NRL 2020: Grand final Penrith Panthers v Melbourne Storm, Josh Mansour’s captain’s challenge ban
Three strikes and he’s out. Josh Mansour has placed himself under a self-imposed ban after he hit a new ‘low’ in the preliminary final against South Sydney.
Panthers
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Josh Mansour’s captain’s challenge in Saturday’s preliminary final was a howler and his teammates have been on hand to ensure the winger doesn’t forget it anytime soon.
“Captain’s challenge. Captain’s challenge,” boom rookie Stephen Crichton taunted Mansour during his interview with The Daily Telegraph.
“Oh, shut up!” Mansour retorted at his left edge partner.
Mansour’s challenge gaffe came only 10 minutes into Saturday’s 20-16 win against South Sydney at ANZ Stadium.
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In trying to get his side a quick play the ball, the winger coughed up the footy on the second tackle.
But Mansour was convinced there was illegal interference at the ruck.
So he remonstrated at losing the ball and persuaded skipper James Tamou to give up the challenge with 70 minutes left on the clock.
“I was so adamant too. That’s what pissed me off even more. I was like ‘boys, 100 per cent I didn’t drop it, I didn’t drop it’. I remember [they] all looked at me ‘we back you, we back you.’,” Mansour said with a laugh.
“I was like no one is ever going to trust me again. Trust is our biggest value. No is going to trust me now.”
Replays showed Mansour lost the ball cold when his hand hit the foot of Rabbitohs forward Liam Knight.
“Everything just went so fast. But I remember, I know I didn’t lose it intentionally. I know I had the ball locked up. All it took was his toe and it just popped out … surely it wasn’t me popping it out that way. I didn’t do it on purpose, I didn’t lose it,” Mansour said.
“Oh god, it was a low moment wasn’t it?”
Don’t expect the Panthers veteran to be asking for a captain’s challenge in Sunday grand final against the Melbourne Storm … or anytime soon.
Mansour is now under a self-imposed captain’s challenge ban for the foreseeable future.
“But far out, I’ve struck out. That’s three captain’s challenges [I've got wrong],” Mansour said.
“I’ll never fight it again, a refs call. I’ll leave it up to the boys.”
While Mansour was copping it from his teammates during Penrith’s grand final media day, another player was being celebrated, very loudly, by a group of ecstatic Panthers fans.
A carload of Penrith fanatics drove around Panthers Stadium, repeatedly, yelling and cheering at Viliame Kikau – much to the delight of the Fijian powerhouse.
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“We love you Kikau. Go the Panthers,” the fans yelled from the moving car.
Despite the hype around Penrith, Mansour believes his inexperienced teammates have the maturity and pose to handle the biggest game of their careers so far.
“Words can’t describe how happy I am. All the boys understand just how lucky we are to be in this position and we are grateful for it,” Mansour said.
“It’s been a tough year with Covid so to be in a grand final it puts all that sacrifice and hard work … it makes it all worth it.
“The boys are young, and inexperienced in sense of playing finals, but they are grounded. But we won’t look too much into that.”
HOW EDWARDS REBUILT HIS CONFIDENCE UNDER THE HIGH BALL
If Melbourne is planning to unsettle Penrith fullback Dylan Edwards with bombs on Sunday, Storm coach Craig Bellamy might want to rethink his approach because Edwards is the standout bomb disposal expert in the NRL.
Like South Sydney halfback Adam Reynolds in Saturday’s preliminary final, opposition kickers have been peppering Edwards all season with the high ball.
Unflappable at the back, Edwards has a bomb defusal rate of 96 per cent, which is 48 catches from 50 attempts, according to Fox Sports Lab.
Only Newcastle’s Kalyn Ponga has taken more catches (52) but the fullback only has a success rate of 81 per cent.
Edwards is again preparing to battle bombs in Sunday’s grand final against the Storm, who pack an impressive arsenal of kick plays thanks to the likes of Cameron Smith, Cameron Munster and Jahrome Hughes.
But Edwards has his own cavalry and will call on Nathan Cleary and Matt Burton and their towering kicks during training this week to prepare him for the onslaught.
“I’m catching bombs pretty much every day at training,” Edwards said. “Clez [Cleary] and Burto [Burton] are always putting up high balls for me at training and I’m always trying my best to catch them.
“Burto has a towering kick but Nathan’s floating ones are up there in the air doing all sorts of things.”
Edwards’ journey to a place in this year’s grand final wasn’t always so certain. In March last year, the 24-year old had a crisis of confidence and coach Ivan Cleary dropped him to reserve grade.
The first sign of trouble came in round three against Melbourne when Edwards made a whopping six handling errors, two which led directly to tries.
Six days later, after making four errors, Cleary hooked Edwards midgame from fullback to the wing against the Wests Tigers.
Edwards only survived one more game before Cleary dropped him to Canterbury Cup for a month.
“I was making error after error and I just wasn’t staying present in the game,” Edwards said.
“The ball would come to me and I was thinking about dropping it rather than just playing the game. You start worrying about what can go wrong rather than your job.”
Determined to reclaim his place in the starting side, Edwards sought help from assistant coach Cameron Ciraldo and high-performance coach Hayden Knowles in a bid to get over the mental demons.
The advice was simple.
“Try to flush an error as soon as possible,” Edwards said. “If you’re dwelling on one moment you could bugger up the next moment.”
Fast forward 18 months and not only does Edwards have a tight grip on the No. 1 jumper, Nathan Cleary believes his teammate is one of the most underrated players in the NRL.
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“He’s unbelievable,” Cleary said. “I can’t speak highly enough of Dylan. He’s been super underrated, the whole year.
“But not only that, the way he has bounced back from the start of last year, he wasn’t playing the best footy he could and got dropped back to reserve grade. The way he has come back this year has been unbelievable.”
While Edwards’ two young children and partner will be watching from the stands on Sunday, COVID border restrictions will mean the rest of his family can’t be at ANZ Stadium. Edwards’ family moved from Dorrigo in northern NSW, the place where Penrith first scouted the fullback, to Queensland around three months ago.
“They’ll have a party up there and hopefully celebrate a win,” he said.