Echoes of 2003 premiership side ring into 2020 as Penrith continue under the radar push to the finals
It’s been 17 years since the premiership trophy went back to Penrith but the parallels between then and now are beginning to stack up as Ivan Cleary’s side continue their under the radar push to the finals.
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A premiership-winning hooker comes to Penrith and transforms the club as a collection of junior superstars break into first grade and keep winning because it’s the only way they know.
A core of hard-nosed veterans channel the youthful exuberance while experiencing a career rejuvenation and a former child prodigy halfback puts together the best season of his career to date.
Despite leading the competition, the Panthers somehow fly under the radar until it’s too late and storm all the way to a premiership title, downing the defending champions from Bondi on the season’s biggest day.
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Of course, we’re talking about 2003, the last year the trophy went back to Penrith. But adjust your set just a little and it could be 2020.
Remakes are the order of the day in Hollywood, but this is more of a reboot.
Craig Gower has been replaced by Nathan Cleary, Api Koroisau is filling in for Luke Priddis, Isaiah Yeo is showing Scott Sattler vibes, James Tamou is doing his best Martin Lang impression and the Hair Bears, Joe Galuvao and Tony Puletua, have been combined into Viliame Kikau.
The parallels are everywhere you look. The average age of the two squads is almost identical (24.95 for ’03, 24.9 years for ’20). The mountain men have been on top of the ladder the last three weeks, the longest they stayed at the top since 2003, and are in the box seat for the minor premiership and the last time they did that was, you guessed it, that very same year.
Luke Lewis, who was one of those hungry young Panthers who went all the way 17 winters ago, can see a lot of similarities between the two sides.
“The good thing about the Panthers is they’re sitting on the top of the competition and everyone is waiting for them to slip down. But they don’t really care,” Lewis said.
“They’re just worried about turning up, getting their job done, having a laugh and doing it with a smile on their face. They’re flying under the radar, even though they’re on top of the comp.
“They’re a creative side with a great halfback and leader in Nathan Cleary, Api Koroisau is playing a real similar role to Luke Priddis.
“He’s able to lead a forward pack around but he knows when to run, he knows when to bring his spark to the side.
“Then you’ve got players like Brent Naden, who has all the skills similar to Girds (Ryan Girdler).”
Girdler was 31 in ‘03 — not an old man by any means, but he and Scott Sattler were the only two members of Penrith’s regular 17 who were over 30.
The leading point-scorer in Panthers history had been through plenty of lean years with Penrith, only to be reborn by the enthusiasm of his younger teammates who held no fear of losing because winning in the juniors had become second nature.
“They expected to win footy games, and when they came up and brought that attitude and enthusiasm to the rest of us, who hadn’t won a lot of games or finals series, it rubbed off on us,” Girdler said.
“That’s why the mix was so successful. It wasn’t just the older guys showing the younger guys how to perform in bigger games, it was the younger guys bringing up that attitude and confidence to the group.”
Once again, it lines up with what Penrith are doing this year. Always a junior powerhouse, the Panthers have six players in first grade from the 2015 under-20s grand final side (Dylan Edwards, Brent Naden, Tyrone May, Jarome Luai, James Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota) and three (Charlie Staines, Stephen Crichton and Matt Burton) from the 2018 SG Ball-winning team.
Lewis saw a similar dynamic later in his career with the Sharks when they won the premiership in 2016.
“Those guys stood up and led for us, and we followed. We used our youth and our energy to get them up, and they used their experience and characteristics to channel that energy,” Lewis said.
“If you fast-forward to 2016 and the young blokes I played with then like Val Holmes and Jack Bird — they were the same.
“They didn’t know how to lose, and they were so used to being in the moment. By being in the moment it brought all us older guys back to being in the moment.”
The Panthers have lost just once all season and with a handy draw over the final eight weeks, they’re in the box seat to finish the regular season with the minor premiership.
But they’re still fourth in premiership betting, behind the Roosters, Eels and Storm — despite beating Melbourne and the Tricolours already this season and pushing Parramatta right to the brink.
It could be a blessing. The Eels are the greatest hype machine in western Sydney and the Roosters have all the pressure and expectation of history as they try to win a third straight title.
The Panthers could stay in the shadows all the way to the end — which is exactly what happened in 2003.
Back then they were still fourth in betting as late as the preliminary finals, and were written off before the decider against Ricky Stuart’s Roosters, which they won 18-6 on the back of an incredible display from Priddis and an iconic try-saving tackle from Scott Sattler.
“We got written off the whole semi-finals series. They said we’d had a great year but we couldn’t win the comp cause our defence wasn’t good enough,” Lewis said.
“Craig Gower, our skipper, was asleep on the floor of the change rooms (on grand final day). Preston, Rhys Wesser and Tony Puletua and the boys were joking around, which kept us all relaxed.
“Then we saw a TV shot of the Roosters changeroom, it panned across and you could see them sitting down, headphones on, super intense.
“From there it was like ‘how good is this, we’re coming up against one of the best teams in the competition and we’re going to beat them tonight’ — there was no question about losing, we knew we were going to beat them.”
Originally published as Echoes of 2003 premiership side ring into 2020 as Penrith continue under the radar push to the finals