at a cost with injuries.

The only upside is that effort may get their attention at training and the coach will ram that home all week.

Ugly ugly win and our effort made a terrible dragon’s look competitive which they are not.

1 Like

Hey everyone, new to the forum.

Any update of JFH? HIA potentially?

Really missed Moses tonight, he’s so underrated. Definitely agree its time to look for another option at prop.

Still a 2-0 start is a 2-0 start, hopefully some luck with injuries and full strength at the right time of year. Could be a blessing in disguise, some young talent could get their crack in coming weeks building for future :muscle::muscle:

1 Like

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