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Message: [QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 3322299, member: 1899"] 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. [/QUOTE]

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