Speaker 1: Now it's time the Tensions that be Running High of
Penrith Panthers podcast presented by the Western Weekender thanks to
Penrith Toyota. Here's at Troy Dodds and Nathan Taylor.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to Tensions Running High at Penrith
Panthers Podcast presented by the Western Weekend. This is episode
sixty three. I'm Troy Dodds and enjoy by Nathan Taylor.
Hello Nathan, Hello Troy. We are the voice of Ruguby
League in Penrith and we love talking all things Penrith Panthers.
For thirty five years, the Western Weekender has led the
way in Panthers coverage here in Penrith. We've covered six premierships,
the biggest breaking stories and interviewed CEOs, coaches, chairman players.
The list goes on a big thanks to our sponsor,
Penrith City Automotive. Go and see Garth and the team
get yourself a new r used car from the people
who do it best. On the agenda Today, the Panthers
Board returned honoring the club's past trial results and why
I think less of a Panther's premiership winner After something
I witnessed.
Speaker 3: I don't know what this is about, but I can't wait.
Speaker 2: All right, well, Nathan, let's kick things off. Last Friday night,
the Panthers were walloped by a full strength Cowboys team
in Mackay, and some people out there started hitting the
panic button. And I saw some comments on social media,
you know, people blowing up what's going on. I feel
like we go through this every year where people suddenly
think that trial results matter even in the slightest Yeah.
Speaker 3: Look, it's I think two things come into it from
that game against the Cowboys. Firstly, the commentators didn't help.
I know there was at points where you wouldn't know
that there was a reserve grade team playing a full
strength first grade team. And I know that's you know,
that's Andrew Vosses and Kevin Walters. You know did their
best throughout the game to try and make people realize,
but I think initially they were a bit Yeah, I
think that played a role. And also, people just love
to be comedians online as well. When you see Twitter
just seeing you know, Panthers getting beaten by fifty or whatever, like,
no matter who's in the team, that doesn't matter. You know,
these days, you don't need to have the facts to
say something you know, but you know that would have
annoyed a lot of people. If you're true Panthers fan,
you're true NROL fan, you actually looked at the team
lists before the game got underway, you would have realized that,
hey you didn't. No one would have barely recognized anyone
in that Penrith team up against the Cowboys team that
was fully stacked with all their best players in there.
And I said last week that Penrith could lose by
fifty and I was. I was pretty much bang on
in terms of how much the Cowboys put on. They
put over sixty points on them.
Speaker 2: One thing I will say is that this system with
the preseason challenge is a little bit flawed. When you
have teams playing who are the Vegas team, yes, playing
in week one, and then in week two, where the
other teams are only playing their first trial, you end
up playing a full strength team. I don't know if
that's really helping anyone. I don't know if that's helping
the Cowboys all Panthers in this case.
Speaker 3: No, that's right. It's completely flawed and Panrif never have
a chance to win this preseason challenge. Whatever's up for
grows one hundred grand up for grabs, no chance as
soon as that draw came out.
Speaker 2: That's true. That's a good point. So the Panthers disadvantaged
yet again, right yeah.
Speaker 3: And I think that in another couple of teams as
well that are disadvantaged by the whole thing too. But
it just seemed a bit it's a bit of a
rough deal. I know, there's not much getting around it,
but yeah, it's a bit sucky.
Speaker 2: All right. Well yeah, I mean looks similar for a
team like I say, Newcastle. Newcastle were beaten by the
Dogs twenty eight nil, and I've seen you know, Newcastle
fans getting really worried about you know, jeez, we couldn't.
Not scoring points was our big problem. Guys. Trust me,
preseason means nothing. If you go back through the last
ten years and have a look at the premiership winners,
I reckon, you'll find that they lost a lot of
preseason trials. It really does not matter.
Speaker 3: At least Newcastle. The Dogs are going to Vegas, so
they actually played each other, which is, you know, which
is sort of good in a way that they you know,
weren't dis naging some other team you know, last weekend.
Speaker 2: But true.
Speaker 3: As for Penrith that you know they're they're sitting dead
last on that preseason Challenge ladder and a lot of
teams would have been smashed as well by the Cowboys
that week as well.
Speaker 2: It's not just been all right, Well, a much more
regular looking Panthers team will take on the West Tigers
this week. So just to give everyone the insight into
the trials, there's a double header at Leichhartoval on on
Friday night, kicking off with the Warriors and the Dolphins,
which I find somewhat extraordinary in a way that the
NRL has gone with two teams traveling, one from New
Zealand and one from from Queensland to play Atchhartoval in Sydney.
And this is my other point regarding the trials before
I continue the draw. These games just need to be
in regional New South Wales or Queensland. Why are we
having the Charity Sheeld back at Woollongong. Why are we
having trials you know at venues like McDonald Jones Stadium,
And you know, I just think that if we're going
to actually be supportive of the regional having the preseason
challenge in the country area, is the best way to go.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think they've just got this whole pre season
thing wrong from start to finish. Not only you know
our team's disadvantage, but yeah, you're right, Well that's just
that's a ridiculous scheduling, having the Warriors coming over, Like
I know they played in New Zealand last week, but what.
Speaker 2: Are they doing practicing getting on a plane?
Speaker 3: They but they're saving money by having two games at
the one venue. I'm not sure what's going on.
Speaker 2: I guess so, but surely not as much money as
they would say by not flying over the Warriors from
New Zealand and the Dolphins from Queensland.
Speaker 3: Ye'll at least have the game in southeast Queensland or something.
You know.
Speaker 2: That's very strange anyway, that'll kick things off. The precursor
to the the Tigers Panthers, which has obviously got a
bit of a rivalry about it.
Speaker 3: That it's going to be great.
Speaker 2: Eight ten pm. I reckon there will be a good
crowd there that one at Likehard Oval on Friday night.
You can watch it live on KO or Foxtel and look,
if you are interested. Three games on Saturday, Sharks, Raiders, Roosters, Eels,
Melbourne and the Titans, and then on Sunday we finish
off Father Rabbit as are taking a game to Mudgie,
which is good to see. They take on the Sea Eagles.
