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Opinion
Sunday’s clash between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Penrith Panthers in Dubbo looms as a potential finals entree, with the mountain men not yet having tasted defeat, while the Bunnies are tracking well despite being humiliated by the Storm recently.
After ten rounds the Panthers are the only side yet to lose a match this season, and judging by their impressive form over the first two months of the season, it’s hard to see when their first loss will come.
Last Sunday night they made it not just ten straight wins but also 25 straight regular-season victories with a 48-12 thumping of the Gold Coast Titans in the final match of Magic Round.
The game’s best halfback right now, Nathan Cleary, ran riot against a dismal Titans side, scoring a hat-trick of tries and booting seven goals to finish with a personal haul of 26 points – 14 more points than what the opposition could manage.
Further, he also set up three tries and maintained his lead at the top of the Dally M standings, with voting to go behind closed doors about ten weeks out from the finals series.
The Panthers’ form has been so brutal to the point that not only have they scored freely in most games this season, but their defence has been very stingy, conceding an average of only 7.2 points from ten matches.
Statistically it is the best defensive start to a season by any team in Australian rugby league history.
Their points differential of +236 is also the best in the NRL, while they rank second only behind the Storm for points scored.
But as the saying goes, their best is still yet to come, and there will be far more sterner tests of the Panthers’ premiership credentials as the season wears on.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
In fact one arrives this weekend when they face the Rabbitohs, whose title credentials took a hit in Round 9 when they, without Adam Reynolds and Latrell Mitchell among a host of others, suffered humiliation at the hands of the Melbourne Storm, losing 50-0 at Stadium Australia.
With Reynolds back on tow, the Bunnies got things back on track last Saturday night, leading from start to finish to defeat the Sharks by 32-22 after the men from the Shire had got to within two points in the second half.
Benji Marshall, the game’s oldest active player, continued to turn back the clock with another impressive individual performance, while Reynolds contributed six conversions but was otherwise quiet in his return from a thumb injury.
In a timely boost for the men from Redfern, Mitchell will return to the side after serving his four-match suspension, giving them some spark in the backline and boosting their chances of putting an end to the Panthers’ winning streak this Sunday.
It will be the first meeting of the two clubs since last year’s preliminary final, in which the mountain men outlasted the Pride of the League by 20-16 and therefore booked their place in the grand final, which they ultimately lost to the Melbourne Storm.
The Panthers, who had lost only one regular-season match during the coronavirus-affected season, were taken all the way by the Bunnies, with the margin no greater than eight points all match.
Goal kicking proved to be the difference, with Adam Reynolds missing two shots at goal that could have otherwise pushed the match into extra time.
Ultimately the Bunnies’ season again ended at the penultimate hurdle, but their premiership window still remains well and truly open.
(Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)
There are three major incentives for the men from Redfern to win this year’s title.
Firstly, this is Wayne Bennett’s final season as coach, after which he will hand the reins to Jason Demetriou.
Secondly, Adam Reynolds will want to win a second premiership ring with his beloved club before heading north to join the Broncos next season.
Lastly, the Bunnies will attempt to buck history, with no side having ever won the title after conceding 50 points or more in a regular-season match, as they did against the Melbourne Storm in Round 9.
The closest any side came to doing so was when the Cowboys lost the 2005 decider to the Wests Tigers, having coughed up a half-century in a regular-season match against the Parramatta Eels in Round 9 that season.
Not only that, but the northerners also suffered embarrassment at the hands of the Tigers and fullback Brett Hodgson in the qualifying final, losing 50-6 but remaining alive under the controversial McIntyre finals system that was in effect at the time.
Equally, the Panthers will have learnt plenty from last year’s grand final defeat to the Storm, and this has only spurred them on to perform strongly over the first half of the season.
Already they have got their revenge on the Storm in Round 3 at home, while they have also recorded clean sheets against the Cowboys, Bulldogs and Sharks in Rounds 1, 2 and 9 respectively.
They were also given a stern test against reigning wooden spooners, the Brisbane Broncos, at Suncorp Stadium in Round 6, but their persistence in the second half saw them record a 20-12 victory.
With both teams having started this season impressively – save for the Rabbitohs’ two losses to the Storm – expect the Panthers and Rabbitohs to leave nothing out on the field in what’s expected to be a forerunner to this year’s finals series.
Can the mountain men make it 11 in a row to start the season, or can the Bunnies pull a trick out of the hat?
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