Finals Week 2

[BroncsFan]

The issue isn't the free interchange (although it should be restricted to the affected player only) it's the fact that every time a player lies down now the idiot fucking admin make it reportable and give them a free interchange.

No way in hell should the shot on JFH have been 'reportable', but because the soft **** laid down for 5mins the idiot fucking bunker decided to give them a penalty and the only way they can do that is by making the play a 'reportable' offence.

 

[Kimlo]

How was any of this ever the 'spirit' behind the rule?

The rule is good "in theory". If a player gets taken out for the game from foul play, the team shouldn't cop an interchange loss because of foul play.

It's been abused two fold now, the refs put absolutely anything on report now, and Bellamy figured out a loophole that you can just abuse the rule for 2 free interchanges each time a report incident happens.

It's classic NRL changing officiating on a whim, combined with bad rule writing, leaving scummy teams like Melbourne and Penrith to exploit the daylights out of it.

 

[LittleDavey]

Storm are going to make mince meat out of the Riff based on tonight. Going to be very, very ugly.

 

[BroncosFever]

Ivan Cleary is going to have to swallow his pride and put TPJ on an edge because Kikau gives them sweet **** all against the top sides.

Luai is seemingly getting worse each week, Cleary is playing busted. Melbourne just have to defend to the same level Souths and Parramatta have done and they'll be feeling very confident about getting the result against Penrith who can barely score a try at the minute.

 

[Foordy]

So you can bank HIA interchanges for later in the game now?

depends which jersey you're wearing

 

[Foordy]

Brad Arthur just said "well there's been plenty of whinging in the last couple weeks and they got what they wanted" and "might've helped them tonight". Does the NRL not know everyone notices this shit?

I think you know the answer to that ... the NRL think the fans are morons and believe every bit of shit Annesley spins on a weekly basis

 

[Morkel]

NRL: We go it right, free interchange.

NRL: We got it wrong, it was their 8th interchange but we gave him the wrong card. But still got it right.

NRL: And yeah the rule isn't what we intended, but we won't close the loophole until a team we don't like exploits it (looks in the direction of Brisbane).

 

[Super Freak]

Watching the replay, there were 4 blatant penalties the Eels were denied that would have changed the game.

The first one I don't actually have a problem with as Moses played for the penalty. He was chasing a kick, Kikau changes his line and acts as a blocker and collides with Kikau. Moses was playing for the penalty, but that's been a penalty all year and it was a penalty last week when Morris was penalized for doing the same thing. I don't have a problem with that not being a penalty, but when it's been a penalty all year, you have to blow it.

That would have given the Eels a shot at goal right in front.

The second one is with 12 minutes remaining when Eels made that break down right side. Ferguson kicks the ball back in to Penisini. Naden is chasing from behind and instead of Penisini being allowed to have a clear grab at the ball which he is entitled to, Naden instead interferes with him. How he does it is interesting. He wraps one arm around Penisini and the other arm he uses to bat away the ball, which he does and it goes forward. But Penisini is effectively tackled without the ball. How the officials missed this is baffling. It should have been 10 in the bin and at the very least, Eels ball for a knock on but nope it's play on.

The third one is when Gutherson is attempting to go over in the corner, there was a clear strip of the ball by the Panthers defender which wasn't in the act of scoring and with more than one in the tackle. Penalty and a chance to level the scores is what the Eels should have got. Nope, play on.

The fourth one is with under two minutes remaining and Capewell bats down the ball and when he regathers the ball, he kicks it away to deliberately waste time. That's a penalty, but nope Klein ignores that as well.

Meanwhile the Panthers certainly weren't denied penalties when there was an opportunity to give them one.

 

[Big Pete]

In general the game encapsulated everything I dislike about COVID-League. Cynical play one penalties, stoppages and scrappy football due to the amount of fatigue in the game. There's just no way for teams to regroup or change the tempo so even at the highest standard the game turns into a grind.

When I watch Penrith, I'm reminded of Cleary's entire coaching career and how little he's evolved as a coach. The Panthers still play a very plain brand of football where they'll rarely attack outside of that middle third unless they have the space or they need to set the football up for their fifth tackle kick.

When they're desperate for points, they look so unnatural and rely heavily on individual brilliance. Fortunately they have some brilliant talents, but it seems like their best weapons have been coached out of the team. If Penrith are going to make the next step they really need to get Kikau, Crichton and May more involved. I think Ivan's insistence of turning Kikau into an interchange player has impeded his development and denied Penrith from having an inspirational figure in the team. The loss of To'o is also huge and I'm not sure if we're ever going to see a 100% Brian To'o for the rest of the season.

I thought once again the Panthers played beneath themselves. They wouldn't be the first team to put in sub-par performances during the opening week and turn it around but it's going to take a big effort. I'm really keen to see how they respond especially against a Melbourne side that loves playing at Suncorp.

The Eels brought their A-game but without star players Reed Mahoney and Maika Sivo they just lacked the finishing touches to put the Panthers to the sword. There were a couple of key moments that came back to haunt them. One of them was a risky offload from Nathan Brown which invited Penrith straight back into the contest just as they appeared shellshocked. The other was the Shaun Lane line-break where he was 1-1 with Dylan Edwards and instead of backing himself he threw a risky offload that cruelled the Eels momentum.

It was those moments of indecision that hurt the Eels who really needed to play from infront to unsettle the Panthers.

