Jaxen Egar has his work cut out for him playing back to back in cup and Flegg 
Yes I know he will probably drop out of one or the other once the first grade squad is reduced.
Back to firsts - last week I said âbeware the wounded rooster â this week itâs âbeware the wounded panther.
I am predicting we keep Melbourne scoreless.
That would be MASSIVE, iâm not so convinced as our timing in both attack and defense appears to still be a work in progress based on last week. I do hope though, we come out and treat this one like a GF rematch, lets see where we are at when we take our game to maximum level.
I think we will see a much better performance than last week. Winning the game, or keeping the Storm scoreless might still be a bit of a stretch though. Not that Iâd complain if it happened.
Any word on Laurie? Heâs out to an âundisclosed injuryâ
Jenko at FB
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary has updated his squad for the Round 3 clash against Melbourne Storm at AAMI Park on Thursday night.
Tom Jenkins will start at fullback to replace Daine Laurie, who has been ruled out with injury.
International forward Isaiah Papaliâi also returns to the side after missing last weekâs match against the Roosters.
If Jenko runs out at fullback, what a redemption story we have unfolding in front of our eyes.
Dumped by Newcastle, train and trial with St Marys. Trial run the Penrith nsw cup. 2nd tier NSW Cup contract, then a first grade development contract, then running out on first grade to take the place of one of our most important players.
All this in 3 months and in as many games.
I wish home well and hope he plays well.
Blaze replaces Schneider on the bench.
Unusually Casey is named as number 24, earlier in the week was number 2?
An error, or is Jessie replacing Casey (another error?)
Last thing we needed was to lose Cleary early. This could get ugly!!!
I have to say Iâm stunned!!!
At 14-0 down without Cleary I thought we were looking at a cricket score.
Cole & Jenkins have both shown their value in the latter part of the first half, giving us a sniff of an upset.
I am so proud with that 2nd 20 minutes.
To see Cole step up, Jenkins step up, Kenny barking orders, Yeo stepping into Clearys role in attack, Smith stepping into Yeoâs role. Henry running possessed, need I go on?
Good effort, especially after losing Cleary early. We would have beaten a lot of teams tonight.
This is such a weird feeling, never have I been so satisfied with a loss. So proud of the boys
Anyone remember how Cleary and Maloney played together? Maloney was the main guy, and Nathan often struggled to find a way to be a âRobinâ. I think we saw Jack Cole unhinged tonight. He was freed up. You can imagine how hard it is for young blokes.
All during the lower grades, theyâve been required to be âthe guyâ, and suddenly they are put in first grade and have to find a way to be a deputy. Really great signs by the squad as a whole, and of course - they never give up.
It just sucks the boys couldnt find a way to get the W.
Looking back on the game this morning, what stands out to me most is that our systems & team first mentality stood up against the competition favourites, even with Cleary getting injured early, and Edwards out of the game completely. Good signs for the season ahead.
It is rare to see Penrith start so badly, even before these recent âgolden yearsâ; with so many things going wrong on Thursday â dumb penalties due to stupidity in the ruck; twice kicks from penalties not finding touch; missed tackles letting in the first try; rampant six-agains. It was hard to keep watching. We heard all week how they learnt so much from last week, so I was wondering what exactly did they learn.
So the comeback was something to savour, with so many new faces and unfamiliar combinations, plus a fullback who has never played fullback. And it was encouraging to see Coleâs ticker after his diabolical start.
Is it my imagination, or did Leota lack penetration?
Clearyâs absence, on top of Edwardâs injury (and Crichton leaving) left us with no kicker â 5 tries each, and lose by 6.
The most damning conclusion is that we must be the most susceptible team in the NRL to a bomb. We seen utterly unable to contest any high kick, and probably have one of the shortest backlines in the comp. These last two games have exposed this frailty, and you can bet that each team that we play will exploit it.
Is there a special rule that lets Munster lie on a player for twice as long as allowed, and to keep pushing them back after the tackle is completed? The NRL is supposed to be tightening up on the ruck, but we were penalised once when their ball player scrambled forward a few metres into our marker who was standing his ground â and then the freaking ref penalises us for ruck interference; WTF. I look forward to the day when every play-the-ball takes place on the spot on which the tackle was completed. At least we werenât penalised for rolling the ball in the ruck.
From my inexpert viewpoint, our comeback was due to the experienced players standing up and to the whole lot playing as a team (one of our strengths over recent years). The rapid fire passing was also a joy to watch.
There are indeed good signs from that match, but we need to quickly start putting together sequences of wins. And our defence is crying out for the impenetrability that we have become used to.
Maybe this could be a different thread â we have heard ad nauseam over many years about our extraordinary junior strength and consequent successful systems. 2022 was a year to savour. But Iâve just looked at the juniors standings, and the Ball and Matts are terrible. We donât even seem to be competitive. That doesnât inspire confidence for our top grades in a few years time. What gives?
Like most I was very disappointed with last week vs chooks, as we played badly and then amazingly almost came back to tie it up on the bell.
Last night was a very different experience, with us accepting a defeat as a positive for us for the long game. We clearly made errors and not finding touch twice was terrible, $torm are almost unbeatable at home, we had players out and in-game injuries, plus a few early penalties and guess agains put us on the backfoot.
I think there were good signs as we build into 2025. I suggest the 2 teams are likely to be there in the big games, and we should not fear them in Sept/Oct. As I said after round 1, 17 wins is the ârequirementâ for a top 2 finish based on recent seasons - we may be 1-2, but we need to win 16 more!
Onwards & upwards.
The team really had the blowtorch applied this week, already missing Edwards, then losing Laurie late in the week, it was a big ask to have Jenkins play out of position at Fullback:
Then losing Cleary in the 8th minutes just compounded the problem. I would imagine in the thought in the back of most of fans minds was we were going to be on the end of a flogging.
But as said here already, the system held up. After conceding 14 points we held Melbourne scoreless in the first half, even returning serve with a double from Alamoti.
The reshuffle stated taking effect in the second half and with Melbourne holding the lead, the pressure was on us to deliver, and they came so close to knocking off Melbourne.
It was great seeing Yeo and Kenny step up and help guide the side around, it helped sharpen the attack with two inexperienced halves.
I think we should take the positives away from this game. Even without our big guns out we still can even shake the foundation of the competition favourites.
Agree with all comments about our effort to stay in the game. That sin bin at the end was farcicalâŚHOWEVER there were 2 moments in the game that really grate on me and it is typical of Bellamy and the StormâŚfinding new ways to âtake outâ the key opposition.
Leaving the NC incident aloneâŚThe Munster Hip Drop on Marto, OK it wasnât the conventional hip drop, but he used his knees to attack the anklesâŚItâs the same friggen thing.
Then the Harry Grub i mean Grant incident on Yeo, OK he was trying to get a penalty, but the impact on Yeo with his back turned is no different to hitting someone after they have passed the ball, they relax and donât expect to take a dog shot. Yeoâs reaction told the story, he doesnât abuse anyone, but geez he gave it to grubâŚi mean Grant.
Iâm getting a bit concerned with this as it definitely appears so Pete. Unless he is just preparing for the long haul of the season and letting the young guns aim up early, but he needs to get back to being Moses, we need him more than ever now.
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