Panthers roar into top spot
LEADING the gruelling NRL competition halfway through a season is a special achievement — and it’s even sweeter when leapfrogging your fierce 53year western Sydney enemy to get there.
Penrith slipped past Parramatta to secure top position on the NRL ladder yesterday with an important yet difficult 22-10 win over North Queensland at Panthers Stadium.
While the win didn’t come as easy as many predicted, the Panthers have now moved on to 17 competition points, one clear of the Eels and Melbourne Storm.
It’s been 17 years since the Panthers won a grand final.
Penrith, it’s time to get excited again.
Penrith last led the NRL premiership at the halfway mark back in 2018 but exited in week two. This year’s side might not be eliminated so meekly.
Could this be a repeat of 2003? Or even 1991? The great Brad Fittler, part of the ’91 side, was there watching yesterday while commentating with Channel 9.
The Panthers have lost just one game this season — a 16-10 defeat to, ironically, Parramatta back in Round 5. Victory over North Queensland was Penrith’s fifth in a row.
Earlier, a heartfelt Shaun Johnson spoke of his sadness for his former New Zealand Warriors teammates, declaring there is no way he would stay separated from his heavily pregnant wife Kayla to play rugby league.
On an afternoon where Johnson gave the Warriors a gigantic backhander for the way he was unceremoniously shown the door back in 2018, the star Cronulla playmaker also showed tremendous compassion for many of his closest friends in the wake of a humiliating 46-10 thumping.
Ever since Cooper Cronk accused Johnson of “firing blanks” early last month, Johnson has been close to the Sharks’ best on a weekly basis. It was no different on a glorious winter afternoon in Gosford yesterday.
Johnson scored his first try of the season along with playing a significant hand in several more in the eight-tries-totwo mauling, while also landing seven goals. The win moved the Sharks to 10 competition points and has them ninth on the NRL ladder.