Ivan Cleary said it himself after last year’s grand final.
“We’ve had short wingers for five years,” the all-conquering Panthers coach said.
“We started with Josh Mansour and ‘Bizza’ [Bria To’o] and we just haven’t been able to find anyone taller than them.”
For the last five years, Penrith’s potential 180-centimetre weakness has been hiding in plain sight on their flanks. Few teams have managed to exploit the 15-20 centimetre height advantages their wingers boast.
Melbourne was the first team to do that in what felt like an age late last year, pinning To’o under high balls to take away his play two and three carries, that give the Panthers so much back-field momentum.
Cleary responded with a tactical shake-up that proved pivotal in last year’s 14-6 grand final triumph – turning Melbourne’s probing bombs back on them with Penrith’s trademark swarming defence and relentless kick chase.
With the Panthers gearing up for a fifth straight title tilt, it was a second-string Roosters outfit rated $11 outsiders who pulled the Panthers apart with a barrage of high balls in Friday night’s 38-32 upset for the ages – targeting an Achilles heel like few rivals have managed.
Of the 10 bombs Chad Townsend (eight) and Sandon Smith (two) launched at Commbank Stadium, three drew errors from teenager Casey McLean and star fullback Dylan Edwards.
The two McLean mistakes in the air led to Roosters tries in the next set and a recalibration of the usual bombing to a winger’s corner was noted by Immortal Andrew Johns on The Sunday Footy Show.
“From 40 [metres out], they kicked deliberately short to compete,” Johns said.
“I’ve never seen anyone exploit Brian To’o. Everyone talks about how tall he is, this was the first time I saw a team exploiting their wingers, and they got errors out of them.”
Roosters flyer Dom Young, all 200 centimetres of him, was the target more often than not of the mid-field bombs coming down around Penrith’s 20-metre line.
“It was a clear game plan to take off on those kicks… I thought Chad and Sandon did a great job,” Young said of the Roosters aerial raids.
“I think it can be intimidating for the opposition coming up against us, knowing that we’re getting up for the ball. I was happy about being able to get down there and put pressure on their wingers the way we did.”
Melbourne’s wingers Xavier Coates (194cm) and Will Warbrick (193cm) are among the NRL’s aerial specialists.
Penrith utility Daine Laurie (181cm and 83 kilos) comes in for an injured Edwards at fullback against the Storm on Thursday night and averages a handling error per game from his 68 NRL outings.
After the Storm isolated To’o in round 24 last year, with Warbrick flying high and laying on two tries for Eli Katoa, Cleary came prepared in the grand final.
The Panthers let Coates and Warbrick fly for their attacking kicks, lying in wait.
When Melbourne’s wingers came down, Penrith defenders swarmed them. Liam Martin led their own kick chase with similar swamping defence to pressure the Storm wingers.
On the hour-mark of the decider, Martin’s charge through in pursuit of a Nathan Cleary bomb saw him beat Coates to the ball and lay on Paul Alamoti’s match-winning try.
Penrith go into the grand final re-match on a short turnaround, without Edwards and smarting from one of their worst performances of Ivan Cleary’s second tenure at the club.
Laurie can expect to be targeted by Jahrome Hughes and his vastly improved kicking game, while McLean shapes as an obvious target as well opposite Warbrick on the Panthers left wing.
The question is, how does Cleary respond this time?
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