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Sixties and Forty20 have survived a sizzling Super Saturday and reconvene at the end of the day to breakdown all of action. Starting with Parramatta’s 22-16 loss to the Panthers in the NRL trial the boys work through a massive block of games.
Despite struggles in the halves and a number of missed opportunities the boys find some positives in the loss with the performances of Sean Russell and Toni Mataele leading the way.
The Junior Representatives had a banner day with all three teams posting wins in some seriously testing conditions. It was particularly important for the Tarsha Gale and Harold Matthews to open their accounts and they both did with come from behind victories.
The show wraps up with the results from the All-Stars game where Gayle Broughton and J’Maine Hopgood both starred!
Hi fellas. Didn’t have a chance to listen yet. My quick observations:
1. Rodwell was a turnstile in defence early.
2. Russell is a super star
3. Hodgson needs to be confident his knees won’t give in. He cannot play scared
4. Lumelume should try acting….. He would be an awesome Villan in a Bond 007 flick….😁.
Whilst good to watch the footy…..I don’t take too much out of trials after our 2018 demolition of the knights….
Hey ten year. There were a couple of players who didn’t do their prospects any good tonight.
I was at that trial in 2018. Came away thinking I had seen the wooden spooners. Well I did see the spooners but it was not the team I could possibly have thought. After that, I forget trial results. And Storm has hardly won a trial in their history. And has won every Round 1 game under Bellamy. Until this year 🫳.
I came away from that Maitland trial absolutely buoyant. It turned out to be a harsh lesson.
hes a dead ringer for jack elam
Apart from Russell and Toni we were dreadful. So much dropped ball and absolutely no idea what to do inside the red zone, we have zero attack and looked shit. Was honestly such a hard watch, I was very disappointed
That wasn’t a great advertisement for what they have trained for but I seriously wonder what they intended to show after watching what they practised through summer. I won’t argue, it was a hard watch and a frustrating one for me. But it was just a trial.
I can imagine your frustration comparing their training and what they produced yesterday. You would see terrific gains on the training field and the fans see the same old errors. Personally I’m glad we went bust, it destroys any hubris that we may have had and reminds everyone that there is still a long way to go. Is there any chance we can capture whatever is in the water out Penrith way ?? Whe you have their 3rd string hooker look like Damien Cook and their Centres look like Latrell, the rest of us are in for a long long… Read more »
No doubt the Panthers are in a very good space but I won’t be losing faith based on a single trial. I saw nothing of what we are working on so while initially disappointed that they kept it so bland, the bigger picture is all that matters.
Agreed. Let’s not get aggrieved on a trail. The first 4 weeks of season proper will give us a guide of where we are at and if we can handle all the teams coming at and for us.
Well said
Russell was absolutely super and came back from a poor start where he missed the hooker one on one. Most of the backs were good. Impressed with Jirah and Emu. Ok – just have to rip the band aid off … The halves were abysmal. No organisation. Useless kicking game. Arthur again throws some terrible hospital passes. I keep on hearing he’s an absolute superstar at training. I would love to see him actually deliver on the field. The worst game I’ve ever seen from Rankin and just don’t understand the reason we even played him. Surely could have thrown… Read more »
Rankin is a puzzlement given he’s obviously not going to be playing NRL. And JA doesn’t seem to have developed at all and maybe never will. I don’t care about the score as there were some lucky tries but hey. Pleased to see a few like Mataele, Russell, Cini impress. Apologies to those I forgot.
I suspect that Rankin may have got less game time if Hands had been available.
Or Asi. Was hoping to see him get a run in the halves.
I’ve been very clear on my thoughts on Jake. The criticism of him has been unfounded. But, I will always be honest in my comments and as I observed in the podcast, last night wasn’t good enough in attack. Our pace was too slow, and that means our halves. Not only that, Jake looked frustrated with his errors, something he normally doesn’t show. That said, both Mataele and Doorey had good moments running off Jake. Just on the other, Yates played 60 minutes at dummy half and Russell impressed at fullback. I wouldn’t rob Peter to pay Paul. It’s a… Read more »
Well if the club is all in with Jake I hope that BA does the right thing and keeps him in Cup so that he can develop ! He is NOT a NRL utility and having him on the bench in firsts will only be detrimental to his development as a half.
