Dear Panthers Fans,
In my season preview I without hesitation (ok a little hesitation) predicted that the Penrith Panthers would run away with the Wooden Spoon in 2013. A few weeks later in my thoughts on the wooden spoon I again said the Panthers would finish last due to the lack of a genuine game breaker.
I am writing this today to simply say, I’m sorry Panthers, I got that one very wrong.
In the past 2 weeks the Panthers have beaten the competition favourites and absolutely belted the Warriors and doing so have proven themselves to be far above the Warriors, Tigers, and Eels of the competition.
I certainly don’t mean to overreact to a win over a team that has not exactly set the competition alight but any team that can beat another by over 50 points is not going to finish last.
Although I still stand by my comments that the Panthers do not possess a genuine game breaker they had about 13 on Saturday Night. James Segeyaro seems to improve with every game and young Matt Moylan looks like the real deal.
The Panthers only boast one genuine Origin contender in Tim Grant which will put them in a good position over the Origin period. The Eels will have Hayne, arguably their best player, and the likewise will the Tigers in Robbie Farrah.
Penrith are already 4 points clear of the Warriors and Tigers, and even if they don’t win another game this season, that may be enough. The Tigers offered absolutely nothing against the Bunnies and will hope for a huge improvement or else they will find themselves on the wrong end of many more. The Warriors will return to New Zealand a beaten and broken side and you’d think the Knights will account for them next week.
The Panthers play the Dragons next week and would consider themselves a strong chance of emerging with 2 competition points. After the bye they host the hapless Tigers, who if turn up with the same attitude they have for the past 2 weeks, consider it a game the Panthers will be looking to improve their for and against as the points are already theirs.
Penrith will not win the competition this season, I still don’t believe they will make the 8, but if they keep entertaining as they have the past 2 weeks I look forward to writing another apology letter in September.
Please accept my apology for my error in judgement. The Panthers have sure showed me and I’m sure many others. The Panthers may not be world beaters but they are well ahead of the Tigers, Warriors and Eels in terms of development and performance.
Good luck with the rest of your season
Yours sincerely
Daniel Nichols