One change that I found interesting at half-time was the decision to have Moses run the ball more. The Eels desperately needed an attacking weapon but the Panthers defence had Moses already well scouted. The change in tactics highlighted a flaw in Moses' game which is his inability to draw and pass to create doubt in defence. Everytime Moses ran, he had minimal support which created little doubt in the Panthers defensive structures. Against the Knights, he identified a mistake in the Knights defensive line and exploited it but when he chose to run, it was merely for the sake of running.

In the first half, Moses did well to match Cleary in terms of fifth tackle plays. The decision to use Mitch as a runner blunted his kicking game and it gave Penrith an edge in the arm wrestle.

The biggest issue for the Eels is that their traditionally a team that likes to play from sideline to sideline. They rely on Mahoney providing Moses with good ball to get on the outside and help get their backs onto the ball as they storm the sideline. That's difficult to do with a lock forward posing as a dummy half and ultimately the responsibility proved too much.

The Eels tried to adjust by giving guys like Cartwright, Matterson, N. Brown more playmaking responsibility but that backfired since they appeared to be playing off-script. There didn't appear to be a specific plan on how to use them or how they were going to help accentuate talent like D. Brown, W. Blake or Ferguson so they would just get in the way of their team mates.

Still, they had a dig and their fans can be proud of that. Penrith move onto face Melbourne in what should be the Grand Final come early.

 

[Morkel]

The NRL hoped the Panthers would get through on their own but when the Eels were performing better than they expected the NRL had to step in and ensure it.

I know it seems like Melbourne are untouchable at the moment but I am really interested to see next week. I would say the NRL fairytale for the Panthers would be their main priority. With their team already being pulled apart (Kikau, Burton, Capewell, already going) you could argue that this is the end of their premiership window and the NRL will want their "played since juniors" story to go all the way.

 

[theshed]

I think Storm will be too good for a Panthers team who are starting to fall back down to earth already. Melbourne will no doubt show why they’re by far the smartest team in the comp and will nullify much of Penriths attack.

Melbourne were probably a bit nervous that eels looked like almost winning that one because they are the closest thing to a challenge for the storm.

 

[BroncsFan]

Watching the replay, there were 4 blatant penalties the Eels were denied that would have changed the game.

The first one I don't actually have a problem with as Moses played for the penalty. He was chasing a kick, Kikau changes his line and acts as a blocker and collides with Kikau. Moses was playing for the penalty, but that's been a penalty all year and it was a penalty last week when Morris was penalized for doing the same thing. I don't have a problem with that not being a penalty, but when it's been a penalty all year, you have to blow it.

That would have given the Eels a shot at goal right in front.

The second one is with 12 minutes remaining when Eels made that break down right side. Ferguson kicks the ball back in to Penisini. Naden is chasing from behind and instead of Penisini being allowed to have a clear grab at the ball which he is entitled to, Naden instead interferes with him. How he does it is interesting. He wraps one arm around Penisini and the other arm he uses to bat away the ball, which he does and it goes forward. But Penisini is effectively tackled without the ball. How the officials missed this is baffling. It should have been 10 in the bin and at the very least, Eels ball for a knock on but nope it's play on.

The third one is when Gutherson is attempting to go over in the corner, there was a clear strip of the ball by the Panthers defender which wasn't in the act of scoring and with more than one in the tackle. Penalty and a chance to level the scores is what the Eels should have got. Nope, play on.

The fourth one is with under two minutes remaining and Capewell bats down the ball and when he regathers the ball, he kicks it away to deliberately waste time. That's a penalty, but nope Klein ignores that as well.

Meanwhile the Panthers certainly weren't denied penalties when there was an opportunity to give them one.

You also missed a high shot on Ipap within the last 10mins.

Happened right in front of the posts about 5m from the try line and wouldve tied the game back up.

Panthers hit Ipap high and then held him up, rather than completing the tackle... this kept ipap off the ground and he was unable to take a dive to get the penalty (which is apparently the only way you can get a penalty nowadays).

 

[Sproj]

You also missed a high shot on Ipap within the last 10mins.

Happened right in front of the posts about 5m from the try line and wouldve tied the game back up.

Panthers hit Ipap high and then held him up, rather than completing the tackle... this kept ipap off the ground and he was unable to take a dive to get the penalty (which is apparently the only way you can get a penalty nowadays).

Absolute farce.

 

[Sproj]

On highlights, did I see Will Smith get penalised for hitting a ‘bit too forceful’? Apparently the rib cage is considered high suddenly again?

 

[mrslong]

Yea the refs sucked hard, but yikes. Ray Stone was horrendous. Reed Mahoney was sorely missed.

 

[Harry Sack]

Yea the refs sucked hard, but yikes. Ray Stone was horrendous. Reed Mahoney was sorely missed.

Absolutely cost them the game IMO. Backrower though isn't he? Not a specialist hooker by any stretch.

 

[LittleDavey]

Felt for the poor bastard big time lastnight. 2 critical errors and a third unfairly penalised. Eels did enough to win that. **** I cannot stand the Panthers' attitude, it stinks to high heaven. Hope the Storm **** them up by 40 next week (and I think they very well could given their week off as opposed to Penrith's bashfest lastnight, that's got to take a hell of a lot out of them).

 

[Renegade]

personally i thought it was a great game last night. Parra unlucky but reality is, they didn't have anything in attack and they had plenty of chances. Stone probably cost them the game, think I can remember at least 3 errors directly attributed to him.

That last 5mins of Panthers defense was nailbiting to watch.