NRL grand final: The Panthers are good, maybe great but not the greatest

To even suggest the current Panthers are the greatest team of all-time is only being totally disrespectful to all the premiership winners of the past, writes PAUL CRAWLEY.

Where do the Panthers rate in 'greatest ever' conversation?

Hate to be the one who has to rain on the Penrith Panthers’ parade, and please don’t take this the wrong way Panthers fans.

In no way is this meant to disrespect a wonderful and historic achievement.

But to even suggest the current Panthers are the greatest team of all-time is only being totally disrespectful to all the premiership winners of the past.

And what a lot of people seem to be missing in this current debate is the simple fact that there is a huge difference between winning three straight titles and saying a team is definitely the greatest ever.

There is certainly no debating that the Panthers as a club under Ivan Cleary’s coaching are consistently the best since Jack Gibson’s mighty Parramatta Eels of the early 1980s, in the fact they have now won three-straight premierships.

But even the most passionate Panthers fans would struggle to say the team of 2023 would have even beaten the Panthers of last season, when they still had Viliame Kikau and Api Koroisau in place of Scott Sorensen and Mitch Kenny.

Penrith players celebrate their third straight grand final win. Picture: NRL Photos

Just as it is a ridiculous debate arguing the 2023 Panthers would have beaten the champion Broncos of the 1990s, particularly the team of 1998 that boasted the likes of Allan Langer, Darren Lockyer, Gorden Tallis, Steve Renouf, Wendell Sailor, Shane Webcke and Brad Thorn.

Or the Raiders of 1994 that had a stack of all-time legends in the shape of Mal Meninga, Ricky Stuart, Laurie Daley, Bradley Clyde and Steve Walters, who all rank among the greatest of any era in their particular positions.

Throw in Craig Bellamy’s champion Melbourne Storm team that had a string of future Immortals in Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Greg Inglis and Cooper Cronk.

What St George did on their way to 11-straight premierships in the 1950s and 60s was absolutely remarkable. And that was a team that boasted Immortals Johnny Raper, Reg Gasnier, Graeme Langlands and Norm Provan.

While most of us never saw that great Dragons team play, just looking at their unbelievable record, and their line-up, puts it in perspective.

You could go on and on arguing the qualities of all the premiership winners over the course of the game’s history – and we would still never get a definitive answer as to just who is the best of the best on any given season.

Canberra Raiders players Laurie Daley (L) & Bradley Clyde (R) carry captain Mal Meninga after the 1994 grand final.

But just using some of those examples as a guide up against the current Panthers, if you are being fair dinkum there only player in today’s team who can be ranked in the all-time champion status at this point is Nathan Cleary.

Whereas many of these other teams had several players at any given time who would rank in that same conversation.

There is no doubt the game has also changed dramatically because of sport science, which has made today’s athletes bigger, faster, stronger, and often (because of the modern coaching techniques) more skilful.

But that is also what makes it unfair comparing different generations.

For instance, James Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota are two outstanding props in the modern game.

But better than Glenn Lazarus, Jesse Bromwich or Shane Webcke makes it a far tougher debate to win.

Liam Martin is another tremendous player who was the standout backrower this season.

But would you put Martin in the class of a player like Tallis, who in his day was ranked among the all-time greatest forwards.

The same goes for Isaah Yeo up against a legend like Clyde, who again was one of the absolute greats of the game.

Stephen Crichton against Meninga?

Dylan Edwards or Brett Mullins?

Mitch Kenny or Steve Walters?

Broncos players celebrate their win in the 1998 grand final. Picture: Mark Evans

I remember when the blockbusting Walters was in his prime I thought at the time we would never see a greater hooker forward play the game.

Then along came Cameron Smith.

But that Tim Sheens-coached Raiders team that won three premierships in six years probably would have won four had Ricky Stuart not broken his leg just two weeks out from the finals of 1993.

That ultimately handed the Broncos back-to-back titles, although I still personally rate the Broncos of 1998 Wayne Bennett’s best ever Broncos.

But while others might judge that differently, that is exactly the point in this argument that should not be ignored.

There is certainly no disputing the current Panthers are a champion team who have rightly won their place in history for winning three straight premierships.

But it doesn’t mean to say the other premiership winners weren’t as great at the time of winning their title, because they most certainly were.

On any given day, or any given season, there are absolutely no guarantees this Panthers team would have beaten any of them.

And that’s not being disrespectful. It’s simply respecting the past.

Originally published as NRL grand final: The Panthers are good, maybe great but not the greatest