Penrith’s losing streak has them in uncharted waters

Source : ABC NEWS

After everything that’s happened over the past four seasons the idea of a Penrith form slump seemed as likely as pigs flying or hell freezing over.

So come Saturday morning check the skies for bacon and expect the devil to break out his winter best, cause it’s happening. Friday night’s 22-18 loss to the Cowboys makes it indisputable as the Panthers crashed to their fourth defeat in a row.

Everybody has a slump every now and then, but Penrith have risen to the highest highs this sport has to offer over the past four seasons precisely because they are not like everybody.

The last time they dropped this many games on the bounce you have to go back to the before times, to a dark period in 2019 when they lost six straight to temporarily fall to last place on the ladder.

It was long enough ago that Isaah Yeo, who on Friday became the first Panther to play in 250 matches, wasn’t yet the starting lock. Only four players from the last loss of that streak are still at the club. So much has changed since that it feels like it happened to someone else.

Back then they found themselves as low as a side can be and from those depths they fought and clawed and hammered their way to unfathomable glories to the point where a run like this remains a little unfathomable.

There was a lack of connection against the Cowboys, an absence of the certainty and clarity of purpose that has been Penrith’s trademark over the past few seasons. Ivan Cleary called it a lack of flow as he admitted there were some players in the team who were in uncharted waters.

The power hitting, the unbreakable confidence, the insatiable appetite to win every single contest and the cold-eyed execution to take the chances as they came was nowhere to be found as consistently as we’ve become accustomed to.

The old ways would rise up for a tackle, or a set or a well-placed Nathan Cleary kick but they were outnumbered by defensive lapses, poorly timed passes or backline spreads that failed to hit the mark. Everything about it felt unfamiliar.

Like each of their four defeats, the crowd waited for things to turn Penrith’s way, as it always does, only to be left dumbstruck.

Normally, the hordes of black and pink jerseys make Panthers home games a howling hell where teams go to be crushed under the foot of the dynasty. At Penrith Stadium they overwhelm the game with their sound and fury.

Half an hour up the road at Parramatta Stadium, where the Panthers will play this year as their ground is redeveloped, they feel a little out of place. Their jerseys stand out against the grey seats. It doesn’t feel right.

They are not strangers but it is not their place and it is not the temple of destruction their true home has become over the past four years and everybody knows it.

It was in this locale that North Queensland produced their best display of the season thus far. The Cowboys played with great spirit and their scramble defence in the second half was a particular highlight, as was another scintillating display from 19-year old centre Jaxon Purdue.

Purdue scored a try, threw the final pass for another and came up with the key defensive play as he pushed Paul Alamoti into touch as the Penrith winger launched himself to the corner in the dying stages for what would have been the equalising try.

It was a play of desperation and desire with a second effort that made all the difference. In short, it was the kind of thing Penrith usually do.

There are a lot of new jerseys at Penrith games these days, as you’d expect from a team that’s enjoyed four premierships in a row. As such, this is an unfamiliar feeling for many of them. A lot of Panthers fans know nothing but a level of success that is inconceivable to outsiders.

It’s a similar story for some of the players. The longest-serving ones, like Cleary, Isaah Yeo and the injured Dylan Edwards have been through it.

But players as accomplished as Izack Tago, who has won three premierships, and Lindsay Smith, who has won two and played for Australia, have never been in a first grade side that’s struggled like this.

It’s the same for youngsters like Jack Cole and Casey McLean. Those with experience at other clubs, such as Paul Alamoti and Daine Laurie, have been through it but it was a life they were supposed to leave behind once they took up the black jerseys.

Reports of Penrith’s demise, or of the empire finally falling, are premature. It’s a long season, the Panthers could welcome back Edwards from the casualty ward in the next couple of weeks and Brian To’o shortly thereafter.

But even citing the absence of their stars as a reason for the loss is foreign territory for Penrith.

Over the past four seasons they have prided themselves in still getting it done whenever they’ve missed their big names.

One of their most prized regular season wins, and there’s been so many, is a victory over Newcastle in 2023 where Penrith were without six State of Origin players but still managed to handle the Knights.

It was a mark of their resilience, as was their ability to consistently regenerate despite a yearly exodus of talent, with a depth, pathway system and an ongoing competition for spots that became the the envy