Are they really doing quick ball movement?
This has been my worry from the few clips I have seen from training.
I saw a clip from panthers training the other day and they look fast and crisp everyone in full speed motion.
What I have seen from us (in what are literally short clips) Is everything is slow motion, flat footed catch and pass. This was a huge downfall to our games last year. The good teams just played so much faster and more direct than us.
It’s positive I hear you say they training fast. Hopefully it means good things for a better year ahead.
From what I've read, prior to Christmas was supposed to be focused more on fitness than on skills. So if that's true. I guess it explains some rustiness.
In all honesty, even if we make a lot of mistakes. It'll still be a huge help if we're fut enough to not crumble afterwards.
We had some good games last year. But it really killed us that the team started playing in first gear if we fell 12 or more points behind.
The Panthers are a measuring stick that we aren't ready to stand next to. FFS Melbourne were the benchmark for decades and they have no answers to what Penrith can dish out on game day
I guess the fact that there's such a focus on preseason this year means there's a bit more fan belief. While most don't expect finals football. We do expect more wins and hopefully zero floggings when we don't win. So to me the measuring stick is last year's team. Bare minimum for me to be happy would be to still see the team busting their guts trying when we've fallen well behind because they care about our for and against. What lost me last year was seeing multiple players just decide that staying in the fight mentally wasn't for them.
We're a new team this year. We're going to be more cohesive by round 1. Don't let pre season sloppiness steal your hopes.