2025 Season

Kiraz I forgive the club for, nobody saw it. The Bulldogs took him back because he was a local, wanted to come home & was a cheap body to fill out the roster. Gus freely admits they barely looked at his tape before signing him. He was the worst of our outside backs in Cup in yardage and within two seasons he became one of the very best at it in the NRL at the Dogs. Nobody called it. Props to him for identifying the skill which would make him a multi millionaire (he’s not that quick or a great try scorer, so he needs to be an elite worker) and devoting everything to getting good at it.

Even if he broke through with us he probably would have wanted to go back to Sydney anyway. I just try to look at it as a nice footy story, a kid nobody really thought that much of who may very well end up playing for the Blues.
 
Owey said:
Typical Penrith finals performance. Only up by 4 at half time, but they will be VERY comfortable where they sit.
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Yep. Another annal in the Moses/Cleary debate this one.

Dropped into any random team in the comp, Moses is better. Rep footy, Moses is better. You want to watch a team that can put a cricket score on the other team and give you a sick highlight reel, Moses is way better tbh.

If I am starting a team from scratch and want a single player to purpose-build everything else I’m doing around? Give me Nathan Cleary. The only argument against it is that Isaiya Katoa is younger and is a more natural ball player, but he still has a long way to go in terms of the quality of his end of set decision making (and at this stage Katoa’s actually not very good at all at closing out close games, it’s his biggest improvement area).

He honestly beats Smith & Cronk at this stage in terms of implementing this oppressive, pressure-building, extremely hard to beat style of footy. He just doesn’t get bored and everyone else’s role is so much simpler for having him carrying the degree of the decision load he does. I’ve actually been shocked going back and watching old games from the Storm, legit think Cleary executes more clinically than Cronk did (Smithy he’s probably dead even with but I think you can do more to influence the key decision points of the game at 7).

I think this is going to end something like 26-8, Penrith will look like they never got out of third gear. And the Wahs will feel like they did everything they could.
 
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HarVeeGee13 said:
Yep. Another annal in the Moses/Cleary debate this one.

Dropped into any random team in the comp, Moses is better. Rep footy, Moses is better. You want to watch a team that can put a cricket score on the other team and give you a sick highlight reel, Moses is way better tbh.

If I am starting a team from scratch and want a single player to purpose-build everything else I’m doing around? Give me Nathan Cleary. The only argument against it is that Isaiya Katoa is younger and is a more natural ball player, but he still has a long way to go in terms of the quality of his end of set decision making (and at this stage Katoa’s actually not very good at all at closing out close games, it’s his biggest improvement area).

He honestly beats Smith & Cronk at this stage in terms of implementing this oppressive, pressure-building, extremely hard to beat style of footy. He just doesn’t get bored and everyone else’s role is so much simpler for having him carrying the degree of the decision load he does. I’ve actually been shocked going back and watching old games from them, legit think Cleary executes more clinically than Cronk did (Smithy he’s probably dead even with but I think you can do more to influence the key decision points of the game at 7).

I think this is going to end something like 26-8, Penrith will look like they never got out of third gear. And the Wahs will feel like they did everything they could.
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It went pretty much how you said!!

Nsw have tried to half play Panthers way over the last five years but it has only ever half worked. I think the Cleary's need time to implement their plan, but it is so hard to beat at club level.
 
And to be clear, last bet I had on rugby league was Matt Prior as Churchill medallist in the 2016 GF. I'll always believe he was better than Lewis in the decider. However, he wasn't as good as Fifita, but it political he didn't get it.
 
Sandon seemed to do great against the Storm. Think he may have legitimately been a difference in the game if he played.
 
I think Savala’s defence is part of it too (allegedly they think he’ll transition to 13 as he develops), but gee he was pretty bad. I don’t think his boot is even *that* big tbh, he’s certainly no Clifford or Burton. Not sure it’s good enough it should get him picked given he’s a very NSW Cup player as a ball player etc. And Walker I think has some habits which aren’t great for a game like this (he’s a superlative momentum/broken play guy, but in terms of working to spots and opening the space in a game like this where you need to earn your chances more, he pulls some weird reins at times).

Trindall easily had the best game of any half out there but AFB’s 2nd stint is probably the main reason Cronulla won. Alpha front rowers stay the most valuable players besides elite controlling #7’s in finals games.
 
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