BlackWhiteGold
Well-known member
Just a disappointing day all 3 grades losing to a much more professional Panthers club.
To the eye, in both NRL & Cup, the Panthers players just look more physically suitable to their positions (whether size, speed or power) than ours and look way more disciplined in their structures. We knew this beforehand but the gap is still sizable.
We started as the better team but Panthers got a try against the run when Liddiard out-contested Mason taking a cross-field bomb to score. From memory that was one of Mason's few blemishes and was our or one of our best on the day.
A big positive were the performances of Josese Lanyon & Bailey Hodges - both smart & skillful footballers who keep getting better this season as hooker/lock utilities.
Aho has a huge engine and worked his ass off & both edge backrowers were very good, Tony Sukkar and Mitch Taotua.
IMO Sukkar did enough to return to 1st grade next week.
Mitch Taotua is the one who has the physical & athletic traits for NRL as a backrower, I'd just like to see him get involved more in attack as he can break the line, great post contact and has ball skills.
Faainga was found out defensively and we made the same mistakes in defence multiple times getting caught on overlap when our wingers positioned too close to the centre.
PS. Javon Andrews is not ready for NRL. Let him develop in Cup. Still needs to work on his lateral defence and is now being given more license to be our general play kicker but atm his general field kicking is only average.
To the eye, in both NRL & Cup, the Panthers players just look more physically suitable to their positions (whether size, speed or power) than ours and look way more disciplined in their structures. We knew this beforehand but the gap is still sizable.
We started as the better team but Panthers got a try against the run when Liddiard out-contested Mason taking a cross-field bomb to score. From memory that was one of Mason's few blemishes and was our or one of our best on the day.
A big positive were the performances of Josese Lanyon & Bailey Hodges - both smart & skillful footballers who keep getting better this season as hooker/lock utilities.
Aho has a huge engine and worked his ass off & both edge backrowers were very good, Tony Sukkar and Mitch Taotua.
IMO Sukkar did enough to return to 1st grade next week.
Mitch Taotua is the one who has the physical & athletic traits for NRL as a backrower, I'd just like to see him get involved more in attack as he can break the line, great post contact and has ball skills.
Faainga was found out defensively and we made the same mistakes in defence multiple times getting caught on overlap when our wingers positioned too close to the centre.
PS. Javon Andrews is not ready for NRL. Let him develop in Cup. Still needs to work on his lateral defence and is now being given more license to be our general play kicker but atm his general field kicking is only average.
pawsandclaws1
Well-known member
What is your explanation for the bolded text? It seems our recruitment may need to change?
BlackWhiteGold
Well-known member
Wingers with height and/or speed who can finish. Strong, powerful tackle-busting centres. Powerful, fast leg speed middles who a strong post-contact and aggressive in contact. That's a start.
Halbrowne61
Well-known member
Is this the same Penrith organisation we are trying to emulate in the SW of Sydney
Seems we still have a long, long way that
go.
BlackWhiteGold
Well-known member
Yes long way to go in personnel & systems it seems.
Watched the replay of KOE yesterday and i thought Christian Tapou Moors played well . His hit ups were excellent poking through a few times. He's a big lad who didn't look out oof place in cup considering i think he is eligible still for Ball cup.
If we were serious about improving our depth with players who have the physical attributes to suit their position, I am near certain James Schiller and Sione Finau will both be available for 2027, possibly right now before June 30 if we wanted either one of them.
Both are tall, strong, athletic, aerial threats, lightning fast, score plenty of tries and generally make plenty of metres including post contact metres with their powerful ball running.
@balmain boy has been making this point for years.
Betterdays22
Well-known member
Not all doom and gloom BWG. We did sweep the Dogs 2 weeks ago. I dont think we are too far off.
BlackWhiteGold
Well-known member
BB needs to be on the recruitment vetting committee
BlackWhiteGold
Well-known member
A lot can happen in a couple of seasons in terms of roster with depth pieces, synergy across all areas of the football department, reps on the systems Benji is implementing in our style of football and better luck with injuries.
balmain boy
Well-known member
I know for a fact that we spend less on our Pathways squads than ever other club.
In Ball and Matts we have 2 squads in each comp, yet still spend less then all other clubs do on their single team.
All of our squads are run on the smell of an oily rag. Wests Ashfield simply refuse to chip in anything but the absolute bare minimum. How can we attract,retain and develop talent, create an environment of excellence that attracts the best, and extracts the best of their abilities as they develop if we refuse to invest?
WT aren't financially strong enough to cover these shortfalls.
We have part time staff, no scouts, training at crap facilities. Only the NRL squad is allowed to train at Concord, the other grades are at public fields.
The time has returned to ramp up the pressure on HBG. In time we can develop the infrastructure and culture to bed success and create elite players. But you can't just rely on the goodwill and hard work if volunteers and part time staff if you're serious.
balmain boy
Well-known member
I don't take pleasure in these things, but it's just so infuriating , doing the same thing over and over and expecting miracles.
We should have a variety of builds and skillsets in each grade. Take a gamble on some athletes who are projects as footballers. They won't all pay off but we might hit a goldmine occasionally.
The other clubs set the standards that we need to not only match, but beat if we want to compete for trophies.