But look, none of us really care about the pre
season challenge. But it's still good to see some footy around.
But yeah, the pair has beaten sixty six to twenty four.
Speaker 3: Did anyone stand out for you in that game, Troy,
I know you're vividly watching it with your magnifying glass.
Did you like anyone or did not like anyone as well?
It could be good to talk about that. Who struggling.
Speaker 2: Look, look, I don't think it's really fair to talk
about struggles, but I thought Kilane going new recruit, of course,
defended really well. Really liked his defense. Thought Zachary Clark
loved him. He played goals as well, Yeah, kicking goals
as well. Did get our first look at say Toby Crosby.
Wouldn't say that there was anything there that made you
go throw him in round one or anything like that,
but but yeah, look, I think I think what we
saw was was some youngsters who you know, obviously need
a bit more experience and death probably need a bit
more experience up against up against big teams. But you
know they're never going to be in that circumstance again
where you've got, you know, all of these young women
against they're gonna they're going to learn from from the.
Speaker 3: Other Ken Skips.
Speaker 2: Yes, wowco two tries.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he did obviously. We we'd heard at the end
of last season that that Penrith got him from Canbero,
and they told the story and the commentary that Ricky
was was very unhappy that that Penrith sort of stole
him basically from the Raiders and very much like a
Blaze to Lungey clone as well. He looked very similar
to to Blaze out there, just even though the look
and the way they play, and he was he was
really exciting. So someone never even seen in my life play,
I'm like, I want to see this kid war at
some point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'm sure we will. I'm sure we will
see him through.
Speaker 3: It could be Nathan clears your placement in a couple
of years.
Speaker 2: Maybe. All right, Well that's Friday Night, So Pantas Tigers
on Friday Night. Look forward to that one. Still a
few players missing, you know, some some rumors out there
about different injuries and whatnot. I don't know if we'll
get any sort of clarity from the Panthers.
Speaker 3: This the big one, right, Yeah, we don't.
Speaker 2: Know what's going on. There some some rumors about a
bad injury, but I really don't know. And we need
to bring back the West Fund injury or whatever it was.
Speaker 3: It's been buried, hasn't it, And we do need.
Speaker 2: That's we can keep talking about things that need to change.
We do need like a formal process for clubs around
what this, what what is supposed to be the way
they report injuries? You know, because I don't think that
there is no there is no rule.
Speaker 3: Which is unbelievable in a game that that has takes
gambling into account. There's no there's no rule where you
have full disclosure and transparency of what's happening with your players.
Speaker 2: In theory, Nathan Cleary could break his leg tomorrow and
the Panthers would not have to say anything until an
hour before kickoff in round.
Speaker 3: One, and even then you wouldn't have exactly the exact injury.
He's a leg injury, you know like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we should be unbelievable touring you of changes. The
NRL came out this week two big origin announcements. So
the first one related to playing in New Zealand next year. Yeah,
So I don't know what they're going to do about
times and time or else. My presumption is that they're
going to go to what a nine o'clock New Zealand kickoff?
Speaker 3: Seven kicking?
Speaker 2: Yeah, seven o'clock here, Yeah, that's would say. So, you
know that's interesting because that it means Channel nine are
copying that, like will.
Speaker 3: Cop that they couldn't go any later than nine. That's
not that's getting ridiculous for fans over there and for
their broadcasts as well.
Speaker 2: But yeah, certainly, yeah.
Speaker 3: They can make a work one one off at seven pm,
it's fine.
Speaker 2: But the other big one was around eligibility, Yes, and
then they're completely changing the rules state of origin eligibility.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I've got some news on that chory. So
this sort of came out of nowhere. Really, It's something
that's been talked about for a while, like how can
we get some more of these these big stars that
play for maybe New Zealand or England to maybe have
a chance to play for New South Wales or Queensland. Now,
under the current rules only you could only play for
New South Wales or queens And if you represented Australia
or you were part of a Tier two nation, so
like your Tonguas and Samoas and those sort of those
nations like that. But now Peter Landys has released news
that any player can play even if you're a Tier
one nation. So that means New Zealand is now eligible
and new players that play for New Zealand or eligible
plays that plays for England eligible as long as they
have the following Okay, so they have to still have
been either born in New South Wales or Queensland. That's
one of the rules of the criteria yep, or the
player resided in New South Wales or Queensland prior to
their thirteenth birthday. The other one, which is would be
a rare one. They're player's father played state of origin. Okay.
So for instance, if there's a case of McLean, for instance,
like he's going to be a rep player for many
many years now he's pledges this New Zealand. Under the
former rules, he wouldn't have been able to play state
of origin, but now he can. And why because he
was born in New South Wales. He was born in Blacktown,
so he's all good to go.
Speaker 2: I'm okay with this, I'm okay with this.
Speaker 3: I think this is a great, great change.
Speaker 2: And the case of McLean example is a great example. Yeah,
he has New Zealand heritage, of course he should be
allowed to play for New Zealand and one of that.
But he's born in Blacktown. He's grown up, you know,
with the pride of a blue jumper. Yeah, in New
South Wales, and he should be able to represent New
South Wales. It's not going to allow a Sam Burgess,
you know, who came from you know, senior footing in
England to suddenly play State of Oregan.
Speaker 3: That's why, that's why they have that little that little
rule in there that if you have to be here
by thirteenth birthday. Now, yeah, you're right with Casey McLean.
Like he played, he's played under twenties origin for New
someth Whales, so he's represented those things. The one that's
an interesting one and I don't have clarity over it yet,
maybe you do. Troy was Moses Leoder. Now he was
born in Auckland, Okay, okay, but obviously he must have
come here as a teenager. Now, I'm not sure whether
he came over prior to thirty after, so that's going
to be one that Moses might need to clarify with people.
Whether he gets a shot these days, who knows, but I
know he was in the mix a few years ago
and he wasn't allowed, so I'm not sure what happens
with that one.
