It’s fairly common knowledge at this point that the NRL season is looking like a two-horse race, with last year’s grand finalists leaps and bounds ahead of every other side.
While the Melbourne Storm have turned their attack into a fearsome juggernaut which will strike fear into the hearts of any opposition standing in their way, Wednesday night’s Origin mauling over the Queensland Maroons may give the New South Wales Penrith Panthers contingent the kick they need to continue with their own incredible first half of the season.
Playing mid-season representative rugby league can work in either wonderful or dreadful ways, and while there is still two games of this series to go, the fact five Panthers (with four playing big roles) were among the Blues who put 50 points on Queensland two days ago is going to be enormous for the men at the foot of the mountains.
Brian To’o. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)
The Panthers don’t appear to be a confidence team at the heart of their performances, but it certainly helps, and winning is a habit. It can be infectious at any level of sport.
While Penrith lost to the Wests Tigers last week without their State of Origin stars, and might do so again tonight against the Cronulla Sharks with it being rumoured only Apisai Koroisau and Liam Martin will return to the side out of the seven who missed last week, the long-term benefits will outweigh the short-term form trough.
One of the only real question marks hanging over Ivan Cleary’s side coming into the 2021 season was their ability in big games when the pressure was on playing against the best.
Sure, Queensland may not be currently “the best” and on paper, coming up against the Storm would probably be a tougher challenge, particularly given the way the Maroons played on Wednesday, but it doesn’t mean it’s not critical.
You see, New South Wales lose Wednesday’s Game 1 in Townsville and not only do they probably go on to lose the series in straight sets at Lang Park in a few weeks, but Penrith’s stars go back to club level with another big game lost.
The impact of losing a grand final can never be underestimated, particularly when it’s likely that, should they make the next one, the opposition on the other side of the park will be wearing the same colours. There is little doubt that is the collision course the NRL and Penrith are on once again this year.
It’s currently almost impossible to see any other sides, such as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Parramatta Eels or Sydney Roosters making the grand final. They simply aren’t in the same ball park.
And so, provided we get to that rematch, the Panthers have a lot of demons to put behind them. Wednesday night would have helped to move on from some of them though.
Their key man is, without a doubt, Nathan Cleary. Before Wednesday night though, he had never put together an excellent performance in a big game. He had failed in the Origin arena, had a dismal grand final last year and frankly wasn’t all that good during the finals series.
Proving that he can actually do it will give him untold confidence to go out there and play his game during this year’s finals series.
Not only did Cleary play superbly, but Isaah Yeo had his best game under the pump, while Brian To’o and Jarome Luai were simply phenomenal.
You’d go as far as to say all three of the key Penrith men – Cleary, To’o and Luai – were in the top five players on ground. That doesn’t just happen, and it shows that while the atmosphere at Penrith this season is relaxed and confident, that atmosphere is now one which has the maturity and skill to transfer onto the big stage.
Brian To’o. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)
Origin is the biggest spectacle this game has to offer, no matter the quality of Queensland. You only have to cast the mind back to the end of last year to know exactly how well Queensland can play with a side which is unheralded.
Sure, this time there was no Wayne Bennett guiding things from the coaches box, but even he wouldn’t have been able to stop the New South Wales onslaught.
The other key to come out of Origin was the way all three defended. Queensland may not have been able to throw the kitchen sink at them, but Cleary, Luai and To’o, as well as Yeo, all defended superbly, while Liam Martin didn’t take a back seat from the bench either.
Given the way the Storm are playing, running up almost 35 points per game this season and on an absolute tear over the last ten weeks, defence will have to be paramount for the Panthers. And frankly, it wouldn’t matter if it’s not the Storm, because all of the Eels, Roosters and Rabbitohs can put up big points in a hurry.
But given defence also let Penrith down in last year’s decider, it’s just another monkey off the back in terms of being able to do it on the big stage.
The confidence they take back to club level is going to rub off on their teammates, make no mistake about it.
It must be acknowledged there are still two matches to go in this series, but it’s hard to see the Blues losing the series from here, which will only give those Penrith players another boost, particularly if they really have to fight and scrap in one of those games.
Representative football in the middle of the season doesn’t always seem the best alternative, but if the Panthers are raising the Provan-Summons trophy on the first Sunday in October this year, they can look back to a fateful Wednesday night in Townsville as a key part of the reason why.
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
Hopefully they'll improve on losing to Wests and Cronulla...
TigerMike
Guest
Yeah they almost beat the Sharks! Recent Premiers best more recent Runners Up!
