Do you think they would be resting multiple weeks though if not injured?
My gosh, the difference between Crichton and Edwards in defence is huge.
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Very ordinary tonight. Hopefully it is a huge wake up call for us.
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Critta just doesnāt excite me as fullback., Hopefully thatās our bad game out of the way for the year.
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There is so much more effort from Dyl in defence. Heās so often sprinting across the field to try and get to the tackle. Lots of jogging across tonight.
A few misreads in direction from scrum as well.
Letās hope Kenny, Sorro and Tago are back on deck soon. Luai looks gone for the year.
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Panther Pride Man of the Match voting is now open I think so. Kenny and Sorensen have had some heavy workloads this year. Saw Kenny sitting in the stands at the game and looked fit as a fiddle, if anything, he looked pissed that he wasnāt out there.
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Hope so mate. Iāve mentioned plenty of times wanting to see Soni on for longer minutes. I think heās a wasted spot coming on for 10-15 minutes at the end. Tries too much in too short of a time and canāt build into anything. That said, Kenny is far and away our best hooker. Donāt know what the size difference is, but he sure has a lot more defensive impact and crisper delivery. Iād still love to see Soni on maybe 10-20 minutes at back end of each half, or drop him entirely for Salmon (anyone have thoughts on why heās out entirely atm?)
Iāll be hoping for a Dragons upset tomorrow which will secure a #2 finish for Panthers and the ability to rest everyone against the Cowboys. Otherwise we risk 3rd and suspect weāll be finishing the year with a stronger than planned team.
I really donāt handle losses well. Especially when weāre expected to win. I just hate parra so much. From what i understand the absolute best case for Luai would be 3 weeks. (week 2/3 finals). Worst case is like 3 months. If itās anywhere in the middle, obviously thats season done.
The way he looked in that moment, it obviously looked like it was more towards the serious end.
Anyone know if the players are going to be at the pledge event today?
I was half expecting an āambushā from the slimies as they had nothing to lose, & for the most part their carefree play paid off & nothing much went our way. The ref left his whistle in his kitbag & the ruck was terrible. A couple of breaks thru the middle & a pat-back try happened, but their other tries all came from getting thru on the outside.
I think we rolled the dice on Peachey just once too much &, while we didnāt lose just because of him, his early error seemed to set the tone for the night & he lacks the pace to play in the centres.
Toāo looked to ācoverā for young Jesse & gave Siva a night out as a result.
Without Dylan at the back we just lost the numbering up in defence that cost us a lot. That said, Critter was very good in running the ball back & dangerous in attack.
Lauiās injury looks bad & we will surely miss him.
Get our players back & weāll give this a good shake.
Anyway, weāll be playing in finals & the slimies will be in Bali, so itās not all bad.
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Critter has more flash in attack than Dyl, but long way behind on defence.
I think it was Sivos second try(?) that I thought was telling.
McLean and toāo bundled their centre over the the sideline, and unfortunately McLean clocked off a little and didnāt realise they got the offload away to Sivo.
Critter still hasnāt made it over to the sideline to participate in tackling Sivo
Looking at 3-4 weeks. Not as bad as many were predicting in the media.
Looking at 3-4 week return for Luai our efforts should be concentrated on making sure we have good coverage at 6 and winning that first finals match.
Assuming that Kenny is due to return as well as Tago I would maximise the bench to have as many five-eight options as possible I would drop Soni Luke and move Peachey to the bench and have Salmon in the 17.
Ā 6. Jack Cogger
Ā 14. Tyrone Peachey
Ā 15. Lindsay Smith
Ā 16. Spenser Leniu
Ā 17. Jaeman Salmon
That should give us 3 players that can cover the halves spot.
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Just had a better look at the ladder. Iām not sure what I was thinking earlier; must have completely forgotten the +/- or thought they were only 2 points behind. Warriors canāt realistically make second give the ~180 +/- differential.
I hope (purely NRL perspective) the NSW Cup side gets a run against the Cowboys next week and avoid any further injuries.
Steve - Donāt mind that selection thought, although Peach is too hot and cold and carries too high a risk of slapping someone in the face when tackling for the finals. Assuming we make it through to finals and Luai returns; does Cogger stay as #14 in place of Soni in case Luai goes down during a game? Or rely on Salmon and have another big body?
Iād normally prefer another big body but seeing as Luai is a dice roll, I see value in an extra utility.
Although probably depends on the opposition. I donāt think we can afford that luxury against the Broncs and their fwd pack as an example. (Reynolds calf pending)
I think the key here is Utility. Having Peachey and Salmon on the bench pretty much has most roles from the back row to the second row covered with just those two, and both have decent experience playing in five-eight.
I donāt see the utility in Luke to be honest. In the final we can afford to waste a bench space on somebody who we traditionally play for a short time every game. Kenny can more than handle himself at Hooker and has the ability to go the distance (there have been a few golden point games where he has played 80+ minutes). In the event of a injury to Kenny, both Peachey and Salmon can fill in there too (Salmon did a great job at hooker a few rounds ago).
I feel when Luai returns we keep the bench with Peachy and Salmon as utilities.
Peach can have his moments, granted. But he is running more hot than cold as of late. Come finals time, I would want him over somebody with less experience.
If the ruck is refereed like that in the finals, heaven help usā¦Kenny missing in the middle was quite obvious.
1 TO GO BEFORE THE REAL COMP STARTS 
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Panthers Official Update on Jarome Luai.
Soni Luke could find himself in trouble for this if the MRC reviews it.
There was absolutely nothing to take out of that game as a positive for Panthers and despite the Eels winning they could take even less out of it.
I have made my feelings well known about some players but there is a new starter of the kid we played at centreā¦he was simply useless.
He wasnt alone, Peachy is not a first grader nor are Jenkins, Luke and Crichton is no fullback.
I posted last week about the Titans game and how we have been putting in sub par efforts and last night was a disgrace and really showed our fragility in depth of quality players.
Add to our lacklustre and clunky effort, the Luai injury.
Oddly enough of all of our squad the absence of Luai is least concerning but i wish him well in his recovery.
Luai would not have won the game for us last night, we were simply outgunned by a team who wanted a prize scalp before their Mad Money and has me confused as to why Cleary the coach would not have prepared our squad for this
Despite the rubbish the players served up last night, the prize remains in sight and whether you win the Minor Premiership or not has little to no bearing on who wins the GF.
Panthers remain favourites for the title as long as we can get back key players like Kenny, Edwards, Tago, Turuva and Sorenson.
I hope IC rests the entire squad next week, then itās a simple strategy, play and win 3 games and the title is yours.
Its not a time to be alarmed, concerned maybe but i will back Cleary have the finals run measured to the seconds.
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That says about all you need to know about Luke.
How is it anyway considered as āhaving fun with your mateā to stick your finger in his arse.
anyone on this forum who have ever had the urge to do this to 'your mate"?
Can someone please tell me who was the Panther āofficialā who suggested this so i an avoid him/her at all costs!
Surprised the Panthers Officlal didnāt suggest Luke was simply looking for the Eels game plan?
Note to selfā¦never be a mate of Luke.
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