Matty Johns: Why Panthers inexperience could cost them in NRL finals

How the Panthers respond in the big moments, in big matches when the Roosters and Storm, filled with tough, experienced veterans of high pressure football, tighten the screws, will be key to their finals hopes.

For a young player, it can prove very, very difficult to defeat your heroes, or at least the men you admire.

That’s the challenge for the Penrith Panthers, a team full of talented, young footballers on the up and up.

Many people have the Panthers as their competition favourites, and fair enough, their only loss was early in the season against Parramatta, who at the time were running hot.

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Penrith are flying high but can they match the big guns in the finals?

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Since then the Panthers have been all conquering, 14 wins in a row, a rare achievement for any club.

However, I have Penrith as my third pick behind the Storm and Roosters.

You see, I know what these two teams will dish up in the NRL finals, they have a winning template.

Whereas I don’t know exactly how the young Panthers will react in the high pressure atmosphere of finals matches.

And I don’t know how they’ll respond in those big moments, in big matches when these benchmark teams, filled with tough, experienced veterans of high pressure football, tighten the screws.

The Panthers have beaten both the Roosters and Storm this season, but the victories need to be put in context.

The victory over the Roosters came in round one, with the premiers returning from the World Cup Challenge in England.

Nontheless, it was a quality performance.

The Panthers are sure to face a stern finals challenge from the Storm and the Roosters.

The defeat of Melbourne Storm was in round six, once again a tough, gutsy victory, though Melbourne were missing some men in crucial positions.

To be fair, Penrith very well could’ve won these matches, regardless of the circumstances, but the context is, it was early season.

Winning games in the regular season, particularly 14 in a row, cannot be dismissed.

But victories in the regular season is a bit like sitting in a casino and having a great run on the $10 Black Jack table. Finals football is someone suddenly tapping you on the shoulder and taking you up to the High Rollers room.

It’s a totally different environment, every decision involves pressure, every error costly. Can you hold your nerve?

That’s the Panthers challenge.

The other challenge comes back to my original point, it’s hard to beat your idols, particularly when the stakes are at their highest.

Both Melbourne and the Roosters contain at least one or two players those young Panthers would’ve placed on a pretty high pedestal.

Sonny Bill Williams is going to be quite an asset for the Roosters in the finals.

The two which immediately come to mind are Cameron Smith and Sonny Bill Williams.

The Sonny Bill Williams signing which sees Sonny return for the big end of the season, is one of the most astute recruitment decisions coach Trent Robinson will make.

Last Saturday, against Newcastle, saw rapid improvement in SBW’s performance and showed what an asset he’s about to become.

But, as I’ve stated previously, the greatest benefit will be Sonny’s presence in the dressing room, and not just in the Roosters’.

Sonny’s presence will be as equally felt in the opposition’s locker room.

In the Penrith team, I’m certain at least half of that side would’ve seen Sonny as a hero, most probably still do.

I liken it to the first time I played against Mal Meninga in the early 90s. All week I was pinching myself that I was about to play against such a sporting icon.

When I ran onto Canberra Stadium that Sunday and looked across the halfway line to ‘Big Mal’, it was impossible not to be intimidated….his presence and physical stature mesmerising.

If I’m being totally honest, I didn’t think we could win that day, and we didn’t.

Facing Mal Meninga at his pomp was certainly intimidating.

Cameron Smith in 2020 has continued to be if not, very close to, the NRL’s most influential player.

And when Smith steps into the High Rollers room, he gets even better. I rate Smith, the greatest big game player of all time….check the record.

He knows exactly what finals football requires, he knows how to turn these contests and he knows how to dictate the tempo.

When Cameron Smith made his NRL debut, Stephen Crichton was a one-year-old. Rugby league is a young man’s game. Finals suit the experienced.

Penrith’s most influential player, Nathan Cleary was four.

Nathan, crucially to my point, grew up on rugby league, he loved it, played it, watched it…I’m guessing as long as he could remember, he’s never missed an Origin or Grand Final.

So Nathan grew up watching Cameron Smith and his dominance.

He’s watched him win premiership after premiership.

Has Cameron Smith got one more NRL title win left in him?

He’s watched him win World Cups.

He’s watched him torture New South Wales, series after series.

And he’s watched the cameras capture him in the sheds before all these games, standing in the middle of the men he’s leading like Thurston, Slater and Cronk and them hanging on every word.

Penrith have the talent, they have the game plan and they’ve obviously got the desire.

But when the biggest games come around, when 13 in a row means nothing, can they hold their nerve?