Extra Time April 3 2020

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MASKED PANTHER How the ‘new world’ got very real for Josh Mansour

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BRAIN BENDERS Test your rugby league knowledge with Nathan Taylor’s exclusive quiz!

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LANG ON LEAGUE Peter Lang reflects on some great Panthers memories

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RICHO’S LEGACY We look back on Shane Richardson’s time as boss of the Penrith Panthers

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keep smiling EXTRA TIME WILL BE BACK LATER IN THE YEAR SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE!

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Friday, April 3, 2020 « the western weekender • extra time

LOWER GRADE SEASONS CHOPPED NATHAN TAYLOR

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his year’s NRL season may still be in limbo but the NSWRL has made the situation very clear to its players – they will not be taking part in any competitions this year.

Last Friday the NSWRL announced that the Board had made the difficult decision to immediately cancel nine major competitions for 2020, including the state’s premier Canterbury Cup competition in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NSWRL has also cancelled: Jersey Flegg Cup (Under 20s), SG Ball Cup (Under 18s), Laurie Daley Cup (Under 18s), Tarsha Gale Cup (Under 18s women), Harold Matthews Cup (Under 16s), Andrew Johns Cup (Under 16s), Women’s Country Championships and Men’s Under 23s Country Championships.

At the time of print, no final decision had been made on the Ron Massey Cup, Sydney Shield and Women’s Premiership competitions as well as community football, which involves grassroots players from Under 6s to open age.

NSWRL Chief Executive David Trodden said the Board had no option but to take

The Canterbury Cup competition will not run at all this year. Photo: Megan Dunn. unprecedented action in response to the revised medical advice from government health officials and other experts, along with the various travel bans within Australia and New Zealand.

“It is devastating for everyone involved

but the advice has changed dramatically since we suspended these competitions nine days ago,” he said.

“We have an obligation to be part of the solution for this pandemic, both for the rugby league community and also for the

community more generally. This view was uppermost in the minds of the Board.

“The likelihood of a shortened season in which to conduct the bigger competitions like Canterbury Cup NSW and Jersey Flegg Cup was also a factor as the narrow window of opportunity to resume and complete the competitions meant it was not viable to go ahead.

“This issue is not as big of a concern for some of our other competitions and community football that can still be conducted over a shortened timeframe or as gala days or mini carnivals.”

Trodden said the impact would be felt across the entire footy community in the state, including those working in the game.

“We will continue to monitor the situation daily and review the status of our other competitions as circumstances change and updated information becomes available,” he said.

“We are also aware that rugby league can play a role in the healing process of the community so when it is safe to play, we hope to give our players, volunteers, coaches and officials the opportunity to get back to doing what they love, even if it is for a shortened period of time.”

The NRL still hopes to resume its season.

the western weekender • extra time » Friday, April 3, 2020

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Friday, April 3, 2020 « the western weekender • extra time

panther rumblings

WITH THE MASKED PANTHER

DEVELOPMENT DILEMMA !

While Penrith’s NRL team will survive the Coronavirus crisis, even if footy doesn’t return this year, the club’s structure is likely to look very different when it comes to the lower grades and development. Panthers CEO Brian Fletcher has conceded that it’s unlikely the club will be able to continue funding development programs to the extent it has in the past.

Josh Mansour.

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Josh Mansour knows the impact of the current Coronavirus crisis confronting the NRL more than most. Before the season was suspended, Mansour was sent home by the Penrith doctor after he arrived at training with flu-like symptoms.

“We were getting assessed in our car park before we stepped foot on to the venue. I had a bit of a running nose and the doctor assessed me. He thought I had a bit of a flu so they sent me home as a precaution straight away,” Mansour told The Daily Telegraph. Mansour is now training at home alone, managing the uncertain reality many NRL stars are dealing with at the moment.

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Talking of Josh Mansour, he’s considering becoming a player agent post-footy.

Maybe he can team up with Gus Gould!

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Fox League is doing its best to keep footy fans engaged during this shutdown period, with ‘Fox League Live’ certainly providing some fun and news every morning and afternoon. Now, Foxtel is launching ‘Fox League Classics’, with the likes of Andrew Voss, Warren Smith and Dan Ginnane on deck to re-call old matches from the past. This weekend, Penrith’s thrilling 32-all draw with the Warriors in 2009 will be part of the coverage.

