Panthers coach Ivan Cleary and skipper Nathan Cleary were frustrated they opened the door for the Raiders to come back and win an amazing golden point clash 20-16 in a Round 25 classic.
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The Panthers blew a 16-6 lead with Nathan Cleary’s golden point field goal hitting the post, allowing Jed Stuart, Ethan Strange and Kaeo Weekes to go the length of the field in a stunning match winning try.
“We just made two many mistakes tonight and just opened the door too often and they made their own luck and got the points in the end,” Cleary senior said.
“We just released pressure too often and against any team that’s a problem, against good teams and then it just sort of compounded.
“I think it was 60-40 possession against us in the second half and that’s bad at any time but in second half it’s even worse.
“There’s lots of good things there, like we went toe to toe again with one of the best teams but honestly we felt like we kind of lost that game.”
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Despite back-to-back heartbreaking losses, Cleary said his team won’t lose any sleep over it.
“It is what it is, it’s not what you want but it’s what you get so there’s plenty of lessons again,” Cleary senior said.
“And these types of things, it’s obviously very disappointing when you put so much effort in for that, but we just have got to take the lessons and get on with life.
“I think the lessons are pretty obvious, as I said a little bit similar to last week, not quite the same,” Cleary senior said.
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“I don’t feel like we leave here losing confidence but you don’t want it to become a habit either so we just have got to get back to work. We will be right.”
Cleary junior was disappointed he wasn’t able to slot the match winner after the Panthers got him in good position to win the game.
“At the end of the day I should be kicking that, so that negates them run up the other end, but yes definitely disappointing,” Cleary junior said.
“It’s not a nice way to lose the game.”
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Coach Cleary was pressed on a tough obstruction call that went against Izack Tago, but refused to blame the referees.
“It’s harsh but again one play doesn’t make a game, so I feel like the bounce of the ball started going their way, but we opened the door,” Cleary senior said.
“That’s what we’re going to look at, we can’t be worried about what referees or the Bunker is doing.”
Despite the loss halfback Cleary is confident his team can match the best teams come finals time, but concedes they will have to try and win from outside the top four.
“I think it’s important we look at ourselves and where we’re going wrong in these tight games,” Cleary junior said.
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“Obviously last two weeks against two of the best teams in the comp and they’re at the top of the table for a reason and they’ve been winning those close games.
“So it’s a really tight competition and sometimes that’s what it comes down to. We need to be better in the pressure moments or the tight moments.
“We’re sort of killing ourselves there, but I think we won’t lose confidence that we can go toe to toe with the best teams.
“We just need to be on for the full 80 minutes and we’re probably not doing that well enough.”
