VIVA RUGBY LEAGUE
HISTORY WILL BE MADE THIS WEEKEND WHEN PENRITH PLAY IN LAS VEGAS, A SURREAL MOMENT FOR THE CLUB AND THE NRL ITSELF. FULL COVERAGE INSIDE
Brian To’o. Photo: NRL Photos.
the final word
It seems like only yesterday that Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo were hoisting the Telstra Premiership trophy for a fourth consecutive year, celebrating another Grand Final win at Accor Stadium.
But for the players, it likely feels like long ago. They’ve been through another gruelling pre-season. They don’t get easier no matter how many Premierships you win.
And now, some 12,500 kilometres from home, this mighty record-breaking team – one that will be spoken about for decades to come as one of the greatest in our game’s history – find themselves in Las Vegas of all places, fighting for their first premiership points of the season. It’s a long way to go for a game of footy. But in many ways, it’s come at the perfect time. While nobody is questioning Penrith’s motivation to turn up year after year and try to get better, the fact there’s something a little bit different in the
formula each year probably helps the equation. This year, it’s the challenge of playing so much footy on the road while Penrith Stadium is redeveloped.
Sunday’s clash against the Sharks will be no easy task.
Penrith’s pre-season has been extremely limited, and they all but put up the white flag in the pre-season challenge, unable to give game time to the vast majority of the first grade squad. The Panthers have taken time to get going over the last couple of years, because the first month or two of the competition tends to be almost part of the preparation for what’s to come – the side on the way to the destination versus teams who have already arrived there, having started their legitimate preparations back in November.
One factor few people have spoken about heading into this game is that it was Penrith
who bundled Cronulla out of the title race last year, eventually getting on top of them in the Preliminary Final at Accor Stadium. The Sharks surely wouldn’t have spent too much time worrying about that over the summer, but it’s a nice little bit of motivation.
The Sharks will also be after a strong start to the year, but there’s a few factors at play that will ultimately determine the success of their season. New recruit Addin Fonua-Blake could well be what takes Cronulla from a decent regular season side to a Premiership threat, if he finds his best form in the Shire.
But if Cronulla go through a difficult period and the pressure mounts on Nicho Hynes and the halves, I’d have fears about Cronulla’s prospects. Hynes handled the pressure with class last season, but there are plenty of people willing to throw stones. Getting an early win over the best halfback in the game in the
confidence-booster.
The side that wins this contest at Allegiant Stadium will likely be the one that handles the week better. The preparations have been different – with the Sharks choosing to spend much of their week in Los Angeles, while the Panthers headed straight to Vegas. The best method? We might know that at the 80th minute on Sunday. Whichever side adjusts to the conditions better, and knuckles down to get the job done – erasing the novelty factor of where they are –will win.
I’m worried about Penrith’s lack of serious pre-season for this one, but I know how well they rise to special occasions. Perhaps the right approach is to not treat this as another game, but appreciate the spectacle that it is.
Penrith by a whisker for me.
Tip: Panthers by 6.
shape of Nathan Cleary would be a huge
Graphic: Zoe Merrick.
TROY DODDS
STADIUM
ASHLEY KLEIN
panther rumblings
PANTHERS HIT THE ICE IN VEGAS
! Panthers on the prowl: Before they got stuck into preparing for this Sunday’s blockbuster against the Cronulla Sharks at Allegiant Stadium, Panthers coach Ivan Cleary allowed his side to enjoy all the fun and excitement that Las Vegas is known for. Not long after they arrived in Sin City, players hit nearby Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas to check out all the wackiness of this iconic tourist destination. Over the weekend, much of the team attended a Vegas Golden Knights NHL game at T-Mobile Arena. Panthers co-captain Isaah Yeo was even part of a special rugby league promotion on the ice alongside Canberra Raiders skipper Joe Tapine and bunch of Aussie footy fans.
! Footy flight chaos: Plenty of NRL fans were left scrambling to adjust holiday details over the past week with numerous cancelled flights to the USA in response to the Chinese war ship situation. Some were given less than 24 hours’ notice of cancellations, others had their trips cut short. Hopefully everyone will be in Las Vegas in time for the action on the weekend.