Speaker 2: I think the age is right too. I think that
you know, after you're kind of twelve thirteen, you know,
your likelihood that you have any sort of allegiance or
passion to either New South Wales or Queensland is probably,
you know, pretty pretty thin where if you were here
before then you've grown up so passionate about the footy
and probably passionate about origin. So I think that's like,
I don't think that hurts anything. Obviously, they needed to
do this because the rise of Samoa and Tongra and
whatnot is so significant that we're to see them eventually
become I guess Tier one nations on the on the calendar.
The one thing that this does do, though, I will say,
is that this pretty much squashes any potential of mid
year tests and whatnot around that origin period. So we're
pretty much saying we are going with either Wednesday night
origins or standalone weekends where that's all that's on. Because
you're not going to suddenly be able to play a
samoatonga or or something like that. You'd have to choose,
So that's that's not going to happen. So because there
had been talk about almost stopping the NRL comp for
three weeks or four weeks going with Origin as standalone,
which was part of sort of reducing the club season,
but then you'd be able to put these test matches
and whatnot on as well, which we all want more of.
So that that kills that off. That's done.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, that's smart, and it's weird like Brian to
O can play Origin and you know Casey McLean on
the other wing cannot. But they were both born, you know, yes,
in Western Sydney.
Speaker 2: All right, change something good, Peter, Well done, Pete. Another
thing on Peter Landy's as well is we often talk
about the TV rights here. He was on the Hello
sport YEP. I watched that interview this morning and Peter
pretty much concedes in that interview that in Australia with
Rugby League, the ideal scenario for the next TV deal
is a freeware broadcaster and a subscription partner, and that's it.
No bringing in a random Netflix or an Amazon for
He's definitely open to it. He's saying what his ideal
scenario is. So I don't think in that case the
NRL are chasing this now. Of course, I'm sure that
if Amazon comes along and offers you, you know, a
billion dollars for Thursday Night or something, you're going to
consider it. But it seemed that he was actually a
bit more like, no, like, the ideal scenario is one
subscription partner, one free to wear partner. Now, he did
say something in there that made me think, oh yeah,
there's definitely talks re nine and Stamp. He said free
to wear partner who might have a subscription platform as well.
So I think you'll find that. As I've said to
you all along, I don't think Fox lose anything, but
I think nine pick up a game somewhere that they
put on stand yep.
Speaker 3: I think that'd be mad not to use that platform.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that means if you are a a nine
watcher and you watch your footy through nine and nine only,
so you watch three games a week, and you don't
pay for a Fox subscription. You'd then be able to
just pay this much smaller Stand Sports subscription and get
a fourth game, you know, so you'd be able to
watch half of your games during the week.
Speaker 3: That isn't that chieftain Troy? I know you you get
a free subscription from your your other job.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know how long that'll now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been taken over a pub barry through my
other job because it's a two g B which is
own by nine of course.
Speaker 2: Yes, their Christmas present to start is a Stand subscription,
but that might be changing because they are thirty dollars.
Probably be a thirty dollars the ouch of the log
cabin or something.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well yeah, it's like about it's thirty dollars if
you've got the full STAND Sport package with your normal
stances normals.
Speaker 2: So no, no, just for sport.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, both. You can't just have sport. You have
to have a standard subscription, which is whatever it is,
twelf dollars, then it's thirty and then then then it's
the extra and it's thirty dollars combined, and there's like
another eighteen dollars orty. It's a lie. If you just
want one game a week of considering.
Speaker 2: Even though forty people are complaining about it, you can
get KO for forty five bucks or something or forty bucks.
Speaker 3: Yeah, mind you. Obviously they've got other sports on there,
the Premier League and the Olympics. That was well, okay,
that sports too, of course ESPN and everything.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so yeah, it's tricky. It's tricky all right. By
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Speaker 2: Get down there now. The other news from during the week,
the Panthers board elections were held and the current board
of the Panthers has been returned, so no changes, no
big drama there. We had three people who had put
their hand up to challenge the current board in Peter
Lang of course works with us here at the weekend
from time to time and is your uncle, yes yes,
Vic Shipley who owns Paler Smart Electrical local business. And
Alan Harding, who was of course it was a Panther
many years now. The one thing I will say about
this good First of all, good on the three for
putting their hand up. I have been doing this job
for a long time, and the number of people who
say to me, I'm going to go for the Panthers
board and actually don't do it, it's pretty significant. So
good on those guys were having a go. It's pretty
difficult to un seat an existing board when there's no
dark cloud hanging over the club. In fact, that's probably
the opposite hanging over Panthers from a from a member's
point of view. But look, you were you were involved,
you know, you know Pete obviously really closely, and you
would have got some some learnings through this whole process.
Speaker 3: I guess, Yeah, it was an interesting process. I can
probably talk about it now that that the voting has
closed and you know, we have a result. But yeah,
obviously was supporting my uncle Peter throughout this. It was
I was really proud of him that he put his
hand up to have a crack at the board. Something
something piqued his interest last year when he heard something
about Panthers's future and he just wanted to maybe have
a say in that, and that's why he was so
determined to go on the board. But unfortunately, under the
current rules, and I don't know whether they'll ever get changed. Now.
One of the current rules, Pete was not able to
tell the world that he was running or tell the
world why he was running and why he wanted to
so badly be on that board. And that was the
same for all the candidates that put their hands up
and the current board, no one was able to say
anything due to the due to or by law, and
if they did and they got caught doing it, they
would be automatically eliminated, which makes it tricky.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think I've written, and we've said it
before on this podcast, that needs to change, and I've
spoken to current board members too who agree that it
needs to change. It is a rule that was put
in place a long time ago due to some dramas
you know the board at the time. It is it
is it is simply not democratic to have an election
for a board and yet you are not allowed, as
a care that to say here is what I'm standing
and then please vote for me. For this reason. It's
it's it's actually lunacy. And hopefully they do actually change
that for future.
