THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME lang on league

A photo of him wearing a Panthers jersey while celebrating Penrith’s 2021 Premiership win over the Bunnies made headlines but for all the wrong reasons.

Although he was a Wests Tiger at the time, one could just see that his heart never left Penrith.

It got me thinking, about other players who had left the Panthers for various reasons only to come back years later. Not ever really feeling comfortable at their new club.

The first player that comes to mind is Tyrone Peachey, who at 32 has made a triumphant return to the Panthers this season.

The ‘Peach’ was always a fan favourite and many missed him when he joined the Gold Coast Titans on an attractive threeyear deal which started in 2019.

However, Peachey wasn’t gone long before rumours started that he wasn’t happy and wanted to return to Penrith.

The journey back however took a little longer than expected and he spent a year at the Tigers before taking a significant pay cut to finally return this season.

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His contribution and impact have been a revelation and let’s be honest here, he’s played some of his best football as part of the black attack.

Other well-known players to do the same over the years include Mark ‘MG’ Geyer, Peter Wallace, Tim Grant, Shane Elford, Anthony Xuereb and even Robert Jennings to name but a few.

OK so they didn’t all have a fairytale return but they were all happy to come back.

Someone once wrote, no matter where your life’s journey takes you, eventually, we all experience some sort of homecoming.

All the players mentioned in this story have their own reasons why they left the Panthers, then years later came back again.

However, my favourite quote on the subject, would have to come from my favourite player of all time, Greg ‘Brandy’ Alexander.

It came in an interview I had with him way back in 1994, only months before he left to join the Warriors on a lucrative three-year deal.

“No matter where I go or which club I play for,” Alexander said, “I’ll always be a Penrith boy at heart”. Alexander cut short his stay in Auckland so he could return to the Panthers in 1997, so he could return home. Because after all, home is where the heart is.

The Penrith Panthers have snapped a fourgame losing streak in the NSW Cup with a 40-16 thrashing of Canterbury at BlueBet Stadium.

Buoyed by the inclusion of several stars, the Panthers were barely troubled as they returned to the top five.

It was a stop-start opening 40 with both sides guilty of ill-discipline, however the Panthers managed to get going first, with a sublime pass from Trent Toelau setting up Matt Stimson in the 18th minute.

Toelau backed it up with another great ball three minutes later to send Jack Cole over.

Fa’amanu Brown slipped through to put the Bulldogs on the board soon after, however the Panthers held a comfortable 12-6 half-time

The Panthers wasted no time in extending their lead in the second half, with strong tries to John Faiumu and Tom Jenkins pushing the score to 24-6.

Another pair of tries followed as Cole picked up his second with a show-and-go, before another great ball from Toelau led to Jesse McLean scoring.

Two late Bulldogs tries pulled the margin back, before Jaeman Salmon put the icing on the cake with a try on full-time.

The result was nearly identical in Jersey Flegg at Windsor, as the Panthers returned to form by thumping the Bulldogs.

Defensive pressure forced an error in the Bulldogs’ first set, with a typically strong charge from Peter Taateo seeing him cross after two minutes.

The Bulldogs quickly hit back, with Daniel Corcoran levelling the scores at 6-all.

Tries to Sam Lane and Timothy Sielaff-Burns from pinpoint Joseph Nohra grubbers, along with one to Luke Philp, sent the Panthers to half time leading 24-6.

They continued that form into the second half, with Liam Ison and Blake Moore combining for a long-range try.

Jonah Glover scored for Canterbury with 15 minutes remaining, however any fears of a comeback were quickly put to bed as Moore snaffled an intercept and raced 50m to score.

Another runaway try, this time by Nohra, in the final minutes wrapped up the big win.