Panthers purring!
OK, I know it’s only just after the halfway mark of the season but man, you’ve just gotta tip your cap to the 4-time premiers.
Just when you may have had second thoughts about Penrith’s 2025 season, they go and win a game like they did last weekend, against all the odds, to topple the high-flying NZ Warriors, over there, 28 points to 18!
What a win. What a shot in the arm for the second half of their season.
You just simply have to admire the tenacity of the football club to claw their way back to where they now sit. In 8th position on the ladder!
Before we look at the Panthers next 8 rounds of footy, mark down this date, “24th of May” in Bathurst. In what was the Panthers worst performance of the season going down to the lowly placed Knights 25-6, it was also the night that unwittingly turned their season around.
Without their origin stars the Panthers capitulated against the Knights in what was then a season-low, seeing them sit on the bottom of the ladder for the first time in who knows when.
But such is the fighting spirit of this Rugby League club that they then went on to win their next 3, (plus a bye) with their best win of the season (against the Warriors) catapulting them into the 8, and sending a blunt message to EVERYONE in the competition.
Currently on 17 points the Panthers next 8 rounds looks like this… Bulldogs. Bye. Eels. Souths. Tigers. Titans. Knights, before taking on the Storm. Let’s give them 12 points from those games, that has them on 29 points with 3 rounds to play! It’s definitely enough to play semi-finals, something that looked miles away 6 weeks ago, with the possibility of making the top 4! Wow! Coach Cleary’s emphasis on ‘next man up’ has the Penny Panthers purring once again and Oh boy, what a sight it is!
And another thing….
In this past off-season I joined the mighty busy world of podcasters. My podcast is called “life in 5ive” and it concentrates on my guests bringing with them 5 photos that they want to discuss that basically sums up their life journey thus far.
I wanted to veer away from doing a rugby League podcast as there is an abundance of them already on the market. Some of my guests thus far have been Bryan Fletcher, Anthony ‘Blue Wiggle’ Field, Tarsha Gale, Craig Gower, Gus Worland, Lucy Zelic, Dave Gleeson, Dean ‘Bulldog” Ritchie, Victor Radley, a young Sydney Rapper called Chillinit, Scott Sattler, and the great Ray Martin who is up in a few weeks.
You can watch it on Youtube, or listen to it on Spotify or Apple podcasts. I’ve had a ball recording them and the best thing about it is that every guest has given me a ‘I didn’t know that about you’ moment.
See ya at the game.
Don’t forget, if you’re looking for a new car contact my great mate at Sinclair Hyundai, Toby Hughes.
MG (random Westie) OAM