Speaker 3: But hopefully they do. But yeah, basically, the whole the
whole thing was it was really difficult for obviously Pete
to get to get the word out. So there was
a lot of obviously, you know, chatting, you know, amongst
friends and personal and trying to let people know that
there was a vote happening, because as we know, Troy,
there there was no email sent out to members informing them,
or a Facebook post or anything on social media saying hey,
we have an election this weekend. Even at the club.
I was there on the weekend voting, and unless you
knew there was a vote taking place upstairs, there was
no signage. There was nothing. It was almost like they
didn't want anyone to know it was happening, which makes
it difficult because there's tens of thousands of Panthers members, folks.
But I can tell you right now three hundred and
seventy one people voted in that election.
Speaker 2: Which is that mad standard, you know, Yeah, and it's
madness less than four hundred. What is interesting is what
you just said then, is that there was no email
or no letter or anything like that about the board election.
I found that interesting because they did send an email
once the results had been confused within hours, within our
So I just found that interesting. I don't I'm not
casting any expersions or whatever. I just don't understand the
logic behind that. If you were going to send a hey,
the board's been re elected email, I would imagine you
would send a hey, there is an election. Absolutely a
little bit strange.
Speaker 3: It was a little bit strange.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and also the fact that we are still and
don't get me wrong, I know we are in state
and federal and council elections as well, but that we
are still doing a very manual system. I would think
that for a club election that is not life or death,
not that you know federal politics is either, but obviously
that's more serious. Yes, that we could come up with
something that we could do this electronically, Like I knew
people over the weekend who were away and couldn't vote.
There must be members of other Panthers clubs too, that
their interests relate to the group interests that would have
had to come to Penrith the vote. If you remember
Port mcquarie Panthers unless they had a voting booth there,
but they wouldn't have they weren't. Yeah, look, there's some
changes that need to happen to this process. I think
that's has opened our eyes.
Speaker 3: It did, and some other interesting aspects that we noticed
as well, and obviously I understand why this is a rule,
but we had some friends and colleagues here at the
paper that wanted to go down and vote, but they
became members just slightly well, renewed their membership slightly too late.
My wife was one of them. She's been a pantherm
for years, so other people in the office. But because
they didn't renew their membership prior to the twenty fifth
of January, they were automatically ruled out. They said, sorry,
you know, even though they weren't new members, they had
been approved as members from years ago. They were just
renewing and they just renewed too late. So they were
basically tossed aside. And I'm sure a lot of the
candidates had people in the same boat. And understand, you
said to me, you know, they don't want people stucking,
you know, votes and stuff like that, just paying for
people to become members and voting for them. Totally understand
the rules, but yeah, maybe they could have stretched it
out a bit longer, like if you the week of
the election, you can't become a member, or something is
get people a chance.
Speaker 2: Well that might lean into the fact that maybe even
if you know thember they put out an email saying
here of the nominations, you must be a member by
this date. The date that's right.
Speaker 3: We did not know that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it look definitely some things that need to him
absolutely prove Yeah, through the process. And as I said,
we're not suggesting that anyone, you know, the current board
is actually impacted by these rules as well. Yeah, you know,
like if if you were in a situation where you
felt that, say, let's say Pete was somehow getting momentum,
Pete's going to get on the board, Peter Lang. The
current board can't say, oh, like we need to stand
up and defend ourselves here and say why we're a
great boarder. They can't do that.
Speaker 3: They can't do that, you know.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's just silly.
Speaker 3: But what makes it hard for new candidates, As I
said to you earlier, Troy, they are basically a loan.
There are basically alone wolf going up against five or
six people, like you know, yes, we're nominating for five,
but the board already had a person on there already,
so six people that want to retain that board. So
it's one person trying to garner as much folks as possible,
but everyone else is sort of working together, which just
shows they were a tight board, of course, but it
just makes it hard, not just for Pete, but for
Allen and for Vick as well, Like they're all in
the in the same boat. They were. They got they did,
they did it well, they got some votes, but essentially
they were they were blown out of the water there,
and it just makes it difficult for any new candidate
to get on, just because of the how the whole
elections run and being designed. You know, it makes it hard.
But I was there, I was a scrutiny yesterday. The
whole thing was run very fairly. I was there when
they read out the votes, they counted the votes. I
can confirm they were all all ridgide professional and it
wasn't Panthers staff that were doing it. It was people
from the electoral offices and polling offices. So they did
it all professional, above board. Hands off to them. It
was just, yeah, the whole process of trying to get
elected isn't easy.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, congratulations to the existing board. I understand.
Now there's so now there's six members on the board.
It's normally the seven person board, so we will see
a new independent director appointed.
Speaker 3: And there's obviously some other things to come right. Sure,
we have agms, we have chairman announcements, you can tell
us a bit.
Speaker 2: So we do have an AGM coming up at the
end of March, So that'll be interesting because some things
come out of often that annual report and the AGM
that really show you where Panthers are sitting from a
business perspective. And obviously things have been pretty good in
you know, for some time now, but you just never
know when something surprises you, when something comes out of
left field and you go, oh, gee, that doesn't look good. Conversely,
you might look at it and go gee, things things
are going well here. And there's obviously a lot of
challenges for Panthers. The poker machine revenue that has been
relied on for so long, and this is something the
current board as well aware of and Brian Fletcher, the
former CEO, spoke about quite a lot, is that clubs
aren't going to be rely on that in the future.
You know that that gambling market is changing, you know,
as generations change, and yeah, so we will see that happen. Yeah. Also,
I guess I don't know how this works internally, but
no one elected a chairman as far as the members.
So a chairman if that's Peter Graham to continue or
if someone else wants to put their hand.
Speaker 3: So that's done. Behind closed, we get the class doors.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so wait and see what happens.
Speaker 3: But obviously very impactful and the chairman is a very
important cog of the machine.
Speaker 2: And yeah, it certainly is. You want that. Look as
we go into things like the resigning of Nathan and
I have and Cleary, you certainly want the three key
roles your chairman, your group CEO, and your football CEO sorted.
