[2022] R22 Panthers v Storm - Game Day Thread

R22 Penrith Panthers v Melbourne Storm

Game Day Information

:rugby_football: Match Penrith Panthers v Melbourne Storm
:stadium: Venue Bluebet Stadium, Penrith NSW
:clock10: Time Thursday 11th August 2022 7:50pm
:tickets: Tickets Tickets via Ticketek
:rugby_football: Other Matches NSWCUP Penrith Panthers v Mounties 13/8 12:40pm1
JFLEGG Penrith Panthers v Melbourne Thunderbolts 13/8 2:00pm1
:sun_behind_rain_cloud: Weather :cloud: Cloudy 14°C (:cloud_with_rain: Chance of Rain: 3% / :wind_face: Wind: N 8km/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]

1. NSW Cup and Jersey Flegg Cup fixtures to be played at Bluebet Stadium, Penrith NSW

:rugby_football: Telstra Premiership | Full Time

Penrith Panthers 0 Tries
Goals
Melboune Storm 16 Tries Nick Meaney, Brandon Smith, David Nofoaluma.
Goals Nick Meaney (2/3)

:rugby_football: Knock On Effect NSW Cup | Full Time

Penrith Panthers 42 Tries J’maine Hopgood (2), Thomas Jenkins (2), Alec Susino, Robert Jennings, Isaiah Iongi.
Goals Kurt Falls (7/7)
Mt Pritchard Mounties 10 Tries Tuipulotu Katoa, Brad Abbey.
Goals Dylan Smith (1/2)

:rugby_football: Jersey Flegg Cup | Full Time

Penrith Panthers 44 Tries Cody Lawson (3), Hohepa Puru, Liam Ison, Keagan Russell-Smith, William Fakatoumafi, Billy Scott.
Goals Addison Williams (6/8)
Victoria Thunderbolts 10 Tries Jack Natapu, Anisi Salani.
Goals Tiraa Ua (1/2)

Postgame Media

MATCH REPORT

PRESS CONFERENCE

HIGHLIGHTS

FULL MATCH REPLAY

PANTHER PRIDE MOTM VOTING

Teams

Telstra Premiership Knock On Effect NSW Cup NSW Jersey Flegg
:rugby_football: Raiders v Panthers :rugby_football: Panthers v Mounties :rugby_football: Panthers v Thunderbolts
:clock3: Thursday 11/8 7:50pm :clock3: Saturday 13/8 12:40pm :clock3: Saturday 6/8 2:00pm
:stadium: Bluebet Stadium Stadium :stadium: Bluebet Stadium :stadium: Bluebet Stadium
TEAM
1. Dylan Edwards 1. Charlie Staines 1. Liam Ison
17. Sunia Turuva :small_orange_diamond: 2. Christian Crichton 2. Cody Lawson
3. Izack Tago 3. Jack Cole 3. Sam Lane
4. Stephen Crichton 4. Thomas Jenkins 4. William Fakatoumafi
5. Brian To’o 5. Daeon Amituanai 5. Addison Williams
6. Jaeman Salmon 6. Isaiah Iongi 6. Niwhai Puru
7. Sean O’Sullivan 7. Kurt Falls 7. Keagan Russell-Smith
8. Moses Leota 8. Lindsay Smith 8. Ilai Tuia
9. Apisai Koroisau 9. Soni Luke 9. Ryley Smith
10. Matt Eisenhuth 10. Eddie Blacker 10. Hanna El-Nachar
22. Viliame Kikau :small_red_triangle: 11. Preston Riki 11. Zac Lipowicz
12. Liam Martin 12. Joh Faiumu 12. Harry Hassett
13. Isaah Yeo © 13. J’Maine Hopgood 13. Hohepa Puru
INTERCHANGE
14. Mitch Kenny 14. Mavrik Geyer 14. Billy Scott
15. Scott Sorensen 15. Liam Henry 15. Sunita Lotoaniu
16. Spencer Leniu 16. Alec Susino 16. John Sagaga
20. Robert Jennings :small_red_triangle: 17. Ativalu Lisati 17. Jack Garrod
RESERVES 19. Tyreece Tonga
2. Taylan May :small_red_triangle_down: 20. Aston Warwick
18. Charlie Staines :small_red_triangle_down: 21. Mason Teague
19. J’Maine Hopgood :small_red_triangle_down:
21. Kurt Falls :small_red_triangle_down:
11. Chris Smith :small_red_triangle_down:
COACH
HC Ivan Cleary HC Peter Wallace HC Jono Rolfe
AC Andrew Webster AC Kevin Kingston
AC Cameron Ciraldo

