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Sun 25 Oct: NRL Grand Final : Penrith Panthers v Melbourne Storm KO 8.30am (UK Time)


DavidM

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On 22/10/2020 at 09:04, Fabou said:

 

Honestly, the fitness level of the panthers is not ”normal”. I dont know the substance they are taking, nor the amount of substance, but you can tell the difference between them and any other team after 30mn of game. They just never slow down… until the 70th mn. They better be in front of the storm before the 70 th mn imo

Regarding the ”issue” of lacking experience in GF, I honestly think the panthers will not be affected at all. I agree to say that their 2 last games were not the most dominant, but they were against the roosters (very experienced in the final) and the rabbitohs (which I tipped the GF winners, since they picked exactly at the right time). If you compare to the Storm, the raiders offered the victory in the SF, they were only the shadow of what they could have been…

 

The panthers have displaid everything  this season: not only dominance, but patience, determination..  I do not fancy them (becuase of the doubts that I have about their incredible fitness), but they do have the mindset and the talent to be champs imo.

The Preparing the Panthers series of videos on You Tube gives a good background to their fitness training methods.  Of course all NRL teams will have a dedicated team of sports scientists but the Panthers with their personnel and facilities are very impressive.

"I'm a traditionalist and I don"t think you'd ever see me coaching an Australian national side!"  Lee Radford, RLW March 2016

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On 21/10/2020 at 16:41, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

Has a Grand Final ever had so many international players outside the big 3 Nations? I’m aware some player may not be selected in the match day 17, but we could have the following Nations represented in the Grand Final.

Samoa - Luai, Leota, Leniu, To’o, Fa’asuamaleaui, Leutele, 

Tonga - Watene-Zelezniak, Kaufusi, Vete, 

Fiji - Kikau, Koroisau, Kamikamica, Vunivalu, Lumelume, 

PNG - Olam

Cook Islands - Tetevano 

Lebanon - Mansour 

You have missed out the proper Aussie and Kiwi representatives, those that play in the Green and Gold, and black and white.

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23 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

I’m tipping Melbourne, but for those that are bugging up the Storm GF experience, you should well know, they have lost two of three GF in the previous four years. To the Sharks (extremely little experience amongst the squad) and the Roosters (had one GF win in 16 years).

Im tipping the Storm, because I think Melbourne give you the same professionalism each year and I don’t think Panthers play the type of game to disturb, nor possess wise heads required to upset their structure or rhythm.

Sharks had 3 grand final winners in their side in 2016 Melbourne had 5, so not too much difference in experience there. 

Fair enough with the Roosters, but the Roosters team in 2018 on paper IMO is the best side this century and had a good contingent who had won in 2013.

I think Penrith have Tamou and that's it on this occasion for experience. 

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Panthers for me - not least of all because those pesky Storm boys put my Raiders to the sword last week! 

But no in all seriousness this should be epic - so many great match ups all over the park. I just think the Panthers might not get back here again as soon as the Storm no doubt will, so i'd always go for the underdog in that respect. Kikau could make all the difference if he gets going early.

In a game that will have lots of focus (rightly) on Cam Smith, i'm tipping Koroisau for Clive Churchill Medal. 

22 - 14 Panthers for me. 

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4 hours ago, RSN said:

Sharks had 3 grand final winners in their side in 2016 Melbourne had 5, so not too much difference in experience there. 

Fair enough with the Roosters, but the Roosters team in 2018 on paper IMO is the best side this century and had a good contingent who had won in 2013.

I think Penrith have Tamou and that's it on this occasion for experience. 

Zane Tetevano also has a Grand Final appearance in 2018 when he won it with the Roosters (against the Storm).

From my calculations, the Storm have 10 players who have played in at least one Grand Final (Suliasi Vunivalu, Josh Addo-Carr, Cameron Munster, Jesse Bromwich, Cameron Smith, Felise Kaufusi, Kenny Bromwich, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Brandon Smith and Dale Finucane) while the Panthers have just the two.