So Chairman's pretty much going to be sorted obviously in
the next few weeks. But the board is certainly sorted.
We've got Andrew Hill now Matt Cameron, so hopefully they
can get to work and resign.
Speaker 3: Those guys resigning. We've got a lot of players off
contract in the next few years.
Speaker 2: We do. Now. Another thing we've spoken about a lot
on this podcast is the Panthers honoring their history and
that they've sort of dropped the ball on this along
the journey. We had the team of Legends announced to
the club's fortieth anniversary, and we had a Hall of
fame announced back in twenty sixteen, which has got very
dusty because no one has been added to it in
this base of ten years. But last week the Panthers
announced some changes to how they're going to honor former
players and officials.
Speaker 3: Yes, certainly try and obviously I think they announced that
after we brought our podcast out last week. But yeah,
so basically they've inducted a whole bunch of new legends
into their Panthers legend system. I guess that original legends,
so basically that original team of the forty Hunniversary team
that still exists, but they're now just legends. Okay, So
we had big names in there, Brad Fittler, you had
your Craig Gowers, you had your Roy Simmons's, your Greg Alexander's.
They were already legends, okay, yep. So basically what Panthers
are doing is so from here on in, we're going
to induct some more legends into that category. So, but
they're not just opening up to players, they're also aple
to coaches, administrators that you have been a part of
the great Club of Panthers over the years. So so
it was a very interesting, you know, the way they
did it. So we saw that they renounced to put
a video out Late last week, Peter Graham was making.
Speaker 2: Some phone calls.
Speaker 3: Good promotion for Peter Grahame right before an election, but
he was making some phone calls and letting some of
these plays or key family members of past people that
were inducted, letting them know that their loved one or
themselves had become a new Panthers legend. So I'll run
through them, Troy. So the twenty twenty six Panthers Legends inductees,
I'll start with the administrators. MERV Cartwright obviously the godfather
of the Panthers, the man that started at all that
that got the club into the first grade competition. He's
officially a legend as a Panthers legend. The second one
was obviously Roger Cowen, Troy, you probably know a bit
more about Roger, but he was significant back in the
eighties nineties in term making Panthers the league's club.
Speaker 2: What it is.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, of course he had the vision and to get
the Malgo a road site and moved the leagues club
there from Station Street and obviously led Panthers for forty
years as CEO. And he obviously left in some controversial circumstances,
you know, following the Tembi inquiry and all of that
and drama between Panthers and the Weekend Roger Cowen, it's
center point. And I think following Cowen's departure, for some reason,
there was a real desire for Panthers to kind of
get away from Roger Cowen. You know, I think they
felt that his last few years there has sort of
tarnished the Panthers' reputation and that was probably largely unfair,
you know, And so I think there's been a feeling
that they haven't really honored him well enough and that
they haven't really recognized his contribution to the club. You know,
You've got other people who are recognized in various capacities
around the club, but not but not Roger Cowen. But
thankfully that has now been changed and corrected. And Roger,
I know his son Max, who worked at Panthers for
a long time, would be very happy with this that
he's being recognized in this way. So it's a deserved
recognition given the commitment that Roger cown put into Panthers
over a really, really long time. And I think there
was no doubt that if you were going to include officials,
then Roger Cown had.
Speaker 3: To be had to be right, and of course Troy.
The third administrator that was announced was obviously John Farraga. Yeah,
there's not much more needs to be said about John
passed away late last year, but an absolute Panthers icon
and he had to just be in that listed. Any Yeah,
definitely well deserved to John, and congrats to Jakie's son
who took that call and was. I spoke to him
yesterday at the counting of the board and he was
very Yeah, he was very, very very happy and so
pleased with how Panthers looked after his dad for forty years.
That was pretty cool. But to the players now, Troy,
there are a bunch of players that got announced as well.
So these are the following players are legend. Steve, which
surprisingly as the number one capped Panther up until ISAO
last year, is finally a legend. He wasn't in part
of that original list, which is quite surprising, but Steve
Carter a legend. Luke lewis on the two thousand and
three Grand Final team. Obviously, Panthers legend played a couple
of hundred games I think for the club in his
tenure there, so he's well deserved another one. Luke prittis
the Clive Churchill medallist from two thousand and three. I
know he's very excited that he's become a legend officially.
Actually Panthers brought him out to the stadium media event
last week to celebrate him. Luke Rooney, double tri scorer
in the two thousand and three Grand Final, has become
a legend. I think what he did in that Grand
Final probably was enough for him to skewer that spot.
And the final one was Trent Waterhouse Troy, so you
would have noticed these last four names were were huge
in that three team, along with Gowa and Wessa who
already in the Legend team, a Tony Pulatur as well.
So Trent Waterhouse huge career at Penrith, played his whole
NROL career at Penrith before I think going in England
for a couple of years. So I think that is
a very good list, apart from maybe some coaches that
they may have left out. I probably would have maybe
had a feel Gold in there, but maybe that's for
the future.
Speaker 2: So we're going to announce one new entrant every year
from here on on New Legends, so there is only
going to be one every year, so which.
Speaker 3: Could probably be done at like an end of year function,
a launch or something like that.
Speaker 2: Which is interesting because now, so I guess now that
they're probably declaring that they're I'm not saying that they're done,
but they they've signed off on enough ninety one and
oh three.
Speaker 3: They're done. I think that's done. I think your settlers,
null of ours, Fadawira's, Preston Campbell's, probably aren't going to
make it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess. So you could look at
the end of the day, though, we like if you
if it's not someone like I guess in some case,
it will be someone who's just retired potentially as far
as I know, there's no rules around them, haven't been
retired for a certain amount of time or haven't heard that. No,
but like let's say it's next year. Yeah, well, well,
maybe you do go back to a ninety one or
three person who's been left off, or you go further
back than that. I don't know.
