Pre-Game Panthers v Manly [Round 6, 2023]

[Eagle 1]

That’s a good question and after releasing 2 players I’d love to know who’s been upgraded. Must must be Gordy, clear as day what a decent hooker does for a team. Brailey dominated the ruck and dictated play for the knights.

geez..is Gordy ok at tackling tho ?

 

[Eagle 1]

The Panthers are one of the most disciplined teams of the last decade.

They play very low risk football.

It's the old adage. You know exactly what they're going to do. Stopping it is a whole different story.

Sadly, we're just too brittle defensively to keep a side like that at bay. It'll death by a thousand paper cuts.

Just don't want a blowout tho, a tough it out 80min performance is all we ask.

 

[Alfreddo]

Ok so with Schuster back we will be more dangerous in attack. Everything to play for. Win this we cement our place in the top 4. Lose and we could drop to 7th or 8th. Panthers don't go so well when they are dominated or matched in the middle. I think we will see more urgency and a more up tempo game from our boys and who knows perhaps our third golden point game in a row. Don't be surprised if Schuster provides the match winner in this one.

 

[Pete W]

Ok so with Schuster back we will be more dangerous in attack. Everything to play for. Win this we cement our place in the top 4. Lose and we could drop to 7th or 8th. Panthers don't go so well when they are dominated or matched in the middle. I think we will see more urgency and a more up tempo game from our boys and who knows perhaps our third golden point game in a row. Don't be surprised if Schuster provides the match winner in this one.

Mate it's too early on a Monday morning for comedy

 

[Eagle thru 'n' thru]

No Api, No Kikau no worries. Panthers are there for the taking.

 

[Sheikheagle]

No Api, No Kikau no worries. Panthers are there for the taking.

Agree. Hopefully Liam Martin is still
Out they really miss him.

 

[Eagle 1]

Ok so with Schuster back we will be more dangerous in attack. Everything to play for. Win this we cement our place in the top 4. Lose and we could drop to 7th or 8th. Panthers don't go so well when they are dominated or matched in the middle. I think we will see more urgency and a more up tempo game from our boys and who knows perhaps our third golden point game in a row. Don't be surprised if Schuster provides the match winner in this one.

I like your bravado Alfreddo, that rhymes well !!, I'm usually upbeat on every game we play, but we need to dominate in the forward battles before Tom and Schuster can do their thing. So, going of the Knights game, sorry can't see it for now. Just think we are going to be locked into a tackling marathon, poor old Jake he's going to need a break pretty soon.

 

[Spartan Eagle]

We all play well we are a chance against any team. I don't understand why everyone is ****ting themselves.

 

[Spartan Eagle]

We all play well we are a chance against any team. I don't understand why everyone is ****ting themselves.

oops sorry just realised we still have Morgan Harper.

 

[joeboy]

Everyone is talking about consolidating top 4. We have our bye when the majority have not.

If we keep losing/drawing games that we should be winning we will find ourselves out of the 8 in no time

We have won the same amount of games as the team coming 14th. We are not travelling that well either and now we have a draw in our ledger we need to win an extra game otherwise you get leap frogged.

Some players need to be put on notice.

Croker/Parker/Harper et al. Are all horribley inadequate/out of form.

 

[double hoops]

Will our lazy boys want to do any of those effort areas they couldn't be bothered doing against the knights?

 

[Golden Greek]

Lawton did such a good job defensively against Souths. I think we need to start him. We need more tacklers in the starting side. Aloiai is better off the bench. Prefer we move Lawton to 13 as he has a better passing game as well.

If Croker is out.. give young Gordy another run out and Weekes to centre for Harper. Vaega for Tippytoes. That right edge was awful. So was the left but Parker and Garrick have runs on the board....

I agree I think Lawton is our best 13 Aloai off the bench. Hopefully the Schu comes back for Johns who was ordinary last week and Weekes to replace Harper who also was very poor. Tippy toes seems to be out as well so Vaega may come in but not sure if he is upto 1st grade

 

[47MVEagle]

No Api, No Kikau no worries. Panthers are there for the taking.

Also JFH possibly out with a knee injury

 

[double hoops]

The pack could use a freshen up this week. Nella or AOA to have the week off to freshen up and come back with some venom

Keppie starts. Leaning towards Morgz over Sips on the bench.

