ROUND 7 : PENRITH PANTHERS vs NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS

What is your predicted result for this game??

  • Knights + 13

    Votes: 2 10.5%

  • Knights 1 - 12

    Votes: 3 15.8%

  • Draw

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Panthers 1 - 12

    Votes: 7 36.8%

  • Panthers 13 +

    Votes: 7 36.8%
  • Total voters
    19
  • Poll closed .
The ref was fine last night, Panthers started getting all the 50/50 calls at the end, but by the time it started happening we were already out of it.
 
Still_Nutty said:
IMHO the biggest difference between us and the sides that beat us in every game is line speed - not that the Panthers needed the template, but both the Dragons and Titans showed how to break us down with a sustained and proactive line speed based defence, which we make easy for them to employ with our predictable and one dimension attacking structure.

As others said earlier in this thread - a proactive and consistent pressuring defensive strategy is rewarded by referees in the modern game overall. From my observations, they give less restarts against teams that consistently move up as one, give more time for clearing the ruck and also generally giving a 'skinnier' 10 metres overall during the game. These differences aren't huge individually - half a second here or there to clear the ruck or move off the defensive line and 9 metres instead of 10 over 2 or 3 tackles per set. This isn't a criticism of referees being inconsistent - it's a form of unconscious bias that develops in the 'rhythm' of the game and the top teams use and exploit this to their advantage.

Whilst we talk about their 'illegal tactic' (wrestling, Smith 'refereeing', etc). it is no fluke that the Storm, and Cameron Smith as their leader, were the absolute best exponents of managing and manipulating the playing rhythm in a game. We talk about them being the instigators of all these negative tactics but they are all variations on the same theme of controlling/manipulating/influencing the rhythm of the game to their advantage.

The good teams use this rhythm to get a tactical advantage and I think this was some of what O'Brien spoke to in the presser last night - we had effort in spades last night but we need to develop systems, sophistication and smarts as a squad(to a man) to step up to this level. And we also need a leader in the team who has the capacity to ID and set that rhythm before we can compete with the top 4 and be a premiership contender. Cleary does it for the Panthers... but I'm not sure we have that in our playing roster at the moment?

What I do have is some faith in the fact that O'Brien has the technical smarts and exposure to systems like the Roosters and Storm to know what it looks like and how to do it - it is not an easy journey and there is no quick fix but i do think we can get there over time
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This is a fantastic post. Perfectly put. The difference between trying hard and playing hard.
 
cowboyman said:
It’s actually great to watch them play. Whether they are 5m or 95m from the try line they are throwing it about.

Just a shame the way they carry on with the lair they display.
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Don't want to sound like an old pr!ck (although I do represent that demographic well:oops:)...

Swag (lair) is seen and acknowledged as a positive attribute for younger generations nowadays that is promoted and admired by their peers....by the way they play as a squad at the moment and the energy/camaraderie they have as a playing group I think they've earnt the right to have some swag at the moment:cool:
 
Panthers came in with a good game plan last night, targeting the right players in the right way. Staines was constantly up from the line in Bradman’s face, shutting him down early when it looked he was to receive the ball. Plenty of kicks to Musgrove who took a blinder for one but made a few errors by the end of the game. Penrith are loaded with talent and are using it effectively.
 
Hititup said:
Nah they have commitment and desire running at 100% we don't. If our players can't give that move them on
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Yeah but I’ve never seen a team able to dominate field position, first contact etc every single week to this extent. The thing is about playing this hard is usually a team gets banged up a bit. You can’t back up your A game with your A game every single week, usually the difference between the great teams and the rest is the class to get home anyway on an off week. The Panthers never have an off week. They’re redlining all year with no visible ill effects. The Roosters & Storm, as dominant as they have been, have never had a whole season of playing 70% of every game in the opposition half.

If they’re not juicing than all I can say is my compliments to the players & their conditioning staff.
 
slotmachine said:
Pretty sure what they show on TV isn't what the bunker is necessarily looking at, I think they have have their own feeds independent to what the TV producer decides to show. Which is not to say he got the call right, because they didn't show it to us.

In general over the last year and a bit I think the broadcasters have been told not to linger on controversial calls and to tone down the negativity in general.
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Agree - that has been quite obvious for most of the games I watch...I also notice you don't get the TV replay of a penalty, even when their is quite a significant lull in the play on many occasions now.