I thought Yates was very good, Matale promising. Very disappointed with the halves, and Ky Rodwell was ordinary.
I think we can cut and paste that for most people
Let’s call a spade a spade. Hodgson was poor. He was the worst hooker on the field in the opening 20 minutes and the other hooker was the panthers what 3rd or 4th hooker on their depth chart. He contributes to the first 3 errors of the game for Parra (2 with bad passes and couldn’t pick up a loose ball for the third), then there was the intercept. His delivery was slow. He struggled to get to dummy half for 3 tackles at a time. Does a bad trial mean a bad season coming? not necessarily. But you want… Read more »
Hodgo was off the pace to be sure but he played about 15 mins! The halves played 80. Look for another excuse.
It wasn’t great from Hodgo but let’s not go overboard.
Surely all Hodgson wanted to do was to get on the field and come off uninjured. Played about 2 mins of last season. This was a little test for his knee. No player comes back from such an injury, and in a trial to boot, and goes out to shine. Let’s put it in perspective.
Good perspective Graham
Overall it was a trial in 36 degree heat. We were slow and predictable, we had enough ball in good field position to put more points on. Our marker defence for the first half was abysmal, perfect example was the first Penrith try, Matto was lazy getting back to marker. Overall a much needed hit out lost by 6 on a hot day, onwards to next week, go eels
This.
Rumour is that if fox wasnt telecasting the game it would have been delayed but broadcasting on time was considered more important then players safety.
Betham and Toni have NRL futures. Russel looks ok but I don’t see any explosiveness yet. They’d be the 3 who I can see amounting to something. Doorey and Jirah where dissapointing but it isn’t like LANE went any better. Very hot day and maybe guys who have a NRL spot already have been told just to get a few miles up and not go to hard with the intensity. Hodgson has not played a full game in how long? 18mths. Id give him a month to get into the swing of it. Of the rest I didn’t mind Greig… Read more »
Fair calls
For me Cini and Greig showed they are ready to go. A number of players got up pretty slow after Greig got a shot on them.
I would have to disagree re Greig. He might punch the ball up hard and fast…. The defensive side of the coin he looked like a liability
What can you tell us about Jontay-Junior Betham-Misa?
Age and how clubs rates him? Looked a real prospect. Maybe a little small for a middle is all.
Minchinbury Jets junior.
Jontay came through in the same junior reps age as Jake, Sean, Will, Sam, Toni.
And think he also played rep Syd West Opens as a 12 yr old.
Funny you mention that once upon a time NSW representative u12 opens had Jontay Betham, Joseph Sualii Will Penesini J Arthur S Louizou , Toni Mataele
Do you give him any chance of NRL THIS SEASON? He looked good. Or will he be Jersey flegg/NSW CUP
I’m thinking Jersey Flegg, then maybe Cup.. They obviously think highly enough to have him training full time.
was Minchubury jets before he got poached at under 12’s to go to Rouse hill rhinos.
Sack Brad
Sack Jake
Sack Hodgson
Sack Barrett
Sack all
Maybe just save the sad sacks bud for an nrl game.
Just a trial bud, take it easy
Wrist slitting after a trial. Lmao.
A plague has spread through the Panthers, it makes them all play fast, energetic and focussed. Didn’t they win all grades last year?
Playing the first trial against them was never going to be a walk in the park.We wasted more ball than them, had a bit more rust but competed and stayed in the hunt. A useful outing if for nothing other than a signal about what is needed to be at the top.
The panthers team were unrecognizable with minimal players who have first grade games, while we had a host of first graders and new buys who we are relying on to replace those who’ve left. For mine its an omen to what’s coming. Its really looking likely we’ll miss the 8
A host of first graders ?
There were four , Matterson, Makhatoa, Lane & Hodgson, and Hodgson & Lane only played 20 minutes. The rest were either fringe first graders or had no NRL experience.
You don’t recognise them as you don’t follow their lower grades.
Mate entitled to your opinion but for me that’s a silly comment hopgood for one is an upgrade and the others seem at least on par top 4 for sure
That panthers reserve side would give a lot of top NRL sides a run for their money. That club is is terrific shape !
