Panthers home and hosed?
Ladder leaders benefit from fixture
IN A record-breaking run of 11 straight victories, the Penrith Panthers have looked fitter, faster and fresher than their premiership rivals.
And this is the reason why. When the NRL structured the draw, the Panthers were handed a huge advantage with the most favourable and recovery-friendly travel schedule of the 16 teams.
The tearaway competition leaders have had only two games outside of Sydney - a bus ride to the Central Coast and a plane trip to the Gold Coast.
You don’t need a sports science degree to work out this gives them a clear edge.
The Panthers have travelled just 975km outside of Sydney this season compared to the Cowboys and their gruelling 15,786km.
It might be good for their frequent flyer points but not for their weekly rehab.
The Canberra Raiders have been on 10 road trips compared to Penrith’s two.
Four of them were longhaul bus trips where big men like Josh Papalii can barely squeeze their legs under the seats.
The figures may explain to some degree why the Queensland clubs have struggled for much of the year, although being based on the Sunshine Coast has certainly not affected Melbourne Storm.
In previous years it has been easier to cope with because they arrived a day earlier, acclimatised and had recovery after the game rather than head straight to the airport.
NRL Physio Brien Seeney says the travel factor is significant.
Studies in major sport in the US and the UK prove it.
“The effects of travel definitely influence performance, recovery and injury risk,” he said. “There have been studies done that show away teams actually suffer more injuries than home teams.
“It’s been done in the NBA and the EPL. They found a statistically significant increase in injuries for travelling teams.”
The Panthers and Wests Tigers have travelled interstate only once. Then you look at the Cowboys.
For one game, in round five against the Warriors in Gosford, they were on the road for 17 hours. The players left home in Townsville at 9.30am and arrived at the airport at 10.am for a temperature check. The flight left at 11am and arrived in Newcastle at 1.30pm.
It’s then a 90 minute bus ride to arrive in Gosford at 3pm for a 6pm kick-off. They left the ground at 9.30pm on a bus to get an 11.30pm flight from Newcastle to home.
They walked in their front doors at 2.30am.
And you wonder why they’ve lost their three highest paid players to calf muscle injuries – Michael Morgan, Jason Taumalolo, Jordan McLean and Val Holmes.