Speaker 3: I don't know what I feel like they covered in
that team of forty fortieth anniversary team. Maybe they were
satisfied with those names that came out of there. So
do we what about in the last fifteen years, Troy,
do we like, do we get a Jamie Sower or
a Luke wall Sure? Like is that just being that's
silly right, Like? Yeah, you know Michael Jenny's Yeah.
Speaker 2: Look, I don't think that they are probably a legend status.
But also you're going to say you probably you don't
have to win a comp to be a club legend either.
But it's going to be interesting. It's going to be
a good debate every year. The other thing, of course,
is that the Hall of Fame still remains, So the
four players in the Hall of Fame Gramer, Greg Alexander,
Craig Gower, Roy Simmons and Royce Simmons, they remain in
the Hall of Fame, So we can see a Hall
of Fame. Addition, I guess, in addition to the Panther's.
Speaker 3: Legends, they can be elevated to Hall of Fame. But
the legend first, I would say, so, yeah, legend first,
and something's wrong will we see?
Speaker 2: And I will say that Panthers are having a pretty
exclusive dinner this Saturday night that will both be at,
which is the season launch slash sixtieth Anniversary dinner. Could
we see a fifth Hall of Fame member as a surprise?
Speaker 3: And I haven't heard that, but is that something that
that's a possibility.
Speaker 2: I think, well, I think it is to the point that, Okay,
they've fixed up the structure around everything, but we can't
deny the fact that we still only have four players
in this Hall of Fame. Yeah, right, that we announced
ten years ago. So I wouldn't think that that's the case.
Speaker 3: It has to be someone that's in the Legends Party arena.
I think it has to be a It has to
be a player, right, we can't make are we making
a coach or an admin in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: We're going to ask you this in ten years time.
Ivan Cleary is done at Panthers and has led Penrith
to maybe five or six premierships. Saying he shouldn't be
in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3: Well probably, yeah, I think you probably can.
Speaker 2: But look as much as I had my issues with
him from time to time, I think the next legend,
the next legend is probably feel good, feel good, and
he ticks a couple of boxes. Obviously as coach of
the ninety one team, but then as an administrator who
brought the club back from the brink in kind of
that sort of twenty ten.
Speaker 3: And he played as well, he was young as captain.
What about John Lang, I'll throw that at you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, John Lang, premiership wing coach, you eventually include
all your all your coaches.
Speaker 3: I think you have to do if you only have
three premiership coaches, so you might as well just throw
them in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be great. It's gonna be a great debut.
Speaker 3: It's a good idea.
Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to it. But I would like to
I think we need another Hall of Fame and I
would like to see. Now, how are we going to
showcase these legends? Are we going to have at the
new stadium? Can we convince the state government to let
us put up a legend's wall that's not just a
temporary thing that they put up that it's actually a war.
I'm calling for it the.
Speaker 3: Question without notice, and we just spoke about it. But
if I was to give you a you could give
someone a Hall of Fame job. Now, elevate one of
these legends and become a Hall of Famer on Saturday.
Who is it? Not sing from the list I just
read out, but maybe they were in the legend system already.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, who comes into the Hall of Fame. Jeez,
it's a tough one and I'm thinking I'm trying to
think now through the ninety one team and the three team. Look,
I probably lean towards the Steve Carter.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: I think Steve Carter up until recently with the most
capped Panther of all time. Not only was he part
of a premiership winning team, but he then would go
on to lead Pendra through a difficult period as well,
and his leadership during that period was pretty high and
you know, stayed true in Lord of Penrith. You know,
I loved, loved the team, was a you know, came
through the range here. So look, if I had to
put someone in there right now, I'm going to go Steve.
Speaker 3: Steve Cutt, and he's he's sort of been back in
the Penrith fold in the last couple of years and
he moved away from the era, but now he's, you know,
with all that stuff recently, with Isaiah breaking his record,
he's sort of been welcoming back into the Panthers family.
I'd probably go like Steve Carter's a great choice. I
would not be disappointed Ryan Girdler, I know he was
up for it many years ago, ten years ago, he
was one of the candidates to become a Hall of
Fame and I think he just missed out. He would
be I think people would love to see him on there.
And I know Mark Geyer, you know, obviously he probably
didn't have a hugely you know, long successful run at
the Panthers. It was very you know, he had had
a multiple, multiple different things happened to him and during
his time at the club, started well with the premiership,
then went off elsewhere and then finished his career there.
But just as a as a Panthers legend, a Panthers
ambassador and a guy that's always stayed true to Penwth,
lived in Penweth, has a business in Penrith, Like that's
you know, everyone associates Panthers a Mark guy.
Speaker 2: Ye. And what's interesting too, I should we should say
when we were adding legends, is that we are only
going to be able to add like once this current
crop of premiership winners retires, we are only going to
be able to add one a year. So and Nathan
Cleary and and Isaiah. We're gonna have to go in
in different years. That's Dylan Edwards in a different year,
Liam Martin the different.
Speaker 3: And maybe they change that.
Speaker 2: Look, they're going to have to decide that could be
gone forever, they could could I then Cleary has to
go in, so you know, you might be Nathan Cleary
might not go in until six years after he retires
or joins or somewhere, but you put it.
Speaker 3: Okay, this is going This segment's going on a long time.
But I'm thinking of pel like kickout and episode chorus.
Now do they get considered for stuff like this? Stephen Crichton,
Stephen Crichton like huge one hour won the first premiership
in twenty every grand final? I mean that they're legends.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, well, who know. This is what's great. It's
good that Panthers have dusted that off so we can
have these debates now. Nathan. Look, it gives me no
pleasure to bring you this story, and I'm sure it
will break everywhere after this, but I do, unfortunately have
to reveal an incident involving a current premiership winner. I've
decided not to name him. I don't want to embarrass him. Okay,
but he was involved in an incident that I witnessed,
and I think less of him now I really do.