  :small_orange_diamond: Positional Change       :small_red_triangle: Moved into squad       :small_red_triangle_down: Moved out of Squad       Injury or Medical Related

Match Officials

Telstra Premiership K.O.E NSW Cup Jersey Flegg Cup
Referee Gerard Sutton TBA TBA
Sideline Official Darian Furner TBA TBA
David Munro TBA TBA
Video Referee Grant Atkins - -

Referee Success Rate

Referee Active Since 2022 Overall Pen. For Pen. Against Ratio
Gerard Sutton 2009 (2/3) 66.66% (26/46) 57.78% 174 179.5 0.97

:mega: Team List and Match Officials have been updated.

TELSTRA PREMIERSHIP

KNOCK OUT EFFECT NSW CUP

JERSEY FLEGG CUP

Bit of spice being created for this.

Dylan is not a certainty to play apparently, he has a sternum issue from last week.

I would imagine that they would be considering Sunia Turuva at fullback. Edwards is a tough cookie, but we don’t need to be taking risks so close to the finals. One more win we have all but secured the Minor Premiership.

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Still a strong looking side we have named considering who are out. Yes, suspect may be a change or two by kick-off.
For the $torm, I see they have named Gerard Sutton in their lineup as ref :open_mouth:

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Team Updated

Panthers coach Ivan Cleary has updated his squad for Thursday night’s match against Melbourne at BlueBet Stadium.

Having made his NRL debut from the interchange last week, Sunia Turuva will start on the wing against the Storm, in place of Taylan May , who has been ruled out with a shoulder injury.

In a boost for the Panthers, back rower Viliame Kikau has been cleared of a hip complaint and will take his place in the starting side, while Robert Jennings has been promoted into the 17.

The Panthers will wear the 2022 Home Jersey.

I don’t understand Jennings in the 17 other then to think Edwards may be a high risk to play and they are thinking if he struggles move Crichton to FB and Jennings to Centre

Also we will be rotating our forwards quite a bit because none of Eisenhuth, Lenui or Sorenson play big minutes nor does Leota

Guess our backs will be doing plenty of coming out of our red zone

Its cool and overcast which will help both sides big forwards, should be an amazing crowd and should be close for a long way.

Panthers on the back of the home crowd but just.

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I agree Jennings in the 17 is odd, I know Ivan is resting and rotating, but Jennings just doesn’t cut it for me.

A forward would have been a better choice (Smith or Smith?), Staines would have been a more comfortable back choice. If you wanted to blood anew guy, Jenkins and possibly Geyer say hello.

Gee I hate Thursday night games, good thing I work from home most days, so able to attend in person. Back pre 2020 I could never make Thursday night games.

Edwards ruled out. Staines comes in.
Hope we play Chricton at fullback.

Can’t really fault Staines, our edge and middle defence seems to have gone missing.

Crighton in particular is having an ordinary game.

Hope they get a good talking to at half time and turn this around.

Score line isn’t good, but also not a good reflection of the game. It is mostly luck that has contributed to the Storm points.

In saying that, we are really noticing our missing players tonight, especially in attack.

Hopefully Ivan has something up his sleeve to get the boys up.

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I can’t fault our effort, but as I alluded to at half time, we really noticed our missing players tonight.

Put it down as a learning experience, and start planning for next week.

