Penrith coach Anthony Griffin and captain Matt Moylan admit they’re growing tired of failing to put teams away at the death after losing in yet another close encounter on Saturday.
For the fourth time in six games this season, the Panthers lost their composure and a late lead, going down 23-18 to defending premiers North Queensland.
Every Penrith game this season has been decided in the final ten minutes.
And while they picked up clutch wins against Brisbane and Parramatta, they’ve also gone down agonisingly to Canberra, Canterbury and St George Illawarra.
And now the Cowboys have been added to that list after the Panthers conceded two tries and a field goal, as well as spurning several opportunities to score, in the final 15 minutes of the match.
“It’s obviously frustrating,” Moylan said.
“We’ve been in a few tight ones this year and we definitely didn’t finish off that game the way we would’ve liked, especially with that soft try at the end.
“It’s not something we’re about. We want to finish off games strong and that wasn’t the case tonight.”
Griffin was also flummoxed by his team’s end-game management, but was also encouraged by a performance that allowed them to go toe to toe with the reigning premiers for 70 minutes.
“It’s frustrating, and it hurts, but if we’re getting beaten 40-nil, it’d hurt more,” Griffin said.
“We’ve got a really strong, young group of players that are playing for each other at the moment, but unfortunately we’re getting beat.
“We played the premiers and they’ve had their team together for three to four years now. They just showed their class in being able to wriggle out of our defensive pressure.”
Griffin said his team simply needed to be better defensively in the clutch.
“But there wasn’t much in it. If (Jamie) Soward’s field goal’s a foot straighter, we’re going to golden point. It was a game of footy and we were in it right to the last minute.”
The eye
Guest
As you can probably feel from the tone,I'm not knocked out by Sowie of late..hope more than anything that he'll again start doing the job he's been brought to the club for.but pinning the losses solely on him is a little harsh..Mbye and Granville both inexcusably went thru the centre of the ruck to steal those games,the forwards need to put their hand up and take equal accountability.. Seggie gives the side another attacking dimension when he returns and Whare will strengthen the defensive dependability which has been vulnerable in his absence.. Sowie was hugely responsible for getting them into the final four 2 years ago,I dont think they can get there this year without him..persist,dont give up on him..
Albo
Guest
"..I understand Sowie’s role and neccessity of having him in the team,but feel he let them down in crucial moments last night.." Sorry eye ! But what is this Soward necessity ? He has been letting them down every week this season with his poor game management and execution ! He got lucky last week with a "hail mary" bomb, amazingly held onto by a noted fumbler, to get them up over the Eels. But apart from that , he has been very poor in executing 5th tackle plays and has been taking ordinary options all season so far ! Threw the Canterbury game away with a terrible kick on the 5th giving them 7 tackles to work down field to score on the bell. Then did the same against St George the next week. He is barely making a 10% positive conversion rate on his 5th tackle plays. Time for Soward to go ! Or at the very least keep him away from the ball on the 5th tackle. Give it to Moylan or Martin to run the plays. The whole problem leading to these Panthers' late capitulations, is simply a lack of on-field game management and execution. And Soward is definitely not a game manager to be relied upon for delivering this crucial role. We have seen this for years. It seems that certain players in our game attain some mythical value status way beyond the reality of their performances, and the likes of Jamie Soward and Jared Mullen are prime examples. As game managers for their teams, the odd 30 metre pass or grubber kick for a try should not over shadow the 90% of the time they don't execute well or take wrong options, and only the league tables reflect the true stories of their "necessity" to their teams. Time for the new Panthers coach to make a tough decision rather than wait till its too late for the 2016 season.
jimmmy
Guest
This was a high quality game eye. The Panthers are a wonderful young team and they really turned up last night. I always thought the Cows had their measure though. When the Cows surge like they did towards the end of that game their is no team that can go with them. Tamulolou , followed by Tamau and Scott were sensational at the end. Up till then the forward battle was fairly even. The Cows were back to their clinical best in the last part of that game. If I was a Penrith fan though I would be salivating at the thought of what this team can achieve over the next few years.
jimmmy
Guest
They may have had good reason to complain but they won the penalty count 9 to 4 . The refs did a good job. .
The eye
Guest
Gutted..that Jake Granville what a terrific player...buy of the year last year and was the difference again last night..I understand Sowie's role and neccessity of having him in the team,but feel he let them down in crucial moments last night,still plenty to like about this side once Seggie and Whare get back..
Mike from tari
Guest
I reckon that the refereeing decisions are absolutely mysterfying in this game & every game this weekend, now I don't follow any of these 2 teams but at half time when Moylan & Wallace asked the referee why they were penalised for holding down, the Ref said they were holding down too long inside the 20, the 2 players then said that the ref was not penalising the Cowboys for holding down, the Ref said it wasn't inside the Cowboys 20, presumably he meant it was ok to hold down players longer between the 20's, very very wrong by the Ref, but I did notice that the Cowboys did take longer to get off the tackled player & Penrith did have a good reason to complain.