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Remember the NRL? It was going pretty well right up until this week.
We’re now in State of Origin season until July but if you’ll allow me the indulgence, I’d like to talk about the ladder-leading Penrith Panthers.
I’m on the record as saying I thought the Panthers would tumble down the standings this year. Even a month ago I was ‘holding’ on my prediction they’d miss the eight.
Boy, was that wrong.
But I was hardly on my own in that school of thought. When the dust settled on a debacle of an offseason, star five-eighth Matt Moylan had stormed off to Cronulla, prop Leilani Latu and second rower Bryce Cartwright had chased riches on the Gold Coast and newly christened New South Wales utility Tyrone Peachey was also headed to the Titans in 2019.
I was sold on the stories that General Manager of Football Phil Gould was at war with coach Anthony Griffin, that Gould was sticking his nose in too far and that players were battling to adjust to Griffin’s style.
The Panthers had been an up and coming team for the last two seasons, but I defy anyone to tell me they predicted Penrith would hit the first Origin break topping the table with a 9-3 record.
Naysayers will have you believe that record is the product of a soft draw, that being gifted early engagements with the likes of Parramatta, North Queensland and Canterbury has artificially inflated their position (they’re 4-2 in these games).
Naysaying is easy in hindsight though. I dare say these same knockers (yes, including me) wrote off Penrith before the season for different reasons – North Queensland were many people’s tips for the premiership, Parramatta were a top four side with huge expectation and Penrith were apparently a shambles.
The Panthers go from strength to strength (AAP Image/Daniel Munoz)
Using the ‘soft draw’ to diminish Penrith’s record sounds good but the only problem is that it doesn’t stand up.
The Panthers record against current top eight sides is three wins and one loss, a four-point defeat at Cronulla.
Penrith put 16 straight points on the difficult Wests Tigers to get them 16-2, they caught the Rabbitohs in week two after spotting them a 14-point head start and most impressively, they rounded off the first half of the season by spanking the table-topping St George to the tune of 28-2 in front of a sold out Panthers Stadium.
The atmosphere generated by a big crowd in Penrith sounds sensational on television and the radio, I can only imagine how much fun it is to be there live.
Penrith have done it tough in 2018, juggling an injury list that would have knocked most clubs to their knees.
Gun halfback Nathan Cleary missed seven weeks, centre Waqa Blake is still out with an ankle and star winger Josh Mansour is still out after a serious facial injury.
It doesn’t stop there – out for the season are fullback Dylan Edwards and prop Sam McKendry, while fellow prop Tim Browne was forced to retire after suffering a horrific internal injury.
But the team hasn’t missed a beat, with everyone playing their role when called upon. That’s the sign of a united squad.
Peachey expertly covered Cleary’s absence in the halves, so well he finds himself in a Blues jersey for the first time.
Hooker Sione Katoa has covered Peter Wallace and shown real potential and Tyrone Phillips has provided tackle busting impact on the wing in Mansour’s absence.
Prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard has seen his work rewarded with a blue Origin jersey, James Tamou has delivered consistently off the bench and Viliame Kikau has been a revelation, helping to lay the platform for James Maloney, Cleary and Peachey to do work.
Perhaps most heartening for Panther fans, Cleary returned to the halves as if he never left. He’s only played five games, but his form has been rewarded with a starting role for the Blues next week.
Maloney’s recruitment looks more and more like a masterstroke. His game in Townsville against the Cowboys was probably the best individual performance of the season to date.
For all his defensive questions, Maloney just wins. Winning follows him from club to club. He knows how to do it, what it takes and how to bring others with him. He’s the perfect foil for Cleary and it will be interesting to see them work together in the Origin pressure cooker.
After his turbulent time at Brisbane, Anthony Griffin is a soft target for people who love to whack the coach when things go wrong. But his record is starting to stack up against his more ‘popular’ contemporaries.
The Panthers have made the finals four times in the last decade. Two of those times are under Hook’s guidance. He’s got a winning record well over 50 per cent and this year has been an enormous test of his squad management and tactical nous, a test which so far he is passing with flying colours.
(AAP Image/Dan Peled)
Over the last decade it has taken anywhere from 11-13 wins to make the eight. The Panthers are hitting the Origin lottery period with nine wins banked and their injured players filtering back into the side.
In this year’s festival of poor ball control and rampant error rates, Penrith are the best at minimising their stuff-ups. They’ve kept their errors under double figures five times and average the least number of errors per game.
It would take something truly spectacular for Penrith to miss the finals, so we can forget about that talk. The rest of 2018 will be all about squad management and jostling for a top-four spot.
They’ve laid a foundation for success, with potential for something great. Can they keep it up? Sure they can. There’s no reason to doubt the Panthers anymore.