NRL grand final 2022: Latest Panthers vs Eels news before Sunday’s decider
The Eels have looked no further than their grand final opponent Penrith to realise what is the key to maintaining a premiership window. The good news is that Parramatta is already doing it.
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Parramatta co-captain Clint Gutherson is adamant the club can copy grand final opponents Penrith and keep their premiership window open with its junior talent.
The Eels will carry the weight of a 36-year premiership drought when his side makes its first grand final appearance since 2009 on Sunday.
But four of Arthur’s men set to take the field at Accor Stadium won’t be in the blue and gold next season, including key duo Reed Mahoney and Isaiah Papali’i.
But Gutherson insists it’s not do-or-die — and the Panthers are proof of it.
“Penrith don’t have the same team as last year and they are doing great things again,” Gutherson said.
“Obviously you're never going to have the same 17 players that run out on the weekend.
“We’re going to farewell a few people after this game and look, we just want to have no regrets.
“You want to be able to walk in after the game, win, lose or draw and have a beer with them and look them in the eye and say we did our best.”
Canberra’s Josh Hodgson, who will replace Belmore-bound Mahoney, is still the club’s highest profile recruit for next season.
But reigning champion Penrith has shown the rest of the competition that long-term success is developed not bought.
Penrith’s rich talent pathway has helped the Panthers to three-straight grand finals and, possibly, the elusive back-to-back title.
At least 10 players from coach Ivan Cleary’s grand final outfit have come through club’s junior ranks, including Harold Matthews (under-17s), SG Ball (under-19s) and Jersey Flegg (under-21s) levels. Star halves duo Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai have played together since they were 15 years old.
But on Sunday night, the Eels will bear the fruits of its development success.
Starting with Parramatta’s own halves pairing in Mitchell Moses and Dylan Brown. Moses and Brown are just two of the seven players in Arthur’s side to have graduated from the Eels’ Harold Matthews program and into the NRL.
“It’s not just this year that we’ve had a good team,” Gutherson said.
“We’ve had a good team for the last five years and people come and people go.
“That’s footy.
“We’ve got some good talent coming through. Will (Penisini) is only 19, Dyl (Brown) is only 22, you never know when the next superstar is going to pop up.
“We’ve got full belief in the club and the development of the club.”
Regardless of the outcome this weekend, Rouse Hill Rhinos junior Penisini refused to accept the club won’t have lasting success after the full-time whistle blows on Sunday.
“I don’t think our premiership window will close after this year, not at all,” Penisini said.
“There are still a lot of our core players that are staying, even though we are losing some like Reedy (Mahoney). But every year you get new players and talent coming through.
“What Brad and the coaching staff, but also our development staff, have built over the last couple of years has set us up to keep improving every year.
As well as Papali’i, who is poised to join the Wests Tigers, Parramatta also farewell Marata Niukore and Oregon Kaufusi from the pack.
But Papali’i is backing another of Parramatta’s local juniors in Toni Mataele is step up and help fill the void in season 2023.
“He always runs opposed against us in contact and he is on my side. He’s always running hard, rampaging against me and Moey (Moses),” Papali’i said.
“He’s really strong.
“I hope he can have a solid pre-season. He had a good one last year but the week before the trials, he tore his pec.
“Finger’s crossed he can get a trial game in next season and show what he can do.”
GRAND FINALS EELS WHO PLAYED HAROLD MATTHEWS CUP AT PARRAMATTA
Mitchell Moses
Dylan Brown
Junior Paulo
Will Penisini
Oregon Kaufusi
Ryan Matterson
Jake Arthur
PLAYERS TO WATCH
KY RODWELL
Versatile middle who can play lock or front row. At 23, he has been on the cusp of breaking into the NRL and is set to get his chance with the departures of key Eels in 2023.
TONI MATAELE
Powerful edge backrower that has impressed at NSW Cup level this year. The rising forward’s development was hampered by injury but looks set to push for a spot in Brad Arthur’s 17 next season.
BLAIZE TALAGI
Five-eighth and captain of the Eels‘ Harold Matthews team. Played schoolboys for Westfields Sports High and has emerged as a terrifying ball runner.
ETHAN SANDERS
Took over the halfback and leadership duties from Jakob Arthur at Patrician Brothers Blacktown in 2021. Crafty halfback who led Parramatta‘s Jersey Flegg side this season, showing maturity beyond his years in controlling the game.
LARRY MUAGUTUTIA
Giant front-rower coming through the ranks at the Eels. Models his game off Junior Paulo and Nathan Brown, with a strong work ethic and big motor.
MATT ARTHUR
The younger son of Eels coach Brad Arthur. A standout attacking hooker who already shows strong leadership qualities out of dummy-half for the Harold Matts team this year.
Power shift: Eels tipped to make shock starting switch
Nathan Cleary is in danger of being shut down by the Eels if gun Penrith hooker Api Koroisau is chosen to start Sunday night from the bench.
