After a hectic week at work, and waking up with a migraine this morning, I’m strangely calm heading into today.
I usually get my gut feeling about the game when I walk in, with 2001 being the last time I had it wrong.
At the moment I’m thinking:
Panthers 12-8
Edwards CCM
To’o to score one of our tries
5 minutes to go. Game wrapped up. Luai sets up a Turuvo try and Fish kicks the conversion.
My full report tomorrow, but oh wow what a game!
4-peat baby!!!
Glad u we’re happy for IC to make decision
4 in a row!!!
What more needs to be said? Enjoy the night & summer.
May the fourth be with you all.
PS. My gut feeling waking in was right again - 22 years in a row!!! (Including 2021 at kickoff when I couldn’t be there)
I’m still trying to take it all in. The atmosphere at the ground, before, during & after was incredible. 4 IN A ROW!!!
What an incredible era we are witnessing - nothing we could have ever imagined. I woke up this morning & said to my wife “it happened, right? I didn’t dream it?” Amazing the achievements of these boys!
Credit to everyone at the Panthers - management, staff, coaches & support staff, players & the fans. This includes those who have moved on during the streak, including some wonderful fans who have passed.
I would like to point out I did my little bit to get us home. I wore my regular kit, including my ‘lucky’ shoes that are worn out & have had to be repaired a couple of times & I refused to mention the name of the ref thru the finals.
I have family & friends who give me grief about always wearing Panther gear almost all the time. They will kid me when I wear a Panther shirt/cap when we have lost that week, and I say I support my team all the time. I now consider that with 5 GF’s in a row & the FOURPEAT done, I can justly & proudly wear Panther gear every day for the rest of my life, without question.
Enjoy the off season all and stay safe. WE are THE PREMIERS for another 12 months & will have held the trophy for over 1,800 days come Oct 5, 2025. Do we dare to dream AGAIN of another premiership - FIVEPEAT in '25 has a nice ring to it 
What a time to be a Panthers fan!!!
Did any of us seriously dream on making it 4 in a row until the last few years?
My traditional Panthers Grand Final routine was majorly disrupted this year. My manager had to run off overseas for a family emergency 3 weeks ago, leaving me to run the shop, with minimal help, just as we started getting busier. During this time I have had to contend not only with the Panthers finals campaign, but also watching my original team (Newtown) win the NSW Cup, and my adopted Ron Massey cup team (Glebe) win their first ever premiership. By the time I finished work on Saturday I had nothing left. Saturday night I developed a migraine and couldn’t keep my medication down. By yesterday at 10am, I was on the verge of calling my mate to see if he knew someone who could take my ticket, when suddenly the medication stayed down, and the migraine started to clear. Due to a lack of money lately, thanks to medical bills & car repairs, my usual weekend at Penrith also had to be cancelled. So to say this is nothing like I would have like to have enjoyed this feat is a major understatement. Unfortunately the scheduling of the fan day clashes with work, so I doubt I will get to enjoy that too.
On to the game. While I thought there wasn’t much between the two teams, I thought we looked in control for most of the game. Apart from a piece of individual brilliance from Grant, they didn’t seem to threaten us much. We were very clinical, with some great tactics, in particular letting the taller Storm wingers catch kicks, then wrapping them up before they could do anything with the ball. Martin was easily the best player on the field, on both sides of the ball. The only player of ours who I can’t praise for their effort is Schneider but given that he failed to get on the field I can’t hold anything against him.
Now time to kick back and enjoy another Premiership. I’ll be catching up with a few mates in Penrith & the Blue Mountains over the summer. I’ve got a few posts that I’m working on before I take a bit of a break, although I’ll still be checking in regularly. I’ll be working on getting a few kegs off so that I can get up the stairs at Parra Stadium easier. Might work on the novel & hopefully complete it!!!
Enjoy the summer Panthers fans, and come back refreshed so we can strive for five
Unbelievable. I’m just so proud and happy to support this team. Four premierships in a row.
I just don’t have the words to properly articulate how I feel.
I joined this forum back in the Luke Walsh days. If you had told me back then that Penrith would go 4 in a row.