And this is what happened. So I decided, after I
dropped my daughter off at school, had a day off yesterday,
do a few little bits and pieces. And after I
dropped my daughter off at school, I went and got
a coffee at a local shopping center. And I happened
to notice the person in front of me. Was this
this premiership winner? It might have been the rings that
were glittering away in the mirror. Anyway, we turned into
the shopping center. He too was getting a coffee, as
it turned out. And anyway, we're there and ten to
eight in the morning, So this shopping center is not
very busy at ten to eight in the morning. There's
a lot of parking spots. This player in his car
in front of me reverse parks into the car spot,
despite there being twenty car spots around him. He reversed parks.
It takes two minutes. I'm sitting there trying to par
I end up just parking. I'm ordering my coffee before
he's even out of his car. And you know how
I feel. Oh, I know about people reverse parking in
car parks. It is the great myth of all time
that it is more efficient, more safe. None of that's true.
And yet this player did it. He had to straight nap.
He's straightening up. There's no one near him. He could
have driven into this spot. And and look, as far
as I'm concerned, if this is the ship Ivan clear
he's running over there at I'm just disappointed.
Speaker 3: This is goal. This is goal, and am I able to, like,
guess who this player was? Can I narrow it down somehow?
Speaker 2: You could probably narrow it down.
Speaker 3: Narrow it down by shopping center? Okay, catens, yes, Caden's corner. Okay,
does this person frequent Cadin's corner? Are you aware of Yeah?
Speaker 2: I think so.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's been spotted there before, he has Okay, cool,
all right.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to name him. It's because embarrassing for him.
You know, he thinks that reversing is the best option,
you know, and it's just not. So I just wanted
to break that story with everyone and let everyone know
that it is not quicker. Not so the amount of
times Nathan that I'll park knows to the spot, and
I've seen someone else who's reverse parking and by the
time I am in the shop and they are still.
Speaker 3: They're still out of stuff around.
Speaker 2: This is why, this is why people say they've got
no time.
Speaker 3: Happens at the plaza all the time.
Speaker 1: With you.
Speaker 2: You can't reverse out of a car spot in a
car park. You shouldn't have you and your license back.
I agree, ridiculous all right now, quick one on Penis
Stadium and look, I feel like, similar to the board election,
we're the only ones that have been talking about this
for a considerable amount of time. But the roof has
gone up on the east has banned and a lot
of the wider rugby league community are now seeing what
this new Pena stadium they've all heard about is going
to look like. And there's a lot of criticism out
there of the state government saying that, you know, the
Team U stadium is back in the in the conversation. Now,
what's interesting is I think there's two lines of thought here.
The state government is trying to argue, well, this roof,
which doesn't look like it would cover much more than
a big Bunnings umbrella in the in the rain, they're saying, well,
hey it covers I think it's fifty three percent I
think in the in the current structure, current documents, fifty
three percent of people in the eastern stand. So we
should be grateful because that's more than was previously coming. Yes, yes,
so that's there. That's going to be their line. We're
covering more people. Sure, But should we be building in
twenty twenty six a new grand stand at a sporting
venue that only covers half the people in the rain
like that?
Speaker 3: No, come on, no, it's it's it's absolute. It's ridiculous.
It's absolutely ridiculous that they couldn't find the funds to
make that roof covery we go to combat now. We
hate going there. It's a beautiful stadium, brilliant.
Speaker 2: Love it.
Speaker 3: We hate going there. But the one thing that Combank has,
and that was built what eight nine years ago now,
is is a roof that I'm pretty sure covers every
single seat in that stadium generally, yeah, generally, right, it's
designed too whether the rain coming in a certain direction,
you might get wet, but for the most part, it's
covering every single row. It may if not the first
who knows, but it's that's what it's designed to do.
So we've got this brand new stadium now ten years
later from you know, from when Combank was built or
Alians was built, and we are yeah, we've got this
roof that we've seen overhead shots, bird's eye view shots,
side shots, and it's just covering half of that green stare. Now,
we don't know what's going to happen on the west
where obviously we sit Troy and we've sat for many years.
We sit in the back row of the West and
we're always covered. But what's going to happen on the
other side.
Speaker 2: Now my concern is this is that, yes, that western side,
because the seats for the general public on that western
side are going to be lower. Yeah, Like, are we
going to go from a situation where you did have
people undercover to none of them general public undercover? Like,
we'll have to wait and see. But yes, look for
those out there who have been mounting who are just
finding this out. Yes, we've spoken about this for a while.
It never should have happened. Three hundred and nine million
in today's money was never going to build a quality stadium,
I shouldn't say quality, a stadium that was of extreme
comparison to a Combank you know that was never going
to happen. And I think once we reached the point,
to be honest with you, once we reached the point
where it was like, Okay, we're going to spend around
a nine million, We're going to keep the two hills.
We're not going to touch them at all. We're not
even going to landscape them as far as I'm aware,
and they're staying the way they were, So we're not
going to touch the two hills. We're going to replace
the two grand stands and increase the capacity by a
couple of thousand people all up, full stop. It should
have been hanging on. This just isn't right. This isn't
the time. Maybe in the future there'll be an opportunity
to build a five hundred million dollars stadium across the
road or something else, but this isn't the time. Hey,
we have a better option. Let's referb it for one
hundred million dollars or something like that, and you could
have fixed some of those issues that plagued, particularly that
Western stand in terms of facilities for particularly for the
women's teams that may come in because there was just
so much room in that West. They're getting rid of
the training field on Moga Road anyway, So they could
have used a lot of that space to improve facilities,
to improve whatever they wanted to improve. That was never
going to happen because I'm guessing in a situation like that,
it's never going to come under venues New South Wales
control or government control, which is kind of what they
probably wanted. We talked about the Panthers Board. Maybe maybe
the Panthers Board should have said no, and people probably
would have called them stupid. Maybe the NROLL would have
pressured them and said, hey, guys.
Speaker 3: We're getting three outre nine million dollars a year.
