The Panthers biggest attacking asset are Cleary's bombs.It was the reason why we lost week 1.
We must address this issue more than anything. We can't afford to let him bomb away without any pressure. I think there are two ways of addressing the issue to try to at least hasten his kicks without giving Cleary enough time to weigh the ball and turn it on its belly which ultimately makes it wobble when coming down.
At the end of every set we should have 2nd marker darting out in his direction and secondly Laney going after him arms raised. They will defo use blockers (they don't only use one but 2 and 3 at times) so we need at least 2 players going after him.
Apart from that Gutho should move towards the ball to try defuse himself or at least cover in case the ball is dropped to kill the play.
Another option would be for Bails switching with Waqa on the 5th tackle when the Panthers are far out because he's safer under the high ball.
Over to you, Bushies.
Replies
Your first idea is the right one, you have to pressure him from his right side, that's Lane and that's Reed from dummy half. Make him kick more towards the side line than down the left side of the midline.
Simonssen, if he plays, will he playing left centre for Opacic, not right centre.
Bottom line Waqa just has to catch them, as Billy Slater said, he's gotta want the ball to come to him, not try to avoid it.
The main thing is to pressure Cleary.
We have seen in origin how much he goes missing when he is put under pressure.
Put more pressure on him and they will look to Luai who can't kick anywhere hear as good as Cleary.
100% agree.
All those things are fine, the other thing is to learn to catch it.
I used tennis balls in the wind hit high with tennis racquets in cricket catching drills, the balance and watching the ball being the crucial ingredient, I noticed that the most effective way was catching the ball very low in its final directory. Tennis Balls are light and you need very soft hands, again the best way was to bring it into your body and almost smother it. These drills can/could be replicated using a match weighted ball at a beach environment with the wind blowing, all kickers learning to do it and the whole backline learning to catch them. Thinking about this for football maybe on a hard surface maybe better as the way the ball reacts when it bounces is worth learning as well (if possible but they can maybe read it to a certain extent). Trying the catcher to turn out on it also becomes important to get the knock back as against the knock on.Also making sure the appropriate support is around the kicker.
They would learn to watch the ball into them and especially its flight in the last couple of metres.
People may note that Gutherson went through a little horror patch with catching these kicks and now has a very exaggerated approach with arms outstretched when lining up his catches. Everyone will work out their own approach and with practice catch most. Slater's comment is right, you have to own it and not let it own you.
Finally it shows what a strategic thinker Cleary is and people should study all his games to see his body movements before he does things, especially his roll in kicks behind the line. If you noted on TV last night Lua gives away what he is doing with his eyes to the player he is kicking for. The defensive line needs to again try and read this as that is where they do their damage.
Sorry for being boring! One final thing that bounce when the ball reacts seems to be something the Penrith players get right a lot, my guess is they practice exactly that as well as a lot of blocking moves in general play on loose balls.
Watching a highlights package for Reed's 100th, it was surprising how many tries were scored off a wrap around with Junior. If it wasn't Reed scoring directly it was him throwing the last pass. We need to see more of this in the red zone and at Luai's side. He is a poor defender and we have to work him over on that side.
I also think we need to work a side over for a few rucks in a row. Send a lot of traffic at Cleary then change to then other side and target Luai. We have the second rowers to hit a gap and off load. It also wouldn't hurt to have RCG run a few times a row at Cleary. Really let him know he's being targeted.