NRL Finals 2020: How three days in Brisbane forged the Penrith Panthers into title contenders
‘He is ready to bash down doors.’ Panthers fans have no reason to be concerned by the absence of Viliame Kikau as a perfect pre-season performer gets his chance to shine on Saturday night.
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“He is ready to bash down doors.”
That was the feedback from former officers of the Queensland Police’s Special Emergency Response Team after spending three gruelling days pushing Kurt Capewell to his limits.
As the man picked to replace Fijian powerhouse Viliame Kikau on Penrith’s left edge, Capewell will be charged with the task of bashing down South Sydney’s door on Saturday night at ANZ Stadium.
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It’s a moment 10 months in the making.
Not only for Capewell but his teammates, whose preliminary finals preparations started way back in December during an army-style pre-season camp, headed by former elite tactical police officers, on the outskirts of Brisbane.
“Capey was carrying that pole … man, that pole, it was the hardest thing to carry ever. It was about two metres long and filled with water. It was hard to keep up the pace and hold strong but Capey was out there lapping people with it,” Tyrone May recalls.
Over three days, players lugged 20 litre jerry cans and two metre PVC plumbing pipes filled with water up and down a hill for hours on end.
They faced their fear of heights and abseiled from a tower.
Players, some who cannot swim, led each other into a river wearing nothing but their swimmers and blacked out goggles. It was an exercise in dealing with the unknown but also creating trust.
Stretcher carries, deliberately and cruelly forced on players at the peak of their fatigue and exhaustion, to expose the depth of their character as athletes and will to go on.
The camp was designed to help the Panthers fortify their resolve in times of extreme stress and duress.
And if you talk to any of the 17 players who will take the field this weekend, it was three days that sowed the seed of Penrith’s title charge this season.
“I knew after our army camp. That’s when I knew there was something special about this team and what we could achieve,” premiership winning forward Zane Tetevano said.
“It was tough, it was gritty.
“It helped bring out the characters in a few guys and I think that has helped them achieve their full potential.”
For Capewell, the camp was a chance to introduce himself and the kind of footballer he is to his new teammates, having just arrived at the foot of the mountains from Cronulla.
“He was new to the squad and everyone still didn’t know him well back then,” May said.
“But after watching him do that we were all like, ‘he’s the man, what a legend’.
“It earned him a lot of respect and even though he’s young it turned him into a leader for us.
“I just remember thinking, look how hard he is working for us, that’s a bloke that I want to play with.”
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The Panthers documented every moment of the 72-hour experience and only last week released a slick 16 minute video filled with inspirational moments of teamwork, courage and camaraderie.
There were some moments captured that coaching staff deemed as being for the eyes of players only and will be shown to the side ahead of Saturday’s do or die blockbuster.
“There was something about that camp that bonded all of us a little closer together,” May said.
“It made us relish the hard stuff and hard work.
“From that point on the intensity in our training went up a notch and from that point it has just been unbelievable.
“It’s not like training before wasn’t intense, it was and it was going well but then that happened and it just lifted everyone to another level.”
Veteran back Josh Mansour believes the arduous experience also created an unbreakable bond forged in trust.
“We built a lot of trust in our pre-season, everyone came to work ready to work hard … I think when you build trust that is such an important trait to have in a team. There’s no doubt the pre-season set the foundation for what the year has been,” Mansour said.
It also created an insatiable desire to win.
After a record breaking 16-straight victories and the minor premiership, Mansour revealed the only measure of success his teammates cared about was in the shape of the Provan-Summons Trophy.
“It’s no small feat the run we went on, the club has never been in that position before. We made history in terms of that but again no one was thinking about that,” Mansour said.
“Yeah, we won the minor premiership but I remember walking off the field [in round 20], we were happy and content but no one was celebrating.
“Our mind is on one that and that’s to win the premiership.”