After a loss like that, it's important to take a day off to have some perspective rather than rage posting like many of us have done.
Very disappointing to follow up our best performance with one of our worst. We weren't awful and at times I thought we defended our goal line very well. But our line speed was definitely off what it was against Cronulla. And when you are off by even 1%, no matter who you are playing, you're not getting the chocolates in the NRL. We can put this down to flatness after the bye, which many teams have been guilty of. We've also been up for so long that maybe we were due a performance like this. In any case, none of this excuses the performance which is well below the standards we've set all season. This is not the sort of game a premiership contender dishes out.
Regarding positives, I think it's the growth of our young forwards.
Demi's silky ball skills.
Laban's line running which looks just as damaging as what Cronulla has with Nikora. Jake is also solid on D- when Penrith made that break with Laurie, he was chasing and keeping pace. Made a few tackles in that same set to prevent the try scoring opportunity. if anything,
Leka was the weakest performing young forward out there tonight. But he'll come back better next week no doubt.
As for the injuries, I guess we'll have to wait. But if Luke has an issue, we should not hesitate in give Boyd a crack. He's earnt it and won't let us down. I'd even be tempted to switch
CHT and
TMM for the game and have the pairing of Boyd/
TMM that's been killing it in cup.
CHT can play as the utility. As for
Marata,
Bunty comes in for me and
TT for
DWZ. Capewell to take MGT's place.
Onwards and upwards. If this year's history is any judge, we'll bounce back next week for the Suncorp trifecta.