! More footy flight chaos: There were some issues for the Panthers and Raiders on their domestic flight from San Francisco to Las Vegas last week. Both teams were on the same plane, which meant an endless amount of gear and equipment came with them. We’ve heard that the plane was over the maximum weight limit, which resulted in the flight being delayed an hour. The airline was forced to make an announcement to all passengers, offering a $500 voucher to anyone who was willing to get off the plane and check themselves onto a later flight. Unsurprisingly, no-one from the Panthers or Raiders put their hand up.
! Pubs take on Vegas: If you’re not able to be in Las Vegas for this Sunday’s season open er against the Sharks, an array of local pubs and clubs are hosting various Vegas themed parties including St Marys Leagues Club, the Log Cabin Hotel, Drink West, Kingswood Sports Club and of course, Panthers World of Entertainment. The Panthers Las Vegas Experience will take place in The Backyard and will feature free, family-friendly enter tainment. There will be plenty of prizes and giveaways to be won; food stations and a dessert bar; everyone’s favourite Panthers mascot and the Pantherettes will be in attendance; kids rides, a jumping castle and face painting will be on offer; and if you get to the club early enough, Kelly’s is offering a $25 Breakfast & Beer combo. It’s almost better than the real thing!
Surprise for Brandy: Penrith legend Greg Alexander was ready in his usual attire of an old pair of shorts and a t-shirt for his trip into Fox Sports for a shift last Saturday. He then got a call from Fox Sports bosses saying he needed to dress up for the day as high-level executives were in town. Turns out it was all part of a sneaky plan to ensure Brandy looked presentable for a surprise 60th birthday put on by his family upon his return. The great man will hit the magic milestone on March 4.
Spotted: Panthers players getting into the US pastime of shooting! Vegas is known for its gun ranges and several players were seen having a blast at Battlefield Vegas, an indoor shooting range and outdoor military museum located off the Vegas strip. I heard young gun Luron Patea was quite the marksman!
! Spotted: Panthers forward Matt Eisenhuth enjoying iconic US band The Eagles at The Sphere.
! Spotted: Before they departed for the US last week, Liam Martin, Matt Eisenhuth and Luke Sommerton were caught leaving the Panthers Academy on a coffee run for some of their teammates. Don’t forget the two iced caramel lattes and two iced long blacks, boys!
! Spotted: A couple of Vegas-bound Panthers fans walking down Broadway in Nashville in Penrith gear.
! Panthers extend marketing: Penrith has been running cheeky ads in newspapers in Parramatta, making themselves welcome at CommBank Stadium and preparing for the city to become a second home over the next couple of years. Perhaps they’re hoping to win over weary Eels fans, or grab interest from casual followers who may be keen to see the four-time Premiers in action this season.
! Premiers hand back trophy early: Before the Panthers departed for the US, they had the difficult task of returning the Provan-Summons Trophy to the NRL in time for the new season. In a fascinating interview with the SMH last weekend, Penrith coach Ivan Cleary said: “You get the honour and memories forever, but essentially once the new season starts, you have no more rights to the trophy than anyone else – that’s the mentality we have”. It’s expected the Panthers will be reunited with the iconic trophy in early October.
! Spill the tea: As always, I want to hear your news, gossip and thoughts in 2025. You can email me at maskedpanther@westernweekender.com.au. I don’t keep secrets, but I do protect my sources.
Photo: NRL Images.
SMITH’S READY TO FILL FISH’S BIG BOOTS
2024 was a big year for 25-year-old Panthers prop Lindsay Smith. He played in all 27 games for his side including winning his second Grand Final and debuting for Australia against Tonga in the Pacific Championships.
Reflecting on the massive end to his year, Smith said representing his community and family is something he is very proud of.
“It was obviously pretty special to represent the country and also represent my family and everything they’ve done for me,” Smith told Extra Time before leaving for Las Vegas.
“It was definitely a special moment, one that I’ll cherish forever, and I’ll never forget… When you get to play on that level you get to reflect on where you’ve come from and who you’ve come from as well. Representing where I’m from in my junior club of St Marys is pretty special.”
