NRL Round 8 - Knights Vs Panthers - 2:00pm Sunday, 26st April - McDonald Jones Stadium

I’m not sure why people are saying Penrith in second gear, etc. They played the way they play, next to little no errors, high completions and wear the opposition down. It was a very good game by them.

Errors killed is today and we are missing go forward, that Fizz, Lucus, and Marz provide. So we desperately need at least some of our starters back.
 
Disappointing to fall to 4-4 after starting so well. I think a few boys will learn a lot from that game, the player stats are absolutely as bad as you think they’d be. Some of the highest tackle misses and errors I’ve seen.

With that being said, ESL tried his heart out, hopwood, mcewen and brown looked pretty good. Onto next week, should be a cracker if we get a few of the big boys back.
 
danknights said:
I haven't watched the game yet but some stats that stick out to me is 5-2 ruck infringements. Our PTB speed was 3.67 seconds and panthers 2.92 seconds. That alone tells me we are peeling off quicker but getting pinged whilst Penrith can do what they like in the ruck.
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It was very obvious during the game too
 
danknights said:
I haven't watched the game yet but some stats that stick out to me is 5-2 ruck infringements. Our PTB speed was 3.67 seconds and panthers 2.92 seconds. That alone tells me we are peeling off quicker but getting pinged whilst Penrith can do what they like in the ruck.
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Penrith were pulling through just about every tackle, while in defence they were up in our face before they even got a run up, often getting pushed backwards. They won the ruck easily that’s the difference, nothing to do with the ref
 
Understatement time here, but we have a reserve grade left edge ATM and need Best, Marzhew and Lucas back, badly.

Manuleleua has done okay in his two starts, but Hunt (outside of his first half last week) is a liability that continues to cost us with his errors, week-in-week-out, and there was too much dropped ball from Schiller today.

There are some good signs there though, for when we do get everyone back on deck. Don't give up hope for this season just yet.
 
Dunno what people were expecting today, but it went about as well as I thought. A lot of younger players who have stepped up over the last few weeks looked at the end of their tether ... and Schiller just looked at the start and end of his tether, I guess!

A lot of troops hopefully coming back next week, easier competition, and a good chance to get to 5-4 ... things will look a lot more positive if that happens.
 
At least these are things we can control even with a number of players out. If we hold the ball and stop making silly decisions we will start compete in more games.
 
Spine was abysmal other than a few sugar hits from Brown, though not helped by the rest of the team. If Sharpe isn't 100% I would give him a rest with Ponga presumably coming back. Reckon it'll be the round 1 configuration again, though.

I would pick one position for Hunt (could make an argument for anywhere in the back 5), get the reserve grade jerseys and print his name on one of them so it's his for the rest of the season. Wouldn't even consider bringing him back up until late in the year if form warrants it. There's a good player in there, and I think he has the confidence to not let today break him, but there's far more rocks than diamonds and today was about as bad a performance as you can get. Give him one spot and let him develop out of the spotlight.

Not even going to put brain power into worrying about what to do with the forwards, it'll be shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic no matter what you come up with.
 
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Absolutely not good enough.

Schiller reminding those of us who wanted to forget why he probably won’t be back in firsts for us and Trey really isn’t standing up. Has a stinging run or tackle in him and spends the next 20 catching breath and chasing his tail. All show and no go so far.

Everyone has a lot of work to do.
 
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