I believe it was a big wake up call for us.
BDon, I’m over playing the Panthers in trials. We always go to their backyard and we know what that visit is like. I’ve voiced my thoughts on that venue to the club and I’ll continue to do so.
100%
Agreed Sixties, it’s an avg place to be in summer! Better off playing a trial against Saints on the coast….
Disappointed – yes
Concerned – no
Bring on next week
That Penrith defense is very similar to the way their 1’s approach it i.e. smother everything…the fact we were able to end the back half so well (we actually won it decisively) was encouraging, I would say our general fitness was better. Now that being said I am not sure whether all the changes during the course of the game contributed to those factors, I was encouraged enough by some of our players, I don’t know the forwards well enough, if people want to put numbers to names when commenting it may be a better visual for old folks like… Read more »
Yes
As Parra used the trial to knock out some cobwebs, the media and some fans are using the trial to get back into the habit of overreacting to a loss. Yes, Parra did not match Penrith’s intensity (I’d say it was almost deliberate) and the halves were woeful. Yet in the end it was only 4 tries to 3 and as Sixties and Forty20 point out quite an even game in terms of stats. Yeah it was meh and some obvious improvement to be made but a game worth no points and no bearing on the season is nothing to… Read more »
Spot on
And two tries against the run of play..
Remember we smacked Penrith like 36-zero in trials last year with lot of their first graders. How can anyone get upset or happy from a trial
Agreed. Didn’t derail their prospects much did it.
They scored two try’s against the run of play so they only broke our defence twice. Just chill
👍👍👍
Not too worried and worked up from watching this game – one thing that was incredibly positive from yesterday = Hopgood in the All Stars game 🔥
Yes. Howgood was Hopgood!
👊👊👊
Not sure why I originally posted as anonymous but I’m trade marking this comment
for future use during the season (Hopefully quite a few times).
Sounds like a good line for a sign!
He is a huge part of our team this year.
Not the most exciting thing I’ve watched on KAYO. Sean Russell was excellent and so was Cini. Both had a good crack at it, and I applaud their efforts. Great stuff. Others were good in patches. Some were downright disappointing. A few absolute shockers dished out – to me, it highlighted the yawning gulf between our best players and the rest. I had no idea our reserve halves were capable of such mediocrity, especially Rankin. A frustrating and inept display. Yeah, I know…just a trial game. But as a fan, I really expected more from a few of the players.… Read more »
Will be interesting to see the changes to the playing style against the Knights. When you would imagine a full strength, or close to full strength side is on the field for at least 40mins.
It should be far more cohesive in attack. But I do think the game plan will still be very simple.
Glenn, it will be a pointer to the round 1 team. How they approach the trial in terms of match plan I am not so sure.
Loved the podcast. Forty don’t listen to Sixties you keep piling on the sunscreen. If you’re going to the Gosford game, I will be the the bright red nose walking around with the chemo cream doing it’s thing. I think some of the comments regarding the Penrith game were a bit over the top. Would have preferred the win yes but there was plenty to like as well. I was looking forward to watching Sean Russell and he was good with limited opportunities. Tony Mataele first time I have seen him, thought he was very good. Doorey done some nice… Read more »
Hey John, I never criticise sun screen application. But Forty had the hoodie on and pulled over his head. I was cooking in that heat, and had the big broad brimmed hat, sunscreen on anywhere that would see the sun and light weight clothes. It was not footy weather!!!
I was critical of the pace of our play and it wasn’t the best from the halves, but Mataele and Doorey looked at their best when linking with Jake.
All that said, I don’t want to find too many criticisms of players that ran around in that heat.
Probably see you at Gosford. Looking forward to it
It was a shocker of a day. My car thermometer got up to 43°C at times. And the bloody air con is broken. 😡
Tony Mateale played 55 minus on our vacant right edge. Looked dangerous on almost every run and bent the line regularly. Any signs from training he could get a run here?
Big Wiremu looked fitter than ever and it showed with great yardage, quick play the balls and strong D. Best game I have seen from Makatoa in a while. They looked good in tandem and are looking likely as our bench middles for round one after that performance