I'd love to see a stat for yardage penalties conceded.
Penrith are basically able to keep their opposition in their own half for the whole game.
There never seems to be a reprieve for the opposition byway of a yardage penalty, so Cleary's kicking and the somehow infinite energy from the defensive line just continue to suffocate the opposition.
Pre-six again era, teams could soak up pressure in yardage sets knowing eventually a penalty would come as part of #GameManagement and give them some sort of opportunity in the attacking end... but Penrith's domination of territory stats every game suggests that reprieve just doesnt come in their games.
And that is also why I don't fear them, or even really rate their apparent dominance on the competition. Looking at stats throughout the year, the opportunities they get (field position, tackles in the opposition 20 etc) are way up there, they win so many games because the opportunities for points get handed to them on a platter, and they just wait for the opposition to fatigue and then score the points. Yes, a lot of it comes down to the work their back 3 do, and Cleary's kicking game, but the work they are allowed to do in the ruck and as a defensive line (off-side, leaving early) is a luxury that they've benefited from since their "dominance" started. Most other teams would look just as potent if given the same opportunities (except the Tigers apparently who have also had a high number of opportunities but can't convert them).
On the opposite side of the spectrum, the Broncos were way down the list on the number of opportunities. But it's almost like our trainers have identified this fact and have built a game plan around attacking from anywhere. The "supports" from Briers is obviously a critical element of this, as it means even in our own end, there is second-guessing from the defence on who will get the ball (and whether they will hold it or pass it), keep the defence spread out and therefore not able to tackle as dominantly. This in turn leads to quicker play-the-balls or retreating defences, which is exactly what Walsh needs in order to dig in and make them panic. As a result, we have scored the second most points of any team this season, despite having a fraction of the statistical opportunities.
Put that together, and the supports we run with
should mean that Penrith aren't able to gang-tackle as often or as dominantly as they normally would, which would make any extra efforts (at slowing down etc) far more transparent to the referees, who will often act on how a ruck
looks as opposed to whether it's within the rules (which is also what happened against the Storm, their tactics became obvious and the refs reacted accordingly). It also means that, even if we are pinned down our end most of the time, we still have the ability to attack and score points with those limited opportunities.
TLDR, the Panthers are the masters at forcing enough opportunities through fatigue and field position that the points are almost inevitable. But the Broncos can score just as many points with far fewer opportunities, and can attack from anywhere, regardless of position. We're literally the anti-Panthers.
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