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Panthers CEO Brian Fletcher has taken a significant pay cut due to the Coronavirus shutdown. Fletcher believes it’s important everyone wears some of the burden during the crisis, even though he’s still working hard while the doors are closed. Fletcher’s main focus is on ensuring the club comes back in good shape when the crisis is eventually over and restrictions are lifted.

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Spotted: Nobody.

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The Panthers have launched the Panther Pride membership to allow members and fans to directly support the club and our community. It’s a donated membership designed to bring some joy to those in our community who are doing it tough. Panthers will work with charity partners to distribute every Panther Pride membership purchased to local families who have fallen on hard times. Check out www.penrithpanthers.com.au for all the details.

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If the NRL does return this year, the code’s bosses face several major hurdles when it comes to the broadcasters. While Fox League will be happy to show live

games right up until Christmas, the same can’t be said for Channel Nine. Not only do they have competing priorities late in the year with other sporting commitments, but a December Finals series and Grand Final would fall in the non-ratings period. Watch this space.

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The NRL has officially pulled the pin on Magic Round this year, but says the concept will return in 2021. “These are challenging times for our community and our game, but we had to take this action as there was simply no other option,” said NRL Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Abdo.

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Big League editorial staff remain in good spirits despite the magazine being

placed on hiatus during the NRL shutdown. The magazine’s publishers are confident it will return this year alongside the NRL competition.

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Panthers captain James Tamou has gone bush during the NRL shutdown, deciding to spend some time on his family farm at Braidwood.

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With the NRL suspended, the time has come for yours truly to hang up the keyboard – for now. The sensible decision has been made to suspend Extra Time for the time being, until such time that the competition is back. I’m heading off to the Panther Cave to watch as many old games as I can find. See you on the flip side!

OFFICIAL PARTNER

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the western weekender • extra time » Friday, April 3, 2020

Nathan’s Footy Quiz

TEST YOUR FOOTY KNOWLEDGE WITH NATHAN TAYLOR’S NRL BRAIN BENDERS 21. How many Grand Finals have the New Zealand Warriors played in?

22. Who was the last club to enjoy an undefeated season?

23. Cameron Smith has played the most games in NRL history, who has played the second most?

24. How many Immortals do Penrith have?

25. In the NRL era, who was the youngest player to make his first grade debut?

26. How many NRL clubs has the great Wayne Bennett coached?

27. Which English Super League club did Allan Langer play for between 20002001?

28. The Video Referee was introduced in which year?

29. Who has played the most games for Parramatta?

30. Which club did Wally Lewis captaincoach?

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club?

12. Who won the 2019 Clive Churchill Medal?

13. Which year did rocker Billy Idol “attempt” to perform at the Grand Final?

14. Not including Super League, who won the first ever night time Grand Final?

15. Which year did Fox League begin broadcasting?

16. Which club has lost the most Grand Finals?

17. How many wooden spoons has Penrith collected?

18. Which now defunct club lost 42 consecutive matches in the mid 1930s?

19. Which club scored a record 91 points in a game back in 1935?

20. Which club did Brett Kimmorley debut at?

Answers 1. South Sydney Rabbitohs 2. Lang Park (Suncorp Stadium) 3. Auckland Warriors 4. Darren Albert 5. Queensland 6. Dally Messenger 7. 20 teams 8. Paul Vautin, Peter Sterling, Steve Roach and Ray Hadley 9.

Mario Fenech 10. Sydney Football Stadium 11. Illawarra Steelers 12. Jack Wighton 13. 2002 14. Newcastle (2001) 15. 2017 16. Sydney Roosters 17. Four (1973, 1980, 2001, 2007) 18. Sydney University 19. St George Dragons (against Canterbury) 20.

Newcastle Knights 21. Two 22. St George (1959) 23. Cooper Cronk (372 games) 24.