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

Watching from home it never felt like we were going to trouble the scoreboard. Seemed to have a good amount of possession and territory but ineffective in building pressure and getting across the line.

Kicking game wasn’t the strongest - often thought kicks were too shallow (5-10 m out from the try line seemed to be the common ploy). 2 out of 3 of the forced drop outs were from Api and Critter.

Not sure if it was my perception of this game only, but felt like the wingers were more cramped for space this game?

Still not sure why Falls isn’t in the side. Salmon deserves a spot in the side IMO, but I think that’s #14.

Hopefully Moses’ hamstring isn’t too bad. Looks like Martin might be struggling to play again.

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a shutout the first time in seven years eh. Injuries are catching up with us and it’s showing.

Can’t help feeling last week’s matchup and in particular, the 'stuart ’ incident took more out of us than we realise ! Mind you credit to Storm, they too have a significant casualty list.

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there was a lot of good, bad and ugly in that game last night

Lets deal with the good.

It was pleasing to see when they raced to 16, they were unable to add to that scoreline

Good to see Martin, Api and Yeo lead

The Bad

I am struggling to understand still after the game why you would play Staines at 1 and replace him with Crichton with a short time to go and bring on Jennings. If you wanted Staines at 1, leave him there, the game was lost when he went off.

Too as i have remarked looks wounded to me and has lost all ferocity in his runs. Leniu is not improving at all and offers nothing when he comes on, i am quite surprised by his lack of game time and his non improvement.

The very bad is we may have lost Martin for some time if not the season and i hope the scans today show he is better than feared.

The Ugly

i was always led to believe a defender had to clear the ruck once a tackle was complete and now i notice Storms players laying prostrate on the ground behind the attacker which impedes options from dummy half

Storm mysteriously had players feigning head injuries whenever under attack, giving time for them to reset.

That is about them, now about us

SOS was awful last night with almost all he did but he wasn’t alone, Crichton and Too were like strangers, Salmon who i had challenged about his passing game just doesn’t have one.

If it wasn’t for Api.Yeo and Martin we would have been lapped last night…god knows what we will do without Api next year.

The real ugly for us was how we couldn’t score…sure i get it we are missing key players but they were missing a few as well.

We looked worse than clunky, our options were terrible in attack.

Just listened to the press conference and Cleary used the old, the young blokes will learn from the game line, which is wearing a bit thin

Only young bloke in the side was the winger from Fiji…all others were either GF players or been in the system for some time

Edwards appears to be out again next week…maybe just maybe Cleary will stick Crichton at FB and leave Staines in the sheds along with Jennings

Put Sorenson at Centre and bring in Smith for Martin.

We need some more forwards badly because Lenui is coming up short Eisenhuth just cannot play big minutes and is almost just like Tamou, big but thats it.

I couldn’t care less about the minor premiership but we need to start getting our game in order before the finals series.

at the moment we are heading in the wrong direction IMO and we need a reset and fast because losing can become as infectious as winning and we have 2 really tough games to come against Souths and Cowboys where they will not show any respect to us.

2 Likes

Curious to me we always suffer injuries at the pointed end of the season.
Is it just because the opposition lifts, we relax, or our fitness levels decline ?
Sure there has been some squad rotation and suspensions
to contend with but bloody Nora, we are stale and need to freshen up.

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Agree with your analysis here. We are really going to miss Api….I do not understand why Staines and Jennings are anywhere near first grade. A winger on the bench is a waste IMO….unless he’s a young bloke there to gain experience as they did with Turuva last week. On a positive note the effort last night was great especially in the second half not sure Kickapoo is fully fit though I would have left him out for another week or two will need him fully fit and firing for the finals. Finally thought Sully ran the ball on 5th tackle a bit too often when a kick and repeat set would have been a better option.

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Regardless what happened on the field, and the players we had missing, I think we would have beaten a lot of teams last night.

Unfortunately Melbourne are one of the few teams who can defend that well under that much pressure, and we were unable to crack them. Kudos to Munster in particular, who seemed to be in the right place at the right time whenever we got close to scoring.

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