Well done BA, the players responded and got them up. Now he needs to back them up against Manly who at the moment are an enigma on how their squad are set to react after the jersey fiasco. Are the players going to gain trust back by making it up to them? Or is there going to be division in the squad that will ruin their season? Have to wait and see.
Another issue is second half we came out looking like we knew we had won and that was enough, no foot on throat mentality, we've scored 30 we can score another 30, instead it was hold the lead. Are we going into next week like we have in the past after big wins? Big headed and thinking we are back on track? We will be heavy favourites so a massive mental test for us, if we have similar performance v Manly like half 1 v Penrith, Souths will worried and top 4 will be wide open. Last night is an semi empty feeling, happy we won and played well, but was not an 80mins performance, it seemed we were better when Cleary was on the park and the momentum gained from when he went off, as soon as half-time came, the momentum stopped as it would but couldn't regain it. Sivo's last try was the by product of the extra man which makes me wonder why they didn't exploit it earlier.
Penrith were brave and incredible in half 2, which could be a bit of a fearther in our cap in some way that we fended them off, but the extra man makes it a tad bit underwhelming that they had 2 disallowed tries and a try and still peppered our line after that, with an extra man and fatigue from covering more ground with one less player in the line. BA got us up and makes it frustrating as the first 40 showed the comp the squad is not the issue *cough* Riccio *cough* we werent playing to our potential the last week, so the squad aint the problem, we have the squad to do very well and also next year with the same 13 bar Mahoney and Opacic (Papali'i could be staying so leave him out) so we can do same next year.
Makes me think imagine a Bennett with this team, getting the mentality right? Is BA off the hook? Well for now yes, but the honeymoon period could be extended with a win at Brooky, it is on him as he shown the league and media the team is talented enough, is he able to steer us to success?
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Yeah exactly Mr. Anguish. Foot was on the throat, they needed to continue pushing it down. Punish Penrith and put for and against into. But it seems we were just happy to get a win, which is fine but we need confidence and form.
If we continue against Manly next week, all is forgiven.
Respectfully, I don't understand the logic here. Are you assuming BA didn't say anything to his players before the first half? Last week, we were much better in the second half than we were the first too.
I think our second half last night shows its mostly on the players as to what attitude they play with. We were awesome in the first half, then dropped to average in the second. BA's theme at half time? Don't take the foot off the pedal - which is exactly what we did. I'm not criticising the players. It would have been difficult last night to find any motivation - the win was in the bag.
I think the senior players need to take more responsibility for our style of play. When we are on, we can clearly challenge any team.
Agree. Hooper on Fox League reported that BA told the team to continue the jugular. It seems the team did not fully implement it. At the end of game interview, Papalii said the same thing. RCG in his interview that they should listen more to their coach and assistant coaches. So the directive is there from the coaches, it appears the senior players on needs to lead by example. Hopefully this mentality will be corrected forever.
How silly . So the players just woke up and without any influence from the coach went out and blitzed it , then at half time they decided to listen to his coaching advice and he managed to demotivate them ?
Or, do we simply have a bunch of players that always get ahead of themselves once they believe it's in the bag , whether that be before the game or at half time when the other teams minus their star half?
Here's the thing. This side showed again a last night that they can beat any team in the comp. So show us!!! Beat Manly, beat Souths, beat the Dogs and beat the Broncos. Do that and you'll actually prove to everyone and yourselves that you're a legitimate chance this year. Get it done!!!
Amen Mutts. If this was the turning of the tide, then let the tide turn and surge to the finals. Being the only side to beat the Panthers this year, and now doing it twice, is huge. But it's worthless if we don't earn the right to play them (or the Storm) in the finals.
We need to be up next week to beat a wounded and passionate Manly in Brookie. Remembering that we nearly always lose to Manly, we're going to have to play out of our skin.
If anything Cap could it be a knock on Arthur? As beating Penrith twice means we are a team good enough to be the best in the comp, but something in between keeping us back? Could it be BA?
Or could lean in his favour of he is making us better than what we should be? Which i doubt.
It is Leadership that is stopping us. The on field Leaders cannot keep the team on point and on game plan. The off field Leader BA is also to blame for not ensuring our on field leader is doing his job or there jobs, and two is not dishing out any consequences for players going off script or playing badly.
Leadership is our problem.
100%
Exactly Bluey. It doesn't go with the anti BA narrative , but the issue lies with the on feild leaders. Merely changing coaches will never fix the issue unles the new coach punts some players. If BA had the balls to replace some of his golden haired boys we'd have the coach we need .
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