None 25. Jordan Rankin (16 years and 238 days) 26. Five 27. Warrington Wolves 28. 1997 29. Nathan Hindmarsh 30. Gold Coast Seagulls

1. Who won the very first NSWRL Premiership in 1908?

2. Where did the South Queensland Crushers play their home games?

3. Which club did Penrith great Greg Alexander switch to in 1995?

4. Who scored the winning try in the 1997 ARL Grand Final between Newcastle and Manly? (pictured) 5. Who won the first State of Origin match in 1980?

6. The Dally M award is named after who?

7. How many teams competed in the 1995 ARL Premiership?

8. Who were the four original hosts of ‘The Footy Show’?

9. Who is the popular term ‘Falcon’ named after?

10. Where was the 1998 NRL Grand Final played?

11. 2003 Panthers Premiership winner Ryan Girdler began his career at which

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Friday, April 3, 2020  the western weekender • extra time

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Friday, April 3, 2020 « the western weekender • extra time

Why fans hold the answer to the NRL’s financial crisis

clinton maynard I

f the Coronavirus crisis is teaching us one thing it’s the financial model propping up rugby league is not sustainable in the face of a global economic meltdown.

To be fair this issue isn’t confined to the NRL or professional sport for that matter, no business except for the supermarkets and the toilet paper manufacturers can expect to thrive during this time, however it has exposed the frailty of the game we love.

There’s been a lot of focus on the expense of running NRL head office and its 400 staff. While it does seem excessive when considering the English Premier League administration employs fewer people, this is taking attention away from the true financial issues of the game and that’s the over reliance on broadcast revenue.

It comes back to us, the fans, we are the ones who can ensure we still have a team to support. I guarantee Foxtel will emerge from the crisis with much smaller subscription numbers and their excellent streaming service Kayo will pick up many of those former subscribers. However the reality is, as a streaming service, subscribers will come and go, it’s a lot easier to disconnect and that will make it very hard for the NRL to demand the same sort of rights fees they’ve attracted in the past.

The AFL is looking stronger than the

Fans must show more support and loyalty to their clubs. Photo: Megan Dunn.

NRL at the moment and that’s in part because they don’t rely on broadcast revenue to the same extent, they rely on memberships.

If we want our clubs to prosper we need to be members and we need to be loyal in good times and the bad. I’ve been disgusted to read some so-called fans on social media ask for their membership money back because no games are being played! Fans are different to TV networks, we aren’t businesses and yes we are all

going to do it tough in the coming months but if you were planning on spending the money on game membership anyway, why not let your club keep the cash for now?

Longer term it’s even more important we commit. I’d be happy to pay more than I do now if it means my club is guaranteed a future, so raise the prices, membership is good value anyway. And every club needs to increase sheer numbers four and five fold.

How can it be that 80,000 Cronulla Sharks supporters wearing black, white and blue pack out ANZ Stadium on Grand Final day in 2016 yet year after year the club struggles to attract more than 15,000 members?

St George-Illawarra had just over 19,000 members last year, they won 11 premierships in a row and are two clubs in one!

We all want the game and our teams to survive, it’s time for fans to do something about it.

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the western weekender • extra time » Friday, April 3, 2020

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Friday, April 3, 2020 « the western weekender • extra time

Brought to you by…

Laughs and memories from my time at the Panthers

lang on league Tall tales but true From 1997 to 2002 I worked alongside then Media Manager Rob Weaver as his assistant at the Penrith Panthers. During that time I witnessed numerous funny incidents involving players. Some I can tell you about, others well, I can’t.

One of my favourite yarns however involves fan favourite Ryan Girdler. Girds was a consummate professional, he always turned up to training on time and would often stay back long after a session had finished to do some extra goal kicking practice.

One week, he was asked to put on one of those early-model exercise monitors to calculate how much exercise he was doing after training, probably to optimise his fitness regime. Anyway a week went by, the day came and he handed the ‘exercise monitor’ to the head trainer to download the results.

That afternoon he was asked to come in and see the club doctor immediately.

An abnormality was detected in the data.

Girdler came in and sat there as the doctor told him he needed to see a cardiologist urgently as his heart rate when exercising was off the charts and he might have a serious heart condition.

