Greg86
Great White
Yeah they were all over storm to start with, just could crack em. Melbourne just kept turning up
By the start I mean like the full first 20 or so, not just the very first set.im not sure penrith could have started any better, they got the ball off the original kick off and completed their set
i remember seeing a stat - penrith tackled in melbournes 20 - 26, melbourne 2 - yet melbourne were up 16-0
it was just a strange game
Yeah they were all over storm to start with, just could crack em. Melbourne just kept turning up
Penrith had the talent, but Melbourne's defence rattled them. Cleary never looked liked causing any issues outside of his try... he really needed to be less the general and take on the line more.
Gus and Freddy are the absolute worst. The biggest traversty of the night was that there was no Kayo option to watch the game.
If your D is where our's is at we don't have good foundations of a FG footy side let alone any premiership fundamentals. 40 odd missed tackles each week we were lucky the comp was reduced by 4 rounds another month we're probably 14th!
2003 - penrith roosters #1
2009 - melbourne v parra #2
2005 - wests v cows #3
2004 - dogs v roosters #4
2015 - Cows v broncs #5
Penrith had the talent but lacked the hard edge and experience that got us home against Storm.
Totally agree about the Pennies going wide. No point, they have great forwards. There’s an interview with Ennis recently where he talks about how they basically had a rule before the GF, if he can get the ball to anyone lining up Smith, he does it. They all talked about it. And the outside backs were instructed to run at Smith too. It was the number one part of the gf plan by his account. It’s why Smith ended up making 70 odd tackles that game.how do you focus on smith? teams have been trying that for a decade + and it doesn't work. and even if u are somehow succesful they still have hughes, munster and pappa that can hurt you
you need to play the storm up the middle and be aggressive - our sharks showed the way years ago. panthers attack is excellent and all but from the start they were trying to spread the ball wide and while it almost worked a few times the storms scramble is too good for that to be successful early game
it worked later on with fatigue a factor but too late by then. they just need to defend better in that first half and play a bit more conservatively and they were in with a shot. that half time defect was just too much and the panthers errors really hurt them. maybe pressure and the occasion got to them more than they expected but many panthers fans also think Ivan got his bench a bit wrong and went away from what had worked well for them the past few months. the panthers scraped by against good opposition in their finals game but perhaps the writing was on the wall.
the Storm blew away the raiders in the first 20 mins the week before as well
Totally agree about the Pennies going wide. No point, they have great forwards. There’s an interview with Ennis recently where he talks about how they basically had a rule before the GF, if he can get the ball to anyone lining up Smith, he does it. They all talked about it. And the outside backs were instructed to run at Smith too. It was the number one part of the gf plan by his account. It’s why Smith ended up making 70 odd tackles that game.
I would have thought at age 37, the Panthers would just do the same this year. Smith and Bellamy are the only common denominator in that teams success of the last 20 odd years, and only one of them can take the field. Every team should do it every time they play the storm, and hopefully the guy gets a season ending injury, because he’s bloody old. It’s a contact sport, make him contact a lot.
Ivan Cleary lost the GF, not the 17 players IMO.
I thought Penrith had them stretched on plenty of ocassions in the first 20 by going wide. No idea how they didn't score.
I thought Penrith had them stretched on plenty of ocassions in the first 20 by going wide. No idea how they didn't score.
Thats not Ennis’ take at all. “Cut the head off the snake” are his words. Running at Smith to nullify him was the plan according to him, and after the game Flanno approached Ennis and Lewis and showed them Smiths tackle count, smiles all round. Smith made 67 tackles. He didn’t get out of the way.Smith is a crafty ****, I have faith in him not making many more tackles than he is comfortable making.
Look at one armed Cronk for Roosters, he knew exactly where to be to not get run at.
We were targeting Smith to get their props agitated, not because we thought it would get one over him.
Disciplined high effort defence by Melbourne to recover mixed with paniced decision making by Penrith who were more desperate to score than they should have been early.
Thats not Ennis’ take at all. “Cut the head off the snake” are his words. Running at Smith to nullify him was the plan according to him, and after the game Flanno approached Ennis and Lewis and showed them Smiths tackle count, smiles all round. Smith made 67 tackles. He didn’t get out of the way.
Interesting. Was reading a thread the other day on this topic and a lot of neutrals held 2016 as the best/one of in the nrl era. Genuinely was in the balance the whole time and could have flipped at any moment.
2015 was **** till the finish.
2004 I can't really remember if I'm honest.
2005 is only there for that pass.
2009 will forever be tainted by the cheats.
2003 was great but still not anywhere near as gripping.
2019 was awesome till the 6 again call.
TLDR 2016 was the best.
Highest rating grand final on TV as well.
Those poor people. Our game was ****