Looks like I’ll be in Bathurst for my Birthday next year.
Mostly happy with the draw, only thing I don’t like is the teams we play in Weeks 1 & 2 we don’t play again. Personally I think the games against teams you only play once should all be mid-season.
Here is a breakdown of the time slots. Sadly not many Saturday 7:30 matches, but for those a fan of Friday Night Football will be happy with 10 matches (7 Home & 3 Away) being played on Friday Nights.
The majority of hame games are on Thursday and Friday (9 from 11). Only 3 games on the weekends (one is at Bathurst).
I don’t go to games nor do I subscribe to pay TV so, next season I will be able to watch the Panthers 11 times during the regular season and 3 times in the finals.
So, the NRL, in its infinite wisdom, awards only 11 free-to-air games to the defending premiers. Pre-season hasn’t even started, and already my Penrith persecution complex is activated.
Looking further ahead, I wonder what the 2020 bye system will be like. We should never forget the last time that a bye system was instigated. At that time the conventional wisdom was that the team that had just enjoyed a bye would be at an advantage because of the week off. That shouldn’t be a problem, should it, if the allocation was balanced. But it wasn’t. Every team played a bye-freshened team ONCE - except Penrith. We played the bye-freshened team THIRTEEN times. I think that the appropriate advice to a Penrith fan was to lay on your back and think of England.
The opinions expressed on Panther Pride are not necessarilly those of the sites owners.
Panther Pirde or Recycled Pixel accept no responsibility for articles presented, their ownership or implications of ownership.
Panther Pride accepts no responsibility for inadvertant copyright breaches. This website does not have any affiliation with the National Rugby League (NRL). or the Penrith Panthers Rugby League Football Club,
nor business connection and has not been endorsed by the National Rugby League or Penrith Panthers.
Preseason matches added to original post.
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Websites