It was then that Girdler smiled and told the doctor, there was nothing wrong with his heart. “I forgot to wear the monitor during the week,” he said.

with Peter Lang doing exercise. Everyone, including the club doctor, breathed a sigh of relief. Or so the story goes.

No names, No pack drill A talented yet ‘past his prime’ second rower was signed up by Super League in 1996 to play for big bucks for two seasons.

The player was happy to go to training twice a week and play reserve grade for Penrith but had long lost the desire to play first grade again.

Unfortunately injuries forced the club’s hand and he was told he would have to play first grade on the weekend.

A few days before the game, the player fronted the Panthers Football Manager and limped in on his left foot saying he had picked up an ankle injury and couldn’t play on the weekend.

The Football Manager could only shake his head and smile as the player limped out of his office... on his right foot!

Ryan Girdler was one of the game’s great characters.

“So this morning I strapped it onto my dog and made him run around the park for an hour.”

Dogs of course, have a much quicker heartrate than humans which accelerates even further if they’re running around

The final word…

Unfortunately this is my last column for the time being as Extra Time goes on hiatus while the Coronavirus runs its course.

I will be back, along with the footy, before you know it.

Stay safe everyone and as much as you can, stay at home.

Go the Panthers!

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the western weekender • extra time » Friday, April 3, 2020

PANTHERS FLASHBACK

RICHO’S MARK ON THE PANTHERS NATHAN TAYLOR

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ast week veteran South Sydney boss Shane Richardson pulled the pin on his very successful 16- year tenure at Redfern. But did you know that the man known as “Richo” was a Panther before a Bunny?

In fact, Richardson’s short stint at the Panthers was rather sweet, becoming a very pivotal figure during Penrith’s premiership-winning run in 2003.

Richardson joined Penrith following their disastrous wooden spoon season in 2001.

After enjoying considerable success as a hard- driving and visionary administrator at an array of clubs both in Australia and England, his road to Penrith started with a phone call from then CEO Roger Cowan while he was at Hull.

“Roger phoned and offered me the job … it was the right time for me to leave England and come home,” Richardson recalled in The Panthers: Men in Black book.

“I thought it was a great opportunity, I mean, they’d just won the wooden spoon but had great resources, so I took the challenge.”

Richardson, along with incoming Panthers coach and friend John Lang, were intent on making changes at their new club.

Richardson was very hands-on, although some club insiders labelled his leadership style as “aggressive”. His motto was “Get it done and get it done now!”

Richardson shared the club’s long- held philosophy of putting faith in the juniors of the district – a mantra that is still evident at Penrith to this day.

Richardson aimed to make sure the senior players understood their responsibilities and that they acted accordingly.

“We tried to foster a culture of quality training among the lower grade players,” Richardson said.

“That if you trained really hard and you did the job, you’d get promoted. I think we had eight or nine juniors in the Grand Final side.

Shane Richardson (right) re-signs Rhys Wesser to a new deal with former administrator Mick Leary.

“We wanted to make sure we had a quality group of young players committed to what we were trying to achieve and who knew we’d be rewarded for their success.”

On a wet and miserable night on October 5 2003, Richardson’s vision for Penrith came to fruition when the Panthers – made up of mainly hardworking local juniors – defeated a highly fancied Sydney Roosters outfit 18-6 to claim their second first grade Premiership.

Unbelievably, just eight months after Craig Gower hoisted the Provan-Summons

Trophy in front of 81,000 fans at Telstra Stadium, Richardson was out the door, defecting to South Sydney.

In The Panthers: Men in Black book, Richardson explained the decision behind his shock departure.

“Was it hard to leave Penrith? Well, it was and it wasn’t,” he admitted.

“Roger Cowan and I never had a falling out but we had a philosophical difference.

I’m football and he’s business.

“I did my best as CEO when I was at Penrith. Some people didn’t like me

because I say what I think and they may not like it. But I simply find that in rugby league you get things done more quickly if you’re upfront.

“I was upfront with Roger and he was upfront with me and at the end of the day I was sad to leave, but these are the challenges you have in life.”

Richardson would go on to win a Premiership with the Rabbitohs in 2014, their first in more than 40 years. He is expected to remain on with South Sydney on a consultancy basis.

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