This is an advantage for the Storm as experience does count in big games but a lot of this is in the forwards.  It is interesting that when you look at the spine of the Storm they have huge experience in Munster and Smith but Jahrome Hughes and Ryan Papenhuyzen only have 93 NRL appearances between them.

But of course Papenhuyzen and Hughes are really talented and will be far from a weak link... and that kind of argues that the best players are most important, not the experience.

I am still plumping for the Panthers as 1 to 17 I think they are the better team. 

 

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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The Panthers have a huge pipeline of talent coming through the junior system.  In 2019, there were 9,000 junior players across 580 teams playing junior rugby in the Penrith area.

If Penrith continue to manage their club well, they could become one of the dominent NRL sides over the next 10 years.  I am sure this won't be a flash in the pan Grand Final appearance.

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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On 22/10/2020 at 01:32, DavidM said:

Rain forecast for Sunday in Sydney 

It has started raining already in Sydney almost 24 hours before kick-off and is forecast to go on for at least the next 2 days. Would have preferred to have played Melbourne on a dry track. Lucky to get a ticket for the match to keep up my record of seeing every GF since 1969.

As a Penrith fan I will be crossing all fingers and toes and avoiding all black cats and ladders!

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22 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

You have missed out the proper Aussie and Kiwi representatives, those that play in the Green and Gold, and black and white.

The point was the number of players from outside our so called big 3 Nations Harry.

Its a worrying sign for England that 8 Nations are represented in the Grand Final, but England are not one of them.

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23 hours ago, latchford albion said:

The Preparing the Panthers series of videos on You Tube gives a good background to their fitness training methods.  Of course all NRL teams will have a dedicated team of sports scientists but the Panthers with their personnel and facilities are very impressive.

yeah i saw that too. anyway, after the season they ve made, i hope they will get the win

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On 21/10/2020 at 17:03, RSN said:

Melbourne for me, I think experience in these sort of games is absolutely massive. It will be interesting to see how Penrith cope if things don't go their way, I can see them buckling. 

It reminds me of the Castleford v Leeds final in 2017. Castleford absolutely exceptional throughout the season and won the league leaders shield but just fell short against Leeds who had 4 or 5 seasoned grand final winners in their side. 

2 outcomes in the match, Cleary guides the team to victory and goes on a similar path to Jonathan Thurston, Andrew Johns ect or Smith gets his fairy tale ending. 

Man of the match that year was Danny McGuire who was in his mid thirties. I expect something similar on Sunday to write the fairy tale. 

Yes, similar to Cas. They just need one of their best players to test positive for a banned substance and they're all most there.

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Got to go for the Panther's, they are my team (apart from the Bears) and I think they are well capable of it on what they have shown this year. I dislike the Storm intensely but they do have some outstanding player's amongst their backs who can turn a game in a instant so it should be a terrific contest.

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On 23/10/2020 at 10:38, latchford albion said:

The Preparing the Panthers series of videos on You Tube gives a good background to their fitness training methods.  Of course all NRL teams will have a dedicated team of sports scientists but the Panthers with their personnel and facilities are very impressive.

Thanks for the link, really enjoyed watching this series this morning, I read they're doing an inside documentary during the origin series. 

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3 minutes ago, Rupert Prince said:

This woman gets paid for this?

This is kitsch gone mad.  Where is Bernard Cribbins when you need him?  Give me a good bloke from Oldham any time.

Not in the Super League she wouldn’t. We’re going to end up with some karaoke from a local Hull resident whose going to get a half eaten Tuna & Sweetcorn pizza as payment. 

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19 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

The NRL coverage ahead of any game is very good but the Grand Final and State of Origin games, they raise their levels to unparalleled levels. I could watch them build up a game for a week and not get bored. 

I agree, they make it feel like a huge event. Our Grand Final entertainment is increasingly looking awfully dated and lacking in ideas. I used to love the likes of Shed Seven and all the 90's Indie bands but we need to do more and be far more relevant and appealing to todays audience.

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