That’s the opinion of Panthers’ 2003 premiership winner Craig Gower, who has pleaded with coach Ivan Cleary to rip up his tactic of starting back-up hooker Mitch Kenny.
Gower’s impassioned plea has emerged as former Test prop Aaron Woods said the Eels should launch forward Nathan Brown from the grand final kick-off and drop Junior Paulo to the bench.
Both the Panthers and Eels concluded their tense grand final preparations on Saturday with Penrith finalising their game-plan with a light captain’s run at Accor Stadium.
The Eels knocked back an invitation to train at Accor Stadium, preferring to tick their final boxes with a training run at their home base of Kellyville.
The final 17 for both line-ups won’t be declared until one hour before kick-off on Sunday night, with Cleary considering the same game plan of his past four weeks, which is to start back-up hooker Mitch Kenny over Koroisau.
Kenny’s defensive steel in the opening 20-minutes is the reason behind the tactic.
But Gower believes Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary is at a greater risk of being shut down by the Eels without Koroisau on the field.
“I don’t like it (when Kenny starts),’’ Gower said on Triple M. “I think last week, we lacked a bit of direction out there. “It also gives the defence more time to get to Nathan.
“Api is so deceiving, you don’t know what he’s going to do.
“That (deception) just brings that element of second-guessing to the defensive line, where they have to wait (to see what Koroisau does).
“Hopefully they go with Api because he‘s a State of Origin player, he adds so much to their attack and he gives Nathan and (Jarome) Luai more time.
“That’s the way I would play it.’’
In recent weeks, Eels coach Brad Arthur has also elected to start Marata Niukore over Ryan Matterson. But Woods believes Arthur should start Brown and drop Origin prop Paulo.
“Brown’s job is to get out there and ruffle a few feathers, not lose his head, but just get to Cleary,’’ Woods also said on Triple M.
“I’d probably put Paulo back to the bench and start Brown.
“I’d change it up. Because you’ve got a massive body coming off the bench.
“If Brown can hold his own, then you can bring Paulo on after that, you’ve got him going up against Scott Sorensen and Mitch Kenny.’’
NRL BAD BOY OPENS UP ON CLEARY’S UNWAVERING SUPPORT
Matt Encarnacion
It’s one of the traits Nathan Cleary loves about his dad the most.
How, even at a player’s lowest point, Ivan, has no qualms with putting his reputation on the line, coming down and standing alongside to support them.
Which was the case two years ago when former Penrith utility Tyrone May pleaded guilty to intentionally recording intimate image withough consent.
He was stood down for the 2019 season but was promptly axed by the club when he referenced his court case in a social post during premiership celebrations last year.
Included in the post was a photo of Ivan supporting him outside Penrith local court.
Speaking for the first time since leaving to join the Catalan Dragons in France, Tyrone opened up on the support he received from Ivan as he copped the punishment for his mistake.
“For me personally, (Ivan has) been there through all my bad times,” says Tyrone.
More often than not, it was off the field, and it didn’t always relate to football.
Which is why, when Ivan first took the Panthers’ top job in 2012 and Nathan and Tyrone became best mates, the Cleary household became a place of refuge for the Mt Druitt junior.
“Whenever I was feeling a bit iffy I could go to him because I had that good relationship with him where I could tell him about stuff that was playing on my mind,” continued Tyrone, who was hoping to watch his brother Taylan play in the grand final, only to be ruled out by injury.
“It helped a lot, being able to see that I could do that stuff with Ivan.
“It was like having another father figure.”
On some occasions, it would’ve felt like Ivan had more than his four kids under one roof, which is where Tyrone would regularly crash.
“I’d stay there and just pick up camp for a week,” he says.
“When my house was a bit crowded, I’d stay at their nice house and just have a few conversations with him there.”
Nathan is adamant his dad would treat all of his players the same.
“It’s one of the things I love most about dad, and probably proud of him ... he’s very loyal. He looks after his players. He’s always there for you,” Nathan said.
It’s a little insight into how Ivan has become more than an NRL coach at the Panthers, where he was first handed the task of their club-altering transformation under Phil Gould in 2012.
It was Ivan’s second crack at the clipboard, having just guided the Auckland-based Warriors to their second grand final appearance the previous year.
He struggled in his first three seasons at Penrith before being shown the door by Gould and joining the Wests Tigers, only to controversially return to the foot of the mountains in 2019.
It took Ivan another decade to guide a team to a decider, putting the finishing touches on a squad laden with local talent. And here he is again.
Of the 17 players to face the Eels at Accor Stadium, second-rower Viliame Kikau is the only player to have not been recruited, developed, or to have debuted under Ivan’s watch.
While he might be biased, Nathan believes it’s his dad’s ability to cultivate and unlock the streams of local talent that makes him the perfect coach for the club.