So happy we send out Fish, Tito and Romey as champions
Some observations and comments :-
These are the golden years. After decades of treating any match win as a cause for celebration, and the wooden spoon as an ever-present threat, this is all too much. Soooooooo good.
In these days of mortgage stress and consequent ‘cost-of-living’ pressure, it was great to see so many Penrith fans coughing up the big bucks to attend the game.
Great coaching and play to handle the attacking bombs to their tall outer backs.
Has there been a better defensive effort this year? Is Penrith the fittest team in the NRL?
Lots of talk about the Melbourne ‘no try’, but bugger all about the ‘dubious’ strip penalty that gave Melbourne the field position for their try.
Plenty of haters on forums like The Roar, but they can suck eggs. For some, we now need to win 5-in-a-row to be a contender for ‘best ever’ or something similar. Can’t please some people.
Martin was exceptional, but so was Yeo. Either would have been a worthy man-of-the-match.
Interesting choice of words by Yeo post-game, in respecting Melbourne (including their ‘owners’). That’s a contrast to true clubs like ours. I am not a fan of people owning teams.
Alamoti is starting to make the loss of Crichton less irreplaceable. Will he move to the wing next year, making room for one of the McLeans in the centres? For next year, there are at least 3 contenders to replace Turuva. I don’t know anything about the Kiwi (Papali’i); can he be brought up to be close to JFH? And it will be interesting to see the new 5/8th; Talagi, Cole or Schneider??
Surprise call-up for Smith to the Kangaroos; I hope that it doesn’t mean that his value increases to the point that we lose him as well because of cap pressure.
Ivan Cleary’s 5th grand final and 4th premiership, but only once good enough for Dally M Coach. That tells me that there is something wrong with the methodology of the system used for selections.
Once we’re back at Penrith Park, it would be better for the Penrith players to do a slow lap, or just visit the eastern stand, like in years past. To do so would reinforce their professed valuing of the fan base.
The Panthers have withdrawn from next years World Club Challenge due to excessive workload and scheduling issues next year.
https://twitter.com/petervlang/status/1843521713566634256?s=46&t=PKqAcb9MGaN2yBmiQKVtQg
Has a chance to watch the replay after attending the Grand Final on Sunday.
Every player did their part and left the most complete effort this season to the finale.
I hear a lot about the physical toughness of both sides, a fair few of them on both sides were carrying injury into the game (you can tell by the amount of tape holding them together and the withdraws for the International fixture and opting for surgery).
But while I agree both sides are physically tough, I feel that Penrith was mentally tough, something the Storm seemed to lack. When they were up by 6 they looked in control and started to get a roll on, but Penrith kept to the game plan and put on two tries after that, the wheels started to fall of the Storm, Penrith stuck to their guns and kept pressuring the playmakers and each set started to look more and more desperate. The last try to Alamoti sealed the deal. The Storm were gassed and gutted. A few more 1% plays to the Storm and their fate was sealed.
It goes to show that to win that trophy you need to be mentally tough as well as physically tough.
Well this may be a case of tomorrow never comes lol - my apologies, I have been camping post the Grand final with no internet or phone.
Not a lot more to be said - Martin was for sure well deserved as CC winner, although I wouldn’t have been disappointed had Yeo won.
Was surreal to be at the game - my 4th in five years, something I would never dream of.
We had the game under control from the kick-off. The strategy of not contesting contested kicks, simply handing the ball over on their line on the 5th tackle, pounding them up the middle in defence.
We know our system back to front, and boy did we execute. Not a poor performance from any of the 16 who took the field. On that, has a team ever left a player on the bench in grand final?
Allomotti went one better than the PF, and as said he has stood tall from who was otherwise a bulldogs reject.
Sorro despite his hamstring and not playing in weeks, just turned up in both attack and defence, I could go on on on and list every player for their best game of the season. This team sure knows how to pace their run.
The reality has now set in - I no longer need to pinch myslef to see if I am dreaming - we have done something no other team has done in rugby league in Australia - won four in a row with limited tackles and salary cap.
Let the discussion s begin, we are surely the greatest team ever.
I see no reason we won’t win next year.
Panther Pride Man of the Match voting is now open 
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