While early premiership talk has focused on the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Sydney Roosters, the Penrith Panthers are the dark horses of the competition.
The mountain men sit on top of the ladder after two rounds, and rightly so after fullback Matt Moylan spearheaded their 40-0 thrashing of the Gold Coast Titans in Bathurst with three second-half try assists and four goals.
Moylan’s performance, as well as that of James Tedesco’s in the Wests Tigers’ 22-4 win over the St George Illawarra Dragons last Monday night, will give NSW coach Laurie Daley a lot to think about as he and the Blues prepare to defend the State of Origin shield.
Having reached the preliminary final last year, a lot is expected from Ivan Cleary’s men in 2015. Given their two premierships have come 12 years apart, in 1991 and 2003, and this year is as many years since their last title, their fans have reason to dream of the ultimate success this year.
The Panthers started the season with two wins – the first time since 2006 the club has started a season without a loss after as many matches.
This Monday night the club will cross from one side of the Sydney metropolitan area to the other to take on the Roosters, their victims in last year’s thrilling qualifying final, at the same venue, Allianz Stadium. But they’ll have to make the long trek without their five-eighth, and the hero who kicked the match-winning field goal in that final, Jamie Soward, who has undergone surgery on his injured back and will be out for at least a month.
The Chooks started their season with an impressive win over the Cowboys in Townsville but failed to back it up last week, coughing up a 10-point lead to lose to the Rabbitohs in an 11-try fest that has already been called the match of the season.
Fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck endured a tough initiation in Townsville, but he appears to suit his new role, left vacant by the retirement of Anthony Minichiello.
James Maloney and Mitchell Pearce have also carried on their late-season form from last year into the new season and there are calls for the latter to be given another chance at State of Origin. Pearce will still face some stiff competition from incumbent halfback Trent Hodkinson and the Rabbitohs’ Adam Reynolds, against whom he held his own before the latter steered the defending premiers to victory in last Sunday’s match.
Even without Minichiello and Sonny Bill Williams, who has returned to rugby union, the Roosters remain a formidable team and they will present the first genuine test to the Panthers’ premiership credentials this season.
The two teams have some history against each other, with the mountain men inflicting pain on the Roosters back in the 2003 grand final, when they won their second premiership at the expense of the then-Ricky Stuart-coached side just two seasons after finishing last.
That match will forever be remembered for that tackle laid by Scott Sattler on Todd Byrne in the second half, in one of the greatest moments in modern grand final history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CMfVP8s3rA
The Roosters also knocked the Panthers out of the finals in 2010, on their way to reaching the grand final 12 months after finishing last on the bottom of the ladder themselves.
The two sides have also have history of players playing for the other club, most notably Brad Fittler and Michael Jennings, both of whom started their careers at Penrith before moving east and achieving premiership success in 2002 and 2013, respectively.
On the other side of the ledger, Jamie Soward started his first-grade career at the Roosters before becoming an important part of the Dragons’ side between 2007 and 2013. Having joined the Panthers last year after falling out with Steve Price in his final year at the Dragons in 2013, Soward and Peter Wallace proved instrumental as the Panthers enjoyed their best season for a decade, reaching the preliminary finals where they lost narrowly to the Bulldogs.
Without Soward in the side, the Panthers will face a tough time trying to knock off the Roosters, who will be playing their first home game for the season.
Nevertheless, fans of both sides can expect yet another high-quality match if last year’s qualifying final and their early-season form is anything to go by.
Perhaps it could serve as an early-season finals preview, with both sides again expected to feature deep in September.
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