“Obviously he’s coached a few when he was first coming through. He got to meet a lot through me in the juniors, playing alongside guys like (Jarome Luai) and Tyrone,” he said.
“Those relationships were already there when he came back, and he’s built on it since then. “That’s been a big thing for him, building that family culture and I think that comes out on the field too, where everyone’s got each other’s back and works hard for each other.”
Ivan’s counterpart this weekend, Brad Arthur, isn’t too dissimilar.
Arthur’s 229 games as coach at the Eels is second most for the club behind Brian Smith — and ninth of all-time of any coach at a single club.
Sunday’s game marks Ivan’s 200th at Penrith, a place the Clearys call home.
“Everyone when they come from the outside in, they’re a bit iffy on Penrith,” Tyrone says.
“But when they get in there, they feel that community and how much the western sydney people love their rugby league.
“Him and Nathan, they fell in love with not just Penrith, but western sydney in general.
“It’s a breeding ground for rugby league. We’ve obviously got the best junior base system in the world. You can see what they’re doing now with the nursery.
“They’ve won every comp up from SG Ball so far. So hopefully we can get one more.”
REVEALED: LUAI LIFTS LID ON CLEARY’S SAVAGE SPRAY
By Fatima Kdouh
Penrith’s Jarome Luai could see Nathan Cleary’s rage before he heard it.
The five-eighth had just made a sloppy attempt to regather a loose ball, gifting possession to Newcastle who went the length of the field to score.
The try to Edrick Lee in the 73rd minute robbed the defensive-minded Panthers of a clean sheet in round 14.
Cleary was none too impressed and Luai bore the brunt of the halfback’s displeasure.
“Oh my gosh, did Nat (Cleary) tell you about that?” Luai laughed.
“I remember there was a loose ball and I went to dive on it, like I physically felt I couldn’t get to it … but he reckons I could.
“Newcastle ended up scoring that set as well. I could have probably changed that outcome.
“I could see him in the corner of my eye … then I heard him.
“He was just yelling out my name, I mean really yelling. But I kept walking away.
“He’s screaming ‘Romy, Romy’. I just keep walking.
“But I knew he was calling me. And I knew that he knew that I knew.
“So I was trying to talk to Kiks (Kikau) while he was spraying me. There were a couple of swear words in there. We laugh about it now.”
The premiership-winning pairing, who are aiming to take Penrith to back-to-back titles on Sunday, have not only been teammates since their teenage years, but close friends too.
That closeness is the reason Luai is willing to cop a telling off from the side’s general.
“He is probably the only one I can cop a spray off,” Luai said.
“If I do something wrong, he is the first guy to spray me. It’s good, we need that in our team. We keep each other accountable. That’s what a good team does.”
In the last five years, Penrith’s halves combination has been a tale of contrasting forces.
Cleary, with the No. 7 on his back, is clinical and composed. But the story of the No. 6 jumper is entirely a different one.
James Maloney partnered Cleary in seasons 2018 and 2019, finishing his NRL career as one the game’s most penalised players ever. From 247 games, Maloney was penalised 244 times.
Luai, who took over at five-eighth in 2020, finished this regular season as the second-most penalised player in the competition.
“Is that where Romy learned it from? He must have picked that up from Jimmy,” Cleary joked. “They’re funny because those two, they are different but they are also quite similar.
“They are both pests, both great competitors … I think that’s where the penalties come from. It’s frustrating sometimes but that’s who they are.”
And Luai’s tendency to draw the ire of the referee has him destined to inevitably be on the end of another Cleary spray.
“I feel like because I have played with him for so long I feel comfortable spraying him or telling him when he has done something wrong and he takes it well,” Cleary said.
“He got that bad one in the Newcastle game but, honestly, it doesn’t happen too often.”
But Luai will do everything in his power to ensure that another rebuke does not come in Sunday’s decider against Parramatta.
“Oh my gosh, I didn’t know I was one of the most penalised players this year … I don’t want to talk about it now,” Luai laughed.
“Nah, it’s something I have to keep a lid on because it hurts the team.
“I don’t look for that sort of stuff because it puts our team in a bad position, I don’t want to be in Jimmy’s category there … that and his defence.”
But Maloney’s legacy at the foot of the mountains stretches far beyond the pea of the referee’s whistle. Maloney was notorious for his ability to shake off an error and stay ‘present’ in the moment. It’s a side to Cleary’s game that has taken the most work to master.
“That was Jimmy’s best asset in terms of his mindset on the field,” Cleary said. “He was just present and really focused on what was happening at that time. He didn’t care if he had made a mistake or what was to come.
“He played it as he saw it. It’s one thing that is really hard to develop and that’s something I have had to work hard at. That’s the biggest mindset thing in footy, staying present. You can’t change what has happened or be too focused on the result.
“It’s about staying present and being process driven. I’ve learned those lessons over time and it started with Jimmy.”
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