Despite the accolades of last year, Smith has his sights set on making 2025 the best year of his career, including putting his hand up for the starting spot left by the departing James Fisher-Harris.
“Obviously, everyone wants to start, and I’ll
put my hand up no matter where Iv wants me,” Smith said.
“There are differences between the bench role and the starting role but that’s sort of the progression you’ve got to take, and I’ll be putting up my hand to Ivan to play wherever he wants me.
“I’ll try to be the best for my team.”
It was set to be a two-way battle for the starting spot between Smith and young gun Liam Henry but as Henry continues his recovery from off-season surgery, Smith has been given the greenlight to run out in the starting side in Sunday’s game in Sin City.
Smith did run out as part of the starting line-up a few times for the Panthers last year but recognises it is a different game compared to the bench role.
“When you are starting, it’s just a lot faster and there is a little bit more sting in the game, and you’ve got to try to bring that aggression in the first five or 10 minutes and that is something that Mos (Moses Leota) and Fish (Fisher-Harris) have done so well over so many years,” Smith said.
“There is a little bit of difference when you are coming off the bench [because] there’s a bit of fatigue in the game and there isn’t when you are starting because everyone is fresh.
“It’s definitely a challenge but I’ll be ready
for it if Iv calls upon me.”
After the high of representing his country, another goal Smith wants to achieve this year is pulling on the sky-blue jumper and representing NSW.
“Playing State of Origin has been a big dream for myself ever since I was a kid,” Smith revealed.
“There is always… [the want for] progression but I guess for me it is about coming back to the pre-season here and putting my work in day in and day out and then hopefully throughout the season just playing my best footy for the team and just see what happens from there.”
Lindsay Smith at Panthers training last week.
Photo: Melinda Jane.
PAPALI’I EAGER TO GET BACK TO HIS BEST
As he still comes to grips with the “detailed” and “challenging” Penrith system, star recruit Isaiah Papali’i will begin his tenure as a Panther off the interchange bench.
On Tuesday, four-time premiership-winning coach Ivan Cleary named the 26-year-old in jersey ‘15’ for this Sunday afternoon’s blockbuster season opener against the Cronulla Sharks in Las Vegas.
Papali’i was tipped to start in the back-row alongside representative forward Liam Martin, however Cleary sprung a surprise when he handed in his team earlier this week.
The former Tigers, Eels and Warriors forward was one of Penrith’s big off-season acquisitions following the departure of legendary prop James Fisher-Harris to New Zealand.
Speaking with Extra Time prior to leaving for the US, Papali’i said as soon as Fisher-Harris announced he was leaving Penrith, he jumped at the opportunity to join the defending Premiers.
“My manager and I had been working on the deal a little bit away from everyone, which was nice because it kept the whispers out of it, and then when it was official, it was official,” he said.
“It wasn’t as black and white as it appeared. We had good talks and thought about it, not only with me and my manager and the clubs (Wests and Penrith), but also my family and what we
at Parramatta in 2022, Papali’i admits his form plateaued at Concord and he was never able to get back to the style of footy that he was playing at the Eels.
Determined to get back to his best at the Panthers, Papali’i said fitness and game preparation were his biggest issues at Benji Marshall’s Tigers.
“Reflecting on my time there, it was a little bit frustrating but you can’t really do anything about those years that have gone past now. It’s time to look forward and make sure that I’m putting in the work, so that I have no excuse not to play well and be best prepared, so I can keep progressing and growing,” he said.
“I think the more experience that I get here, the more I’ll be able to do it effortlessly without thinking too much.
“I want to make sure that my backyard is looked after and that I’m ready to play whenever I get the opportunity.
I just don’t want to have any reason to plateau here and the best way to eliminate that is by preparing well and being ready.”
While this weekend’s game at
Allegiant Stadium will be Papali’i’s first official match in Panthers colours, he did manage to squeeze in a pre-season trial when Penrith played fellow Vegas team Canberra at Shark Park earlier this month.