A good example last night was the penalty that went against Mann I think, for supposedly taking out Kikau in a kick chase through near the line earlier in the first half. There was about a 30 plus second stoppage (while Cleary had to go and retrieve the ball from behind the dead ball line) but they never showed one replay of the infringement.

I'm not saying if it was or wasn't legit because the original camera angle was pretty fleeting but, with that sort of break in play for a foul, you would usually see at least 1 replay during a break like that in previous seasons.
 
Still_Nutty said:
Agree - that has been quite obvious for most of the games I watch...I also notice you don't get the TV replay of a penalty, even when their is quite a significant lull in the play on many occasions now.

A good example last night was the penalty that went against Mann I think, for supposedly taking out Kikau in a kick chase through near the line earlier in the first half. There was about a 30 plus second stoppage (while Cleary had to go and retrieve the ball from behind the dead ball line) but they never showed one replay of the infringement.

I'm not saying if it was or wasn't legit because the original camera angle was pretty fleeting but, with that sort of break in play for a foul, you would usually see at least 1 replay during a break like that in previous seasons.
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The break was so long for that one, I rewound and it looked pretty obvious. You could say Mann didn't change his line, but his line was sprinting towards the sideline and dropping a shoulder haha.

The funny thing about these endless refereeing arguments is how did Penrith go from being an also ran to a side that the refs help win every game? Did the refs just suddenly decide they were a great side and deserved every 50-50 call? I wish it was that easy, sign the Knights up.

Of course refs will have subconscious bias, and years ago I remember someone unearthed a tipsheet saying watch this player for doing this, and there were questions asked as to whether they were going in with preconceived ideas that became self-fulfilling prophecies. But I think you're mad if you think they go out with the aim of getting the higher ranked side the win ... if anything with the state of the NRL this season, the game is crying out for more upsets.

Oh and personally I prefer the tv coverage not lingering on refereeing calls ... it used to be tedious when every decision was a reason for Phil Gould or Braith Anasta to go on a huge anti-ref rant ... and look what it's created in this forum, more attention on the refereeing than any actual aspect of the match!
 
Captain Planet said:
kikau not taken for a HIA surprised me he was a mess for about 10/15 mins after that knock, goodloss for us more positives than negatives.
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He clearly staggered around and off balance. SHOULD have been taken off. Let's see if Penrith get a sanction. Doubt it.
 
I thought he got up and stepped on the foot of his team mate that made him look like he lost balance and staggered.

It did affect him though.

Klemmer got cited by mrc, will pay a fine though.
 
Nah Kurriboy he staggered andf was steadied by his team mate, then the next two carries he dropped the ball cold and then smacked Kurt around the face with a high shot as he unloaded to Toa for the try but of course Suttor and his gang of deadbeats saw nuthin', as per usual.

We need to start a public appeal with other 'unfavourable' clubs to raise funds to get Suttor's restart whistle shoved into a tight orifice where he can't reach it!
 
I hate how we have player on the bench not used in a game.
Josh King this week.
Brodie a couple of time a few weeks ago.
Our Forwards were clearly out on the feet at certain stages, why not give them a break and bring King on for a big 20mins.
 
Would love to be able to field a full strength squad for as long as penrith have to see what they can do....sick of this chopping and changing every week.
 
daniels said:
Penrith are missing their hooker, their centre is suspended and full back was out for 3 or so weeks with a broken hand.. they still won
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Compare how long their injured players are out compared to ours...we haven't had our full strength squad at all this year and neither did we last year.

So I'll take having the hooker and centres out for a few weeks over our long term injuries we seem to always cop.
 
krustykraz said:
I hate how we have player on the bench not used in a game.
Josh King this week.
Brodie a couple of time a few weeks ago.
Our Forwards were clearly out on the feet at certain stages, why not give them a break and bring King on for a big 20mins.
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Agree. We looked shattered second half.
 
On replay that scrum try really shouldn’t have stood. The gap is created by the Penrith players staying bound in the scrum and pushing our entire pack out of the way. Surely an obstruction. I don’t really know what we could have done about it, besides blowing up and getting the Bunker to actually look at it.
 
What I'm loving to see now is Ponga spraying anyone who makes defensive mistakes, particularly the young backline. Seen him do it the last couple of games now. Need someone out there doing that and not just staring into the sky or at each other blankly after a try has been scored.
 
People have dismissed KP as lackadaisical, brilliant but lazy, doesn’t care about winning etc. Thing is, no matter how talented, no one becomes as good as he is now without busting their backsides. He wants to be great and he wants to win as much as any other elite player.
 
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