Finals Week 2 vs Warriors - 4:05pm Sunday 20th of September - Eden Park

Brad tighe said:
I really like how crouch has developed. He was actually pretty huge for us against the bunnies. Another pre season he could be a starter with Hopwood if we had injuries.
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His scramble effort to get under Fifita and save that try was nice. Also showed some great hands for a big guy when Ponga made that half break and tough offload back inside.
 
Also IF (they won’t) charge Cleary for today’s game and he gets a suspension, what’s the bet they let him serve it in the week off? 😆
 
At full strength, I’d be high hopes on winning the whole thing. I do think our outs bring us back to much of the pack.

Any team on their day can win this.

Panthers come back to the back if they lose Cleary to injury or suspension.

Roosters did well against Penrith - probably a Sam Walker away from a win. (I can’t fathom the poor execution of a/ trying to shut down Cleary from close range, b) failure to set up for their own shot and c) how awful DCE attempt was. )

Dolphins hard to get a gauge on - Warriors were poor.

Wahs look done - but can see them getting up for one last home game - they haven’t had to travel for a month. Will work in their favour.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
I was most impressed by the Dolphins this weekend tbh. They were under the pump for ages and their execution in attack is terrific.
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They looked good. What was it, 5 tries to 1 or something and a thousand penalty goals to make it look a bit closer.

Dolphins pretty much had a free crack at this game - nothing to lose, away from home, they’ll play another game of finals regardless of the outcome. Absolutely the ideal scenario for your first finals game.

Will be interesting to see how they deal with the pressures of a home sudden death final for a spot in the GF - biggest game in clubs history. That’ll really tell us where they are at.
 
Yep and that has historically been the only way to compete with or beat Penrith in big games, the way the Dolphins play. The teams that try to mimic Penrith's game model and beat them at it have been like shelling peas for them. You can't out-Penrith Penrith.

It's the ultimate "easier said than done", but you need to be able to keep your foot down with the defensive desperation for the full 80 minutes, and then have multiple of the most dangerous strike players in the game on your side, the guys for whom what are small opportunities for other players are massive ones for them. Brisbane did it with individual brilliance and a few incredible specimens who could punch holes through the middle. The Dolphins need to rely more on their execution & on their backs taking advantage of fatigue kicking in because their middles don't lay much of a platform at all (sincere question, is Herbie Farnworth a top 5 player in the NRL?), so it will be very interesting to see if they can hang with them too.

And I will be watching closely because let's be real, as excited as we are about some of your young blokes, we are not going to be able to get the better of Penrith through the middle next season. We'll be looking to get to the point where our forwards can stay in the fight against them, so the backs can do the rest.
 
Tom Hill said:
As much as I hate to say it, I can't see anyone knocking over Penrith or dolphins in a prelim.
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The scoreline flattered the Roosters to be honest, a lucky intercept by Mark and Jenkins for whatever reason not pinning the ears back and going in a few inches and being held up made it a bit closer. Props to the Roosters for trying of course. I think Penrith left a few tries on the table.
 
bremsstrahlung said:
They looked good. What was it, 5 tries to 1 or something and a thousand penalty goals to make it look a bit closer.

Dolphins pretty much had a free crack at this game - nothing to lose, away from home, they’ll play another game of finals regardless of the outcome. Absolutely the ideal scenario for your first finals game.

Will be interesting to see how they deal with the pressures of a home sudden death final for a spot in the GF - biggest game in clubs history. That’ll really tell us where they are at.
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Yeah I agree with this … for all the roll on the Warriors forwards had, they didn’t throw too much in the way of attack at the Dolphins. If the Warriors hadn’t kicked those goals, I don’t see them scoring many points from the taps and kick for touches.

Credit to the Dolphins defence of course … but I’m interested to see how they go in week 3, I think the jury’s out.
 
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