NRL

[wenchbarwer]

Staggs has been great this year, he is an absolute bull.

Still don't know why Hudson Young got binned

[Booney]

Here come the Panthers. What a remarkable organization they are.

Over the years we have lost Mansour, Tamou, Kikau, Crichton, Fisher-Harris, Luai and Turuva among others and they were 17th, bottom, at the midway point of the year and now we're about to go into our 6th straight prelim. Unbelievable whatever happens from here.

[wenchbarwer]

Here come the Panthers. What a remarkable organization they are.

Over the years we have lost Mansour, Tamou, Kikau, Crichton, Fisher-Harris, Luai and Turuva among others and they were 17th, bottom, at the midway point of the year and now we're about to go into our 6th straight prelim. Unbelievable whatever happens from here.

Mansauce and Big Jimmy T were a bit more surplus to requirements than anything, but the amount of players Penrith have lost over the past 5 years is mind boggling.

There were 4 alone in the Temu Panthers side on the weekend (Burton, Kikau, Crichton and Salmon), There's 5 at the Tigers (Luai, Turuva, Koroisau, Staines & May), two at the Warriors (JFH and Capewell), one each at Canberra (Hosking), the Roosters (Leniu) and Eels (Hopgood). On top of all this, the best young halfback in the game was also pinched from Penrith in Isaiya Katoa, now at the Dolphins. You can also chuck in Sean O'Sullivan (Dolphins) and Jack Cogger (Newcastle) who got better deals after playing back-up to Nathan Cleary.

That is an entire team, plus interchange, 17 players!

May is the only one Penrith have cut, the rest bar JFH all got offered better deals elsewhere (Fish went home for family reasons). It's a production line like no other, in any sport.

Watching 1991 was a watershed moment for me, I thought we were set up to win a few more and really challenge the Raiders as the team of the 90's. Roycey Simmons scoring two tries in his last game was a n absolute highlight, along with him promising to have a beer with everyone in Penrith. The passing of Ben Alexander really tore the heart & soul out of the club for a long time.
Staying up late to watch the delayed broadcast in 2003 was a return to the glory days, Scotty Sattler's tackle lives rent free in my head to this day, beating the much more favoured Roosters was the cream on the cake.
But, the last 5 years have been nothing short of extraordinary, The genius of Cleary, the toughness of Yeo, Leota & Martin, the Eveready battery qualities of Edwards & To'o, and the up-and-comers like the McLean boys and Talagi, makes me think they can actually keep on winning.

The first half yesterday was as complete of a demolition job as you'll find anywhere, in any code of sport. They look primed, and are running white hot. For a guy in 2020 that had so many questions marks over his career, Ivan Cleary will go down as one of the greatest coaches in rugby league history.