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
If NSW were flogged by QLD in game one and again at Suncorp it would have to dent the Panthers confidence with so many players in the team and after Cleary lost the biggest games last year as well. It's a massive boost to the confidence of the Panthers. Cameron Smith was absent from the biggest GF flogging of all time and now the biggest SOO flogging ever , I don't think it's a coincidence.
Pomoz
Roar Rookie
Amen to that TB. With QLD it's never over until the ref blows the final whistle. They are just as likely to come out and thrash us by the same score next game. All it takes is one send off, or an injury to a key player and the whole series is turned on its head.
farkurnell
Roar Rookie
So at this stage Penrith v Melb GF would be a dress rehearsal Aust.V NZ
Walter Black
Guest
I don't buy into this article. Whilst get the premise that winning an SOO game boosts the morale of the winning team, the Panthers players hardly needed their morale boosting in the first place. They have been flying high for sure and deservedly so. However there is a long way to go yet. The Panthers are at risk on Friday night against Cronulla. If their Origin players are rested (which I think they should) then they are a good chance of losing against a Cronulla outfit that play a tough gritty brand of football. If those Origin players take the field then that is high risk for injuries and fatigue to play a major part. Any footy player will tell you that it is day 2 after a big match which really gets you on niggling injuries. If the Panthers lose against Cronulla then they are no longer a shoo in for the minor premiership and will probably have a 50:50 chance in a slug fest with Melbourne. One of the issues that the Panthers face between now and the big one is injuries. So far this year they have tracked very well and have rarely had their depth tested to the extent of a lot of teams. It is the quality of that depth that could determine how the Panthers fare in the latter half of the season. That said, I doubt that anyone expects anything other than a Storm Panthers GF
Joey
Guest
Ivan said he was replacing different players but using the same structures. That showed as rubbish to say the least. Shouldn’t have trusted what he was telling us on that one. That’s what O based my pre-game banter on there. Come week 2 with the same team, I can’t say we will do much better. Panthers don’t have the same systems in place as Storm as far as I can see.
Nat
Roar Guru
That's very revisionist of you. You had a go at me last week for suggesting the Panthers may struggle without their stars because Melbourne haven't. I'm all for the banter but not against those arguing with 20/20 hindsight. This post above, if you want to say something - go for it. These bumblng contradictions don't make sense.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Munster was ordinary in Game 2 though... :silly:
The Barry
Roar Guru
Seems like it’s longer than that since he retired...
Joey
Guest
I knew how that one would end, about the same as tonight unfortunately. A bit (actually a lot) different to Qld fans convincing themselves pre-game (after last series) that worst team wins. Having themselves (yourself) on.
jamesb
Roar Guru
If NSW do win the series, then that will be a confidence boost to the likes of Cleary, Luai, Yeo, To'o. You look at last years series, it was after the GF. Cleary was trying to dust himself off from the GF defeat. He was also down on performance in games 1 and 3, while Munster, who won the GF with the Storm, was brilliant in the decider.
Nat
Roar Guru
It works fine. About as well as yours after last Fridays game...
The Barry
Roar Guru
Come on Albo, I’m in Cleary’s corner but please don’t start tallying up Origin wins and series until the series is over...
Paul
Roar Guru
In what areas will the Panthers actually improve? I find it hard to believe they can become any more confident, given their run of minor round wins was only stopped by the Tigers last week. I can't see where they'll improve on the actual field, given the squad they have, the game plans they employ, etc. The real winner isn't Ivan Cleary & Penrith but Freddy Fiddler & the Blues. These Penrith guys will now know they can match it with Qld's best and not only win, but dominate. That's huge at that level.
Paul
Roar Guru
really good comment. Ivan Cleary has to make sure he's got the right plans in place so his Origin guys aren't burned out before the end of the season
Joey
Guest
internet back working again. Good stuff. See you then.
Albo
Roar Rookie
It is an annoying narrative that has been repeated now for 4 seasons. Cleary has right now been involved in 5 wins from 9 State of Origin matches ( immortal Andrew Johns had a 56% win ratio at Origin). By the end of this 2021 series Cleary could quite easily be 7 of 11 match wins & 3 series wins from 4 series ? Yet, I suspect he will still be bagged by some .
Albo
Roar Rookie
But the Tigers played better than QLD ? :silly:
The Sporacle
Roar Rookie
I'm going to go here again, getting to the Grand Final is a massive achievement, how many other clubs would be ecstatic if they made the GF. Yet the some people will judge the Panthers half's on 2020 and 2021. Here is a 23 year old guy playing out of his skin with his mates and providing a really good product for us to watch. One of the Best half's to play the game provided 2 GF wins and one after he was an established half at his club and we rate him as a all time great. I'm not putting Cleary in his class, just using it as an example. I understand footy is a results based business, but if you got to the GF every few years you'd be pretty happy with those results