 

[JakeyB789]

Only one way this game is going and it's not in our favour. We've lost our last 6 vs Penrith, last 7 vs Souths, 6/7 against Melbourne and 6/8 vs Roosters. I had high hopes for this season but after watching us let Parra back into the game multiple times, failing to beat the Bunnies reserve grade forward pack and then the Knights game I don't think we have the right kind of attitude to be winning these games against the top sides. More than happy to be wrong but Penrith are ruthless and we are the opposite

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Only one way this game is going and it's not in our favour. We've lost our last 6 vs Penrith, last 7 vs Souths, 6/7 against Melbourne and 6/8 vs Roosters. I had high hopes for this season but after watching us let Parra back into the game multiple times, failing to beat the Bunnies reserve grade forward pack and then the Knights game I don't think we have the right kind of attitude to be winning these games against the top sides. More than happy to be wrong but Penrith are ruthless and we are the opposite

The Panthers are slick , just like we were at the peak of our powers.

We are rebuilding , I wouldn’t say we are the opposite , but there’s currently a fair gap !!

You are very critical of the games we either just lost or drew , if you think the 2022 would have been blown off the park by both those teams then you’ll see that we have in fact improved.

I just wish more fans would acknowledge that.

 

[mutley]

it might be a new season, new coach, new motivation but some things from some last year are still glaringly obvious, we are weak in the hooker and centre positions,plus depth in the backs there is some untried talent in these positions but poor roster management and retention is holding us back there. Kaeo weekes needs to be in a position be it wing, fullback with tom to centre, centre or 6 when schuster is out getting 15 minute opportunities of the bench at hooker isn't the answer

 

[Daddycool]

After seeing how Harper went on the weekend, he’s a shadow of the player he was a couple of years ago. We need someone to fill in at center until Koula is back. We also need to find a backline position for Weekes. The solution is fairly straightforward; move Tom to center and put Weekes at fullback. It’s only for a month. It also gets Tom out of the middle, where he’s taking it upon himself, to do one out hit ups. No wonder he looks exhausted by the 2nd half.
Then we need Gordon CKT on the bench to spell Croker. We desperately need Gordon’s speed around the ruck and Croker needs a rest.

 

[Deleted member 26876]

The Panthers are slick , just like we were at the peak of our powers.

We are rebuilding , I wouldn’t say we are the opposite , but there’s currently a fair gap !!

You are very critical of the games we either just lost or drew , if you think the 2022 would have been blown off the park by both those teams then you’ll see that we have in fact improved.

I just wish more fans would acknowledge that.

Im not so sure this is a rebuilding. The squad is essentially the same (+ some more backline/hooker depth). At the time it seemed the whole idea of changing up the coaching staff (even if it just ended up being the assistant coaches) was to try keep things fresh for a squad that's largely been stable.

Early 2022 (after a typical slow start) was written off with injuries and just when things began improving it nosedived spectacularly with drama. Is it really fair to use 2022 as a benchmark? For mine 2021 should be the goalpost (with a focus on improving resilience). The comp as a whole is closer, but the top sides are all a little weaker, whereas we have marginably improved our squad.

Trbo is understandably a little hesistant this year, but we have better backline options and our forward pack is about the same. 2022 should be more of a 'worst case scenario' benchmark. Still early days but I don't think the current performances can be labelled an improvement on 2022's yet. Our attack's going to be fine, even though it's still a little inconsistent. But the resilience is non-existent so far this year.

 

[The Who]

We really felt the loss of The Shoe and Koala from our backline this week. The two replacements were outplayed completely. Did John make one run? I was at the match and can only remember him passing the ball and missing tackles.
Tippytoes is as defensively hit and miss as Jorge used to be. Whenever Saab is fit I'd rush him back.
Our forwards should have dominated Newcastle, but didn't. Many of the players lacked the defensive guts of our previous matches, and the team resembled the turnstyle defence of 2022. I fear our early hopes that the coaches would make us a tougher team are fading.
I've read posts praising Tent's performance. Yes, to a degree, but when leading 10-nil he was the player to cough up possession on the second tackle after the re-start close to our line. That signalled the start of 20 minutes of the poorest play I've seen from Manly this season.