Penrith played only two matches this weekend.
Reserve Grade played its scheduled Round 6 match against Nor-West Jets, while the Under 18s played its rescheduled Round 3 match against Manly-Warringah.
Both games were played on opposition territory, with neither side being able to walk away with a win.
Results - Matches Played Saturday, May 11
At Bensons Lane
Nor-West Jets 14.12 (96) d Penrith 6.8 (44)
Match report not received. Match summary:
The Rams went to Bensons Lane to face their long time rivals Nor-West Jets. This time was a bit different though, in that it was the Rams' reserve grade side taking on Nor-West Jets' first grade. Nevertheless, a good contest was expected, as Penrith fielded a strong and competitive side, with a bit of senior grade experience (McNamara, Edwards and the returning Ben Robinson) thrown in to boot.
Alas, a competitive match never ensued. The Rams started off slowly and were outscored in each quarter after that. The side could never get going and were comprehensively outplayed by the Jets, resulting in a 52 point defeat. It took until the final quarter for the Rams to score multiple goals, but even then they were outscored by their opponents.
Best for Penrith were Jay Edwards, down from first grade, along with Reserve Grade regulars Nathan Gatt and Ed Kirby, recently promoted (from Div 5) Michael Brown and last year's Under 18s Harry Doyle and David Looyschelder. The only multiple goalkicker was Jake Sultana with 2.
At Weldon Oval
Manly-Warringah d Penrith 5.5 (35)
From the Coach's Desk:
The young Rams travelled to Weldon Oval for the replay of the round 3 wash out with Manly eager to test themselves against last year’s runner up and one of this year’s premiership favorites.
The twilight match began in cool overcast but dry conditions. Soon thoughts of matching it with the home side turned to despair as we were given a stunning football lesson in the first quarter. The Rams had no answers for the rampant Manly Wolves who dominated every aspect of play to record a 6.4 – 40 to nil first quarter. The Manly forwards in particular dominated the play with strong leads and exceptional marking off the back of their midfield dominating the clearances and using the ball with precision. By contrast our skills under pressure let us down with poor disposal turning the ball back over to Manly on countless occasions.
At quarter time the Rams were asked to be more aggressive concentrating on pressuring the opposition through harder chasing and tackling. After such a poor start it was very positive to see a competitive second quarter with the Rams kicking 3.2 – 20 to Manly’s 4.0-24. The half time break did us no favors with Manly dominating the third quarter in almost a carbon copy of the first quarter scoring 5.4 – 34 to the Rams one solitary behind. In the last quarter the Rams again showed the fight they had shown in the second quarter kicking 2.2 – 14 to Manly’s 3.0 – 18.
In the end a comprehensive victory to Manly set up by that stunning first quarter. Reading the score-line anybody not at the game could be forgiven for thinking the Manly side must have made the most of a strong breeze after dominating the first and third quarters but that wasn’t the case at all and I have to admit I am struggling to understand how the game panned out the way it did with the Rams being able to match the opposition for two quarters yet be so non-competitive for the other two. Despite the heavy loss there are many positives to come out of this game none more so than the crystallization of exactly what we need to work on as follows;
1/ Manly could be heard talking loudly all over the ground both in play and behind play setting up their structures, by contrast we were very, very quiet from start to finish – boys you must start talking loudly and communicating effectively.
2/ We were soundly beaten in the air with our players often flat footed in the contest we must be committed to meeting the ball at the highest possible point and if second to the contest doing everything possible to spoil.
3/ Our clearance work must improve dramatically – we again won plenty of ruck duals but failed to capitalise – midfielders and ruck-man must develop cooperation and systems that will allow us to compete on a consistent basis.
4/ Our aggression and willingness to work hard that is evident for a few quarters each game must become consistent over four quarters. The same is true of our disposal skills.
I am still very confident this group of players has the necessary ingredients to become a very formidable team. It will come down to how much we are prepared to commit to hard work and improvement and to changing our mind sets regarding co-operation, communication and talking consistently and loudly on-field.
Training this Tuesday is at Dukes Oval, Emu Plains 6:30 -8pm and at Greygums Oval on Thursday 6:30 – 8pm.
Manly: 18 – 7 – 115 Penrith: 5 – 5 - 35
Goal Scorers: Field 2, Davey, Watts, Camilleri
Best Players: Watts, Cooper, Camilleri, Monks, Field, Pianta
Last Modified on 22/05/2013 07:55