Now at his fourth NRL club, Papali’i said he was nervous for his first hit-out with his new team due to the pressure of playing with the back-to-back-to-back-to-back Premiers.
“I was excited and nervous for that game,” he admitted.
“I think I did feel the pressure that’s why I was so nervous to play, but then once I played that game along with the little in-house trial that we had, the more I wanted to play footy with this group and the more confident I got.
“Now, I’m looking forward to Vegas and officially debuting for the club and roll on from there.”
And with the Las Vegas game just days away, Panthers fans can look forward to seeing the best of Papali’i again as he becomes more and more comfortable on and off the field.
“Already I can see that I’m more physically fit and more mentally locked in here,” Papali’i admitted.
New recruit Isaiah Papali’i chatting with Extra Time last week. Photo: Melinda Jane.
Isaiah Papali’i up against Canberra in Penrith’s first pre-season trial. Photo: NRL Images. NATHAN TAYLOR
panther memories
The Panthers have had three major jersey shifts over the years.
The first was the move from brown and white to black in 1991, and the third being switching back to black in 2000.
In the middle though, the most bizarre period of all –the little-loved 1997, 1998 and 1999 jersey. It was black, white, red and green – but it just didn’t look ‘Penrith’.
First launched for the Super League season in 1997, the Panthers would keep the strip for two more seasons once the NRL came along, before finally giving it the flick.
This year, the Panthers are turning back the clock and using the bizarre looking jersey as their warm-up shirt.
Of course, there’s been many variables of jerseys in Penrith’s history – too many to count!
(Photo thanks to NRL Photos)
PANTHERS HOLD ALL THE CARDS
lang on league
Not many people know this but Las Vegas has a lot of things in common with rugby league. For a start, it’s where the expression “What happens on the field stays on the field,” comes from, you know like “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”
OK so maybe I’m stretching the truth a little but the journey from Penrith to Sin City is a long one. In fact, it’s a 24,850km round trip. A long way to travel to play a game of footy. It’ll be hard for the teams travelling over to stay focused on the game they’ll play at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas this Sunday.
The Cronulla Sharks, Penrith’s opponent this weekend, are arriving in Vegas four days after every other team to avoid getting too distracted by the sights and sounds of the ‘Entertainment Capital of the World’.
There are just so many distractions wherever you look.
A once-in-a-lifetime experience, the bright lights of Vegas can mesmerise and take away your focus.
I mean we’ve already seen plenty of photos of Panthers players enjoying the sights and sounds of a city striving to become the ‘Sporting Capital of the World’. Yep, plenty to see and do, plenty of
fun to be had, before it’s time to get down to business. As Penrith captain Isaah Yeo said last month:
“You have the excitement that you’re jetting over to the other side of the world…but you’re still going over to try and win competition points”.
The Panthers learned a lot after travelling to the UK last year to play Wigan in the World Club Challenge, a game they lost 16-12.
They’re determined not to lose on such a big stage again.
They will train and train hard once the first few days of sight-seeing are over. Every minute of the trip has been meticulously planned by Ivan
Cleary and the coaching staff.
Every drill, every meal, every training session.
There’s a lot at stake after all. Two competition points are on offer and no team wants to go all the way to such a showpiece event just to lose.
What a sombre 12,425km, 17-hour trip home that would be!
There are plenty of questions being asked of Penrith going into this match however.
How will they perform when most of the starting team hasn’t even played in a proper trial? Will they be underdone? Will Nathan Cleary’s shoulder hold up? What about Liam Martin’s toe? Dylan
Edwards’ shoulder? Brian To’o’s hamstring?
The questions around this Panthers team are endless. It feels like being in Las Vegas might actually be a good thing for the boys. They may be wide-eyed by the glitz and glamour of playing in the US but at least they won’t be distracted by the rugby league media asking them a hundred questions each day about the final make-up of the team.
One thing is certain however, the coaching staff will not gamble with anything which is uncertain. Not even in Vegas, the ‘Gambling Capital of the World’.
The Panthers attended the Vegas Golden Knights NHL game last weekend.
with Peter Lang
