{"id":49288,"date":"2021-03-25T02:03:50","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T03:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=49288"},"modified":"2021-03-25T04:01:39","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T04:01:39","slug":"tips-what-hurt-bullied-panthers-about-gf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=49288","title":{"rendered":"Tips: What hurt 'bullied' Panthers about GF"},"content":{"rendered":"

Panthers great Brad Fittler says he expects to see a different attitude from the beaten grand finalists in tonight's clash with the Storm<\/a>, after Ivan Cleary's runaway minor premiers were "bullied" in the decider.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Andrew Johns for Wide World of Sports' Freddy & Joey's Tips<\/em><\/a>, Fittler revealed the Panthers<\/a> would be motivated to right a specific wrong that they believe cost them a premiership.<\/p>\n

"Penrith felt like they were bullied around a bit in the grand final last year," Fittler said.<\/p>\n

"I'm figuring that's what they're trying to do this year, stand up for themselves."<\/p>\n

They'll have to do that without arguably their most valuable player after Nathan Cleary was yesterday ruled out<\/a> due to lingering concerns over the head knock that took him out of Penrith's 28-0 win against the Bulldogs on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\"Panthers<\/p>\n

Both Fittler and Johns tipped Penrith to get their revenge tonight, although both did so before Cleary was ruled out, with the halfback's form considered by both to be a prime factor for the home side's favouritism. <\/p>\n

"If Nathan plays I think they'll win and win well," Johns said.<\/p>\n

"It's be nice to know if Nathan's going to play but I'm going to go Penrith as well," Fittler replied.<\/p>\n

"If Nathan doesn't play?" asked Johns.<\/p>\n

"I'd say Storm," Fittler replied.<\/p>\n

"Yeah, I'd go the other way, I think the Panthers can sneak home if Nathan doesn't play, but if Nathan plays I think they can win well," Johns concluded.<\/p>\n

Cleary's omission paves the way for Matt Burton to come back into first grade and potentially prove why the Panthers are so keen to hang onto him amid a storm of criticism as the Bulldogs' attempt to prise him away from the foot of the mountains is frustrated.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Wide World of Sports' The Final Whistle<\/em>, both Fittler and Johns last week slammed suggestions that the Panthers should show some compassion for the classy 21-year-old and allow him to join their western Sydney rivals in 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Burton comes into a red hot side that is yet to give up a single point this season, winning both of their first two games in shut-outs.<\/p>\n

\"Panthers<\/p>\n

Yet tonight they will face the tough assignment of playing the Storm on the back of a five-day turnaround. Melbourne on the other hand have had seven days between matches and took a charter flight home following last week's loss to the Eels to maximise their recovery time.<\/p>\n

Fittler said the Storm's edge in their recovery from their last match would be balanced out by the fact the Panthers have done it easy against the Cowboys and Bulldogs, "two teams that sat on the bottom of the table last year."<\/p>\n

Scroll below for the current leaderboard and Round 3 tips by Johns, Fittler and all Nine's expert tipsters!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"NRL<\/p>\n

Andrew Johns:<\/strong> Panthers, Dragons, Roosters, Raiders, Bulldogs, Eels, Knights, Cowboys<\/p>\n

Brad Fittler:<\/strong> Panthers, Dragons, Roosters, Raiders, Broncos, Eels, Knights, Titans<\/p>\n

Peter Sterling:<\/strong> Panthers, Dragons, Rabbitohs, Raiders, Broncos, Eels, Knights, Titans<\/p>\n

Darren Lockyer:<\/strong> Panthers, Dragons,\u00a0Rabbitohs, Raiders, Broncos, Eels, Knights, Titans<\/p>\n

Wally Lewis:<\/strong> Panthers, Dragons, Roosters, Raiders, Broncos, Eels, Knights, Titans<\/p>\n

Ruan Sims:<\/strong> Panthers, Dragons, Roosters, Raiders, Broncos, Eels, Knights, Titans<\/p>\n

Paul Gallen:<\/strong> Panthers, Dragons, Rabbitohs, Raiders, Broncos, Eels, Knights, Titans<\/p>\n

Billy Slater:<\/strong> Storm, Dragons, Rabbitohs, Raiders, Broncos, Eels, Knights, Cowboys<\/p>\n

The Mole:<\/strong> Storm, Dragons, Roosters, Raiders, Broncos, Eels, Knights, Titans<\/p>\n

James Bracey:<\/strong> Panthers, Dragons, Roosters, Raiders, Broncos, Eels, Knights, Titans\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mat Thompson:<\/strong> Panthers, Dragons, Roosters, Raiders, Broncos, Eels, Knights, Titans<\/p>\n

Peter Psaltis:<\/strong> Storm, Dragons, Roosters, Raiders, Broncos, Eels, Knights, Titans<\/p>\n

Tim Elbra:<\/strong> Storm, Dragons, Roosters, Raiders, Broncos, Eels, Knights, Titans<\/p>\n

Ben Glover:<\/strong> Panthers, Dragons, Rabbitohs, Raiders, Broncos, Eels, Knights, Titans<\/p>\n

\"Are<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Panthers great Brad Fittler says he expects to see a different attitude from the beaten grand finalists in tonight's clash with the Storm, after Ivan […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49288"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49288"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49290,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49288\/revisions\/49290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}