Is Jarome Luai right when he says this Penrith Panthers team is the greatest team ever?

Jarome Luai claims the Panthers are the best side in the game’s history, having gone where no club has before in the salary cap era. Does he have a point?

Jarome Luai has hit back at the doubters. Picture: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

Penrith five-eighth Jarome Luai reckons the debate has been decided once and for all.

In his eyes, the Panthers – fresh from a third successive premiership – are undisputedly the greatest team in the game’s history, having gone where no club has before in the salary cap era.

Luai, whose Sunday night came to a premature end when he succumbed to a shoulder problem, insists that the Panthers’ nailbiting two-point win over Brisbane at Accor Stadium proved they are rugby league’s new benchmark.

“Uncharted territory, something that’s never been done before – by those two definitions we are the best team to ever do it,” Luai said.

“Hate us or love us you can’t ignore the resume. We are the best to ever do it.”

The mighty St George side of the 1950s and 60s that strung together 11 consecutive premierships has been widely viewed as the benchmark for rugby league clubs since the code’s inception in 1908.

However, the Dragons won those premierships before the advent of the salary cap, which was introduced in the 1990s as a method to equalise the talent and prevent clubs going broke.

Coach Ivan Cleary also said his team had earned its place in history.

Are the Panthers the greatest team ever? Jarome Luai thinks so. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

“It’s totally surreal. I don’t know how to explain that,” Cleary said.

“That great Parramatta side wasn’t in the NRL era so things were different and it was pretty much a Sydney comp back then, but I’m not taking anything away from what they did.

“We’re not here to try to explain where we sit in history, but I think we’ll be able to reflect in the next few days on what’s been a pretty remarkable achievement and I’m super proud of it.”

The Panthers haven’t been immune to the ravages of the cap, having lost a succession of players since they qualified for the first of four successive grade finals in 2020.

They will suffer more loss in coming weeks as star centre Steve Crichton leaves to take up a lucrative deal with the Bulldogs and prop Spencer Leniu departs for the Sydney Roosters.

Luai thumbed his nose at the critics as he made it clear that the club had been motivated by those who questioned their credentials and capacity to win three titles in succession.

“It might’ve been extra motivation but it’s a special group to do this,” Luai said.

“Year in, year out, we have our doubters but we try and turn up and live up to that expectation. That’s the culture we have built. It’s normal for us.”

Their latest title win was arguably the greatest. They looked down and out, trailing the Broncos by 16 with less than 20 minutes remaining at Accor Stadium.

They clawed their way back into the contest thanks to the brilliance of halfback Nathan Cleary, finishing over the top of the Broncos to win what will go down as one of, if not the greatest grand final in the game’s history.

It certainly sits comfortably alongside the 1989 extra time thriller between Canberra and Balmain, the 1997 decider between Newcastle and Manly, and North Queensland’s golden point win over Brisbane in 2015.

It was a night where halfback Cleary added weight to the theory that he is on the fast track to Immortal status, the rarefied air reserved for the greatest players in the game’s history.

Asked about Luai’s claims of the Panthers’ greatness, Cleary said: “People can have their own opinion but I think in the NRL era, no-one has gone the three-peat.

“Leave that up to other people to debate but we know within ourselves we are a pretty great team. I am not going to make comparisons.

“Everyone is great in their own right, it is different eras. I am not going to compare with the past, It is just comparing with at the moment. I am pretty proud to be part of this team.”

Originally published as Is Jarome Luai right when he says this Penrith Panthers team is the greatest team ever?