Opinion
The ’Riff!
Just when we all thought it was safe to go back into the water, suddenly here they are again – in the eight and rising hard. From winning their fourth successive grand final last season, they begin this year with a diaphanous defence so bad that other teams were scoring at will, and they lost all but one of their first six matches. By round 12, they had still won just three matches and had also registered a thumping at the hands of the Knights for their trouble. (No one gets thumped by the Knights.)
I knew it. You knew it. No team could lose the number of great players they had and still be world-beaters, and here was our proof. Even allowing for the Tigers and Knights, a wooden spoon did not seem out of the question.
But do you see what happened when you and I weren’t looking? Seemingly out of nowhere, the sinking ship has righted itself, the captain has set a new course, and they are the ones doing the thumping – first the Warriors last week, then the table-topping Bulldogs this week.
And it is not just those key victories that count. It is the way they are playing: the confidence, the verve, the swerve is back. Cleary ain’t weary, To’o ain’t so-so and Isaah Yeo is once more on the boil, boil, toil and trouble.
I don’t say they will go on from here to win the whole thing, but what a sports story if they did! To go from reigning premiers to losing five of their first six matches, to then scratching and clawing their way back into contention, before starting to dominate would be that rarest of all things in rugby league – something new.
The Panthers are on the move … can they win a fifth straight premiership? Credit: Getty Images
And while Penrith winning a fifth title on the trot would be a dull result at the start of the season, doing it this way – if they do – would be extraordinary.
Bravo, Roosters … now please use your heads I knew it would happen, and it didn’t. After my rant last week ab
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