Speaker 2: You take it, you know. But yeah, Unfortunately I look
at it and I say, look, I'm sure that there'll
be stuff that we look at that's oh, that's awesome,
and that's great. But I think more broadly, we're going
to look at it and say, well, you know, it's
it's not much different to what we had previously, lost
a bit of its soul, no longer in Panthers control.
Speaker 3: And we're all getting wet.
Speaker 2: We're all getting wet. Half of us are getting wet,
half us getting wet. You know, Like this is what
I don't think the government is getting particularly when you
add the hills to the equation. More people are getting
wet in that stadium than are staying dry, Like.
Speaker 3: That's extraordinary, twenty twenty six. It shouldn't happen.
Speaker 2: Anyway, We'll just keep getting called Nasayers and whatever else
we get called, or as tiber. The price is right,
get to win anything. I've yet to open up my
wallet and get the credit card out, because when we
play the price is right, Nathan of course has to
get it within fifty cents.
Speaker 3: Yeah, either way, I love if you could, you could
change that to a dollar.
Speaker 2: And we go through two items that are currently available
on either the Panther Shop or the NRL shop, and
Nathan has to get it right in terms of what
price they would be. So, Nathan, we are actually today
going into the women's.
Speaker 3: Section, women's ok of the the pan ladies range.
Speaker 2: The ladies range, and what I've found here is the Panthers. Actually, no,
that is not the Here we go, yep, the Panthers
Women's adult over die truck.
Speaker 3: Pant Okay, so it's a women's trucksuit pants.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I'll explain it to you. Elevate your game
day style with our panthers overde truck pant made from
super soft brush fleece in a baggy and comfy fit
that's easy to throw on and go. Now, it's got
a very functional draw cord elasticated waistband. Now, Nathan, I
will say it's currently discounted because there's only one size
still available, and that's a five xcel. I don't want
to win this, so that's what you'll beginning if you
If you win it five excel women's there's that oult
over dry truck pants.
Speaker 3: So can you give us a price with and can
you just this way? Do they have logos on there?
Speaker 2: Like what's's got the word panthers down the side in
like a faint all right?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, they don't look like they'd be that expensive.
I'm going it's discounted.
Speaker 2: It is discounted at the moment. Yeah, probably because they've
only got this one size.
Speaker 3: I'm going to go eighteen dollars troy Ooh, it's twenty
five bucks. Twenty five dollars.
Speaker 2: For the five excels.
Speaker 3: Unfortunately, I'm happy to miss out on that one.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately you do miss out on that one. All right,
Well let me go now I'm moving over back into
my favorite category, which is the accessories category on the
other Panthers.
Speaker 3: I like a good accessory, and what I have found today.
Speaker 2: For you, Nathan, is the Panthers pomp Pom set. So
get ready to cheer on your team with this vibrant
set of Panthers theme pomp poms, perfect for sports day,
dance routines, cheerleading events, or any celebration that calls for
a burst of energy. Now, these cheerleading pompoms feature a
practical plastic handle design that includes a comfortable set, a
comfortable group. I should say. There's two pompoms in the set,
and they're made of quality metallic material, shiny and durable.
Speaker 3: Okay, Now these are the pompoms that the actual pantherreats
would typically have.
Speaker 2: I don't know if there are genuine pantherreatskay pompom, but yeah,
they look pretty similar.
Speaker 3: And look pretty similar. Okay, yeah, okay, now look all right,
that's a decent quality Pompoh it's a kid's one, though, well.
Speaker 2: I think an adult could using a kid in the picture.
Speaker 3: Okay, and you get two in the you get two
in the pack. Okay, cool, I think I'm going to
go with twenty dollars.
Speaker 2: For that, Nathan, you can get a bargain forteen ninety nine. Wow,
ninety nine or if you remember, thirteen forty nine for
some pomp poms. All right, so you failed again.
Speaker 3: That's okay. I didn't mind missing out on those two.
I must again.
Speaker 2: You might end up with like a jersey or something
when we continue on with the run.
Speaker 3: How much those are?
Speaker 2: We're going to continue at least until you win one
or you win something. All right, all right, well that
is it.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Next week we'll obviously be talking Vegas, but our main
thing will be reviewing the Big Panther's Dinner on Saturday
and night, the sixtieth anniversary dinner, so we'll review all
the bits and pieces everything we spot.
Speaker 3: So this is not going to be your typical season launch,
because in the past they've been quite casual the season
launches cocktail events. Stand up, this is a sit down.
Speaker 2: I reckon. There's more than an Arranchini ball happening.
Speaker 3: I think it's this is a full on Dealio.
Speaker 2: What says the dress code is formal?
Speaker 3: Yes, we'll players are bringing their partners true. I think
they would be, yes, because usually they don't come to this.
Speaker 2: Occasion fresh from like ard over all the boys on
the Friday night straight into this. But no, I think
they'll be there. I think this will be the So.
Speaker 3: Would we get some debutings of some new partners, perhaps
on the red carpet?
Speaker 2: Maybe? Yeah, I gotta admit I don't keep cross who's
you know with people in the game. But I think
Mitch Kenny is a new girlfriend.
Speaker 3: Well that's what I believe. Yes, so see she rocks up.
Speaker 2: See if she'll be there, And obviously there'll be no
Mary Fowler.
Speaker 3: Nathan always flies solo to these events.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well I imagine the day that you can finally
bring Mary to her to a Panthers event. The cameras
will go nuts. But yeah, we'll do that. And then
the week after that we are into the the rough
and tumble of the season because we'll have Vegas and
then Round one Panthers Broncos game in a couple of
weeks time. So there you go.
Speaker 3: Can't wait?
Speaker 2: All right? Well that is it for Tension running High
this week. New episodes are out every Wednesday. Visit Western Weekend,
a dot com dot you follow us on all the
social check out our print edition out every Thursday, and
of course make sure you download the Western Weekend app
from either the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.
I'm Troy Dodds Nathan, thanks for joining me. Thanks Troy,
and thanks to Pena City Automotive too for this sponsorship.
Back on deck for another year, we'll see you next time.
On tensions running high, Go the Panthers,