Opinion
Better than Lego: Why Penrith have become the NRL’s super team
Andrew Webster
Chief Sports WriterThis isn’t supposed to happen. None of it. The system doesn’t allow teams to defend a premiership, let alone win three in a row.
The salary cap is a greased pole. Just when a team thinks it has reached the top, it slides back down again. It rewards the bad and punishes the good.
If there’s one thing Penrith have shown us in the last few years, it’s that the system can be beaten – by having a better system of your own.
They won’t say it publicly but, internally, the Panthers liken how they go about their business to a game of Lego.
The players are the pieces. If one piece is removed because of injury, suspension or a better offer from another club, it’s quickly replaced with a piece that might be a slightly different colour but not shape, slotting neatly into place.
Since beating Souths in the 2021 grand final, the Panthers have lost two big-name players a season along with many quality back-up and fringe first-graders who provide essential depth in a gruelling seven-month competition.
The Panthers celebrate a try at BlueBet Stadium on Saturday.Credit: Getty
At the end of 2021, they lost Matt Burton and Kurt Capewell. At the end of 2022, it was Viliame Kikau and Api Koroisau. At the end of 2023, it will be Stephen Crichton and Spencer Leniu.
No club – not even Melbourne – has haemorrhaged players like that and continued to dwarf the opposition.
There is no such thing as a sure thing in rugby league, but the chances of Penrith claiming their third premiership – the first side to do so since the iconic Parramatta teams of 1981-83 – is close to it.
Nathan Cleary’s absence barely caused a ripple at the Panthers.Credit: Getty
Saturday night’s 28-0 shutout of Cronulla at BlueBet Stadium again proved this is the closest competition in years … for second.
In his second match back from a hamstring tear, halfback Nathan Cleary kicked the Sharks to death, nailing 40-20s and sideline conversions along with his arsenal of short and long kicks in general play.
Take a player of that calibre out of most sides and they’d struggle. Look at how Souths perform when fullback Latrell Mitchell is injured.
But at Penrith, Cleary’s six-match absence barely caused a ripple.
When he suffered the tear in the first half against St George Illawarra on June 9, an unassuming piece of Lego in the form of Jack Cogger clicked into place.
Seconds before half-time, Cogger placed an inch-perfect cross-field kick straight into the arms of winger Brian To’o, who scored in the corner. Cleary couldn’t have done it better himself.
“I’ve trained there all week,” Cogger said matter-of-factly as he left the field at half-time. “I know my job, I know what I have to do.”
Mitch Kenny is another important brick this season, replacing Koroisau. They are entirely different players, but it didn’t take long for Kenny to find his place; his versatility gives the Panthers an additional middle forward when needed.
Kikau’s move to the Bulldogs threatened to leave a yawning gap on the left edge.
Luke Garner was identified as his replacement and started the season there before injury struck. Coach Ivan Cleary finally settled on Scott Sorensen, who is also different to Kikau but just as lethal at times, offloading, breaking tackles and sniffing out the occasional try.
Former Penrith general manager of football Phil Gould deserves some credit for setting up the system, but there are several Lego masters behind the scenes responsible for the club’s sustained success.
With their sprawling junior nursery, Penrith will always be a development club, but high-performance manager Matt Cameron has also made them a retention club.
It will always be tough to keep players like Burton, Kikau and Koroisau when rival clubs are offering as much as $200,000 a season more, but the stability and quality of what they’ve built at Penrith means many players are willing to stay for less.
Back-rower Liam Martin recently re-signed, fullback Dylan Edwards is about to extend and Penrith are confident they can keep Jarome Luai despite misleading reports that he’s not a priority.
Jack Cogger is attracting interest from rival clubs.Credit: Getty
A sign of a great club is the improvement in their players. Nathan Cleary’s last two back-ups – Sean O’Sullivan and Cogger – started on development contracts of $80,000. Sullivan went to the Dolphins on a three-year deal while Cogger is being circled by rival clubs, desperate to make him their starting No.7.
Meanwhile, players like centre Tyrone Peachey returned from the Wests Tigers this season on less money and re-signed for 2024 for less money again. Charlie Staines will also return to Penrith after one season at the Tigers for less money.
(Yes, this probably says more about the Tigers than Penrith but you catch my drift).
The person most responsible for dismantling the Panthers’ squad has been Gould, who is now the Bulldogs general manager of football.
If you didn’t know any better, you’d think he was trying to tear down what he built before his departure in April 2019 given the raft of players he’s lured to Belmore.
The Panthers are neither concerned nor paranoid about Gould. If anything, they understand it: he knows what talent is available at Penrith, as does rookie coach Cameron Ciraldo, a former assistant to Ivan Cleary until this year.
They are taking Gould’s public declarations in their stride, too.
While most concede this is Penrith’s premiership to lose, Gould said on Channel Nine last week they should win the next six.
Was he putting pressure on his old club? Was he putting pressure on Ivan Cleary, with whom he fell out?
Or was he just sending a message to the Bulldogs board to trust him given the part he played in Penrith’s sustained success?
Either way, Penrith have the same feel about them as the Parramatta teams they are trying to emulate.
The game is unrecognisable to what it looked like in the 1980s, not least the salary cap.
But if there’s one comparison that can be made between the Eels of the early ’80s and the Panthers of the early 2020s, it’s the chemistry between the players.
The Eels were the greatest of mates, winning premierships and dominating the dance floor at Parramatta Leagues. Apart from the St George teams of the 1950s and 1960s, few teams have remained closer than those Parramatta sides, united by their achievements and mateship.
There’s a similar camaraderie among these Panthers, many of whom have played together since they were juniors. Now they’re defying the system, climbing the greasy pole to collect premierships.
It’s so good. Dare we say it, it’s better than Lego.
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