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It wasn’t the best start to Trent Merrin’s career as a Panther but the star signing said there were plenty of positives despite the loss, with a short turnaround before the Panthers’ first home game against the Bulldogs this coming Thursday night.
“It wasn’t the result we wanted but it was definitely the style of play we are looking at playing,” Merrin said.
“It was definitely a great effort by all the boys, it just the little things that we know and touched on already (since full time) that didn’t go our way today.”
Merrin felt Penrith were the better side despite the scores being level at half-time but said poor execution in the second half proved costly in the end.
“It was great to come in equal at half-time,” Merrin explained.
“We all stayed composed and we knew how we needed to get the job done and I think we were the better team.”
“It’s just that we didn’t execute at the crucial points of the game (during the second half).”
Merrin confirmed that the loss of James Segeyaro with a likely broken arm after 55 minutes proved costly as the Panthers lost direction in attack with his absence.
“Yeah it was (costly), he’s a crucial part of this team so to take a blow like that really hurt us,” the representative forward stated.
“But in saying that we’ve got a lot of depth in the team for someone to come in, step up and take on the role.”
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Merrin despite the loss, was reasonably happy with his game whereby he churned out 165 metres from 15 runs, made 26 tackles, produced one off-load and broke the line to score his second try at GIO Stadium in consecutive seasons.
“I think whenever a front-rower crosses the line they’re due a bit of luck there,” Merrin said.
“Chicko (James Segeyaro) put it on the spot and I was just glad to score my first try in a Panthers jersey.”
Merrin echoed the thoughts of coach Anthony Griffin and skipper Peter Wallace that the heat combined with the introduction of shot clocks, was not a factor in Penrith’s demise today.
“It’s always tough playing in the heat but it’s about 40 degrees in Penrith anyway so I thought we handled it pretty well,” Merrin exclaimed.
“It was definitely hard to play Round 1 in heat like that but it’s great just to get our first proper hit out of the way.”
Despite the loss, Merrin says there are plenty of positives to take into the clash against the Bulldogs.
“I thought we were the better team but it’s just that a lot of things that we did today we beat ourselves,” Merrin confirmed.
“We can take a lot of confidence out of that performance today if we touch up on those areas at training and I’m sure we’ll put on a good performance against the Doggies.”
Merrin acknowledged the Bulldogs however will pose a tough test for the Panthers after their big first up win over Manly last night.
“They’re always a tough team to come up against,” Merrin said.
“They have a big forward pack and they played awesome last night so they’ll be champing at the bit to come out but we’ve got to do our homework, get the bodies right and come prepared.”
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