CRITTA FULLY FOCUSED ON THREE-PEAT

ahead, Crichton quickly realised that his time at Penrith would soon be coming to an end.

fully focused on delivering the Panthers their third successive Premiership.

When Stephen Crichton came up against his future club, Canterbury, the other week at BlueBet Stadium, scores of Bulldogs fans stayed back after the game to greet him. While the 2021 Grand Final hero was touched by their kindness and excitement for what lies

The 22-year-old centre says he has no regrets or second thoughts about leaving the backto-back Premiers for one of the competition’s worst teams, and that his mind is

“I’m just trying to lap it up every training session, every time I get together with these boys – make the most of it,” Crichton told Extra Time

“When next year comes, I’ll worry about it when it comes. From now until the end of the year, I’m a Panther and we’ve got something special going on.”

While Kurt Capewell, Matt Burton, Api Koroi- sau and Viliame Kikau all got the fairytale finish when they left the Panthers the previous two seasons, Crichton knows that premierships are earned the hard way, and nothing is guaranteed no matter how far ahead of the pack you are.

It’s for this reason that the NSW Blues star will be working harder than ever in the lead up to the first Sunday in October.

“Another premiership is a possibility but, right now, it’s a dream and dreams don’t come true without hard work,” Crichton said.

“It comes down to our training sessions and how we can better each other as a team and how we can go into a game confident with our game plan.

“I don’t want to think too far ahead about Grand Finals and fairytale finishes and all of that. I just want to focus on the week in, week out and we’ll worry about it when it comes.”

Crichton is currently enjoying one of his finest seasons of his 92-game career. Not only has he been a standout for the Panthers this year – scoring nine tries in 16 appearances – but he was one of the best players for NSW as they went down to Queensland 2-1.

With commentators and the game’s experts showering him with praise of late, the Samoan international was grateful for the recognition but said it was important to remain grounded.

“I do hear it… it’s heaps humbling and grateful, but I try not to let it go to my head that I’m too good for anyone,” Crichton said.

“I guess, once I start to think like that, it can start crashing down. I will always try and look at the negative side of where I can get better and that’s where you can just keep improving.”

With the Finals only five weeks away, it’s time to look at the teams which I think could trouble the Panthers during the Finals and even stop them from achieving a three-peat in 2023.

By the way I know I’m being presumptuous with my premise, so forgive me but the column doesn’t work if I’m not.

The first team which has the game to stop Penrith dead in their tracks is the New Zealand Warriors. They’re the flavour of the month with halfback Shaun Johnson back in career-best form. The team is playing a style similar to the Panthers, they’re the real deal and a genuine threat.

The fact that their coach is Penrith’s former attacking coach Andrew Webster, well you can see why every team is looking over their shoulder at the Warriors in the run home.

Brisbane are also a team which can cause the Panthers plenty of problems and already have in 2023. They stunned everyone when they beat Penrith 13-12 in Round 1 and proved a handful again when the Panthers reversed the result in Round 12.

The Broncos are dangerous because of the sheer strike power they have in their team both in the forwards (Payne Haas, Patrick