Penrith face test of development in round 1 clash with Roosters
There is no tougher way to start your season than a meeting with the reigning premiers. But Penrith’s performance against the Roosters will demonstrate how far they have come, writes MATTY JOHNS.
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On Friday night we measure Penrith’s improvement.
They’ll fancy their chances at home, meeting the Premiers off a couple of long haul flights where the Roosters defended their world title.
But the Roosters don’t beat themselves, they are hard-nosed and the Panthers in 2019 weren’t just young in age, but they played like a young team.
The Roosters may have lost some quality but the strength of their success doesn’t lie in the individual, it lies in the brickwork, the culture, the team.
The Panthers represent potential. They are potentially a top four team, but are they ready to beat the best?
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Young teams rely too much on talent, whereas toughness is far more consistent.
Young teams go to training and show off by trying to show how skilful they are.
Tough teams show off by proving to each other their worth in remaining steely eyed and stoic when the coach asks for one more lung busting effort.
Tough teams win comps, because they view talent as simply the icing on the cake.
The first rule in success is don’t beat yourself. Last season Penrith did too often, off-field issues became on-field distractions.
2020 offers opportunity to learn and put past disappointment aside.
Jimmy Maloney is now contributing creatively to the Catalan cause, which means more pressure sits upon the shoulders of half Nathan Cleary.
The knock on Nathan has been that he doesn’t create enough, now his team needs more.
But Cleary did look very good in the Panthers trial against Parramatta, I was particularly impressed with his eagerness to challenge the defence.
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In the modern game there’s so much emphasis on a team’s attacking structures and patterns, that many a playmaker lose that upfield thrust and threat, I saw that creeping into Nathan’s game last year.
Too much unopposed ball work is harmful to a half’s running game, playmakers need to feel themselves taking on defenders, they need to feel contact and they need the discipline to work on it daily.
You are not going to fool the Roosters with an attacking shape, they read attacking patterns better than any team.
The more structure you use, the more predictable you are.
That’s why Api Koroisau is such an important signing for Penrith. Api’s want to get out of dummy-half and threaten, forces Nathan Cleary to play more front foot, reactive football, rather than always trying to set up for something, which the Panthers did far too often last season.
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Cleary’s halves partner is Jarome Luai, a livewire who possesses a dangerous running threat.
It’s a nice combination, Luai will look to complement Nathan Cleary rather than compete with him for the quality possessions.
For this reason I hope to see the Panthers play more full width of the field football, having two dominant first receivers last year in Maloney/Cleary saw Penrith playing almost exclusively from the centre field which suits an elite defence.
Opening up the full width of the field, forces a defence to spread slightly and creates more space and opportunity for their big attacking weapon, Viliame Kikau.
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There’ll be plenty of interest surrounding the new Roosters halves pairing of Luke Keary and Kyle Flanagan, who looked very, very good together in their first hit out on Merseyside.
Keary, as he normally does, collected man of the match on the big stage, while Flanagan was confident and decisive in everything he did.
Teams rise up for the Premiers. And even more so for a team aiming for three-in-a-row, so week to week it will be a steep learning curve for Kyle Flanagan, but an invaluable one as far as his long term career is concerned.
At Penrith, this will be a difficult first up assignment for the Roosters, but of course they thrive in the difficult.
The question is, have the Panthers matured enough as a team to thrive in adversity as well.