One major point melbourne's tendency to milk for penalties at every opportunity shows is just how damaging a penalty can be nowadays. It is obviously built into their game plan. At one point with 15 to go melbourne were trapped in their own 20 and Joey Johns says "melbourne would love a penalty right about now" it was as if he knew their script to get out of their own end without trying. It happens so often with them.
No matter how far back they are on the field that penalty gets them out of trouble and on the attack with their whole team setup for set play after set play. This invariably results in them scoring in that set of six and if by chance they don't they go searching from tackle 4 onwards for another penalty (ducking into the tackle) or a six again (stepping off the mark to have the markers called as not square, or making it like a player has impeded them) which just about guarantees them scoring.
They are the undisputed masters of milking those momentum turning penalties. When you consider we held the lead on Sunday from the 58th minute - a full 22 minutes repelling wave after wave and milked penalty after milked penalty with bodies missing in their preferred position. To come out the other end victorious, it was perhaps one of the best passages of play in so far as team defensive efforts the Broncos have ever produced.
Paddy said something like "with 6 minutes to go I giggled to myself and said we're not losing this" when I read that I thought with 6 minutes to go all I kept thinking was -these shits will milk a penalty and snatch it from us right at the death. I just knew how clinical those bastards were when they got that unfair call.
Despite all that, we managed to hold on and like I said in an earlier post as that ball sailed towards the centre of the field I knew that Riki was going to intercept it. As soon as it left Katoa's hands I knew Jordon was getting that ball. That was when the blind panic and fear left me, that was the exact moment I knew we had it in the bag.
That was when the line I had been finishing each and every one of my posts in the week leading up to the game came true.......
We've got this!!
