[2022] Trial Panthers v Eels - Game Day Thread

Not too surprising really. Their A team against our B team.

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My god Koroisau is painful to watch. I know it’s only a trial but he looks totally switched off.

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I can’t wait to see Kenny on the field.

Api was woeful.

Hopefully Ivan has the guts to make the right call round one

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Trials are trials, there’s no excuses next week,.

No game either Puss :laughing:

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Good, if the Covid rumours are accurate, we can use a break!

:mega: Full Time results for Telstra Premiership, NSW Cup and Jersey Flegg are updated.

Seems like Api was trying to catch his breathe the entire time he was on. He will come good with a bit of match fitness.

The right side didn’t get many opportunities and looked as though the were missing something but did look better when Smith was given a run.

any news on the severity of MG juniors injury ?

Some observations :-

I thought that Staines showed far more energy than last year. Otherwise, I can’t think of anyone else, Leota excepted, whose performance said ‘pick me’.

From the lack of understanding of the games of their teammates, I wonder if those blokes had met before. Actually, I was surprised that they weren’t wearing nametags!

I’m familiar with the term ‘rusty’ when applied to the start of a new season, but I’ve never seen it so clearly demonstrated as on Saturday night.

Their seemed to be a massive difference in the kicking games of Moses and our punters. He was getting an extra 20m or so every long kick.

Maybe Manly will now be overconfident for round 1.

Does Tago present a defensive liability?

Staines aside, we have a speed deficit in the backs.

Some are saying that Staines played poorly, did he? I couldn’t watch the match, so I honestly do not know.

Dislocated elbow. Expected recovery is about 3-6 weeks. More detailed news will come out after scans are done.

In my book he played fine, as others have said, he was hitting the ball up with gusto, yes occasionally got rolled into his back, and was caught out once or twice in defense. All in all though probably our best back.

To’o in comparison looked very rusty, and Critta looked like he would rather be somewhere else. Tago suffered from being outside of Kikau, who wasn’t switched on form more than a couple on minutes in the game.

Something tells me Tago would go best outside of Martin rather than Kikau, and we know Ivan doesn’t mind swapping his centres and second towers around to find the best combinations.

If that had been a premiership game, Leota would have taken Panther Pride MOTM. He was head and shoulder our best, and played high minutes (60-80) to boot.

As has previously been said, Hopegood played a good game, and shows he should be a good bench player.

Ivan seems to be testing Salmon as a utility, but to be honest he hasn’t impressed either week in either the halves, hooker or second row. He can fill in I guess, but doesn’t seem of first grade quality in any role.

Chris Smith was probably next best, had some power and aggression in his runs.

Eisenhuth looked better than last week, but still looks well off the pace.

For me it was a tossup between Leota and Sorensen.

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Sorensen has been a solid player since he joined the club.

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