Tuesday, February 28, 2017 « the blue mountains record
Rugby League
Panthers set to do us proud in 2017 as ‘Plethora of talent’, ‘endless opportunities’, ‘foundations of a dynasty’. Could 2017 be Penrith’s premiership
Tyrone Peachey was a standout at centre against the Eels earlier this month. Photo: Megan Dunn
TROY DODDS
ot since facing the enormous task of defending a Premiership title in 2004 has Penrith entered a season with such high expectations of what they will deliver on the field. There was hope after 2010 and real belief after 2014, but this time it feels different. This time it’s serious. The Panthers enter the 2017 National Rugby League (NRL) season as one of the Premiership favourites. This is a squad so meticulously built, right to the very last detail. It is a squad with a Plan B and a Plan C at almost every turn. Not even did the off-season injury to one of the club’s most feared players, Josh Mansour, lower the expectations. The injury eased the headache facing coach Anthony Griffin just slightly. With four players having legitimate claims to starting centre spots this year (Tyrone Peachey, Peta Hiku, Waqa Blake and Dean Whare), Mansour’s injury and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak’s pre-season stumble allows Griffin to test different combinations. The Auckland Nines and the pre-season trials did however have Griffin reaching for the Panadol once again, with Dylan Edwards also making a claim for a spot in the backline come round one. Headaches, or should we call them
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Anthony Griffin has such a good side on his hands that he is able to instil a disciplined and competitive approach that will only grow the team, and manage the egos that can creep into a side with such hype around it. welcome challenges, like this litter Griffin’s team in 2017. At times, they won’t be headaches and challenges, they’ll be resolutions. For example, if either Te Maire Martin or Nathan Cleary were to go down in the halves, Peter Wallace makes a simple switch from number nine to seven, and new recruit Mitch Rein slots into the hooker role. Or Matt Moylan may shift into the halves, allowing Watene-Zelezniak to play fullback and either Dylan Edwards or Michael Oldfield to slot into a wing spot. The opportunities are endless. The battle for forward positions is equally tight.
Let’s accept, for example, that James Tamou and Reagan Campbell-Gillard are Penrith’s starting props, with Bryce Cartwright and Isaah Yeo in the second row, Trent Merrin at lock and Peter Wallace at hooker. That leaves Sitaleki Akauola, Tim Browne, James Fisher-Harris, Leilani Latu, Mitch Rein and Moses Leota all fighting for bench spots. Plus, a plethora of talent still coming through the ranks. At full strength, Penrith could quite legitimately have three former internationals in Sam McKendry, Dean Whare and Peta Hiku playing reserve grade, and still field a first grade side with the potential to threaten for the premiership. However, injuries during the pre-season
have already shown that being at full strength is almost impossible for the length of a season. In the battle for the spots that are considered contentious, we tend to forget about the superstars who have already locked down their spot. Matt Moylan, a year older and with representative football now part of his kit bag, will be better than ever. Nathan Cleary, after a dynamic debut season, seems so grounded that ‘second year syndrome’ would be nearly impossible to contract. With Bryce Cartwright poised to deliver a scintillating year now that he has some personal issues behind him, and Trent Merrin in some of the best form of his career, Penrith have crafted a team not
Bryce Cartwright is set for a big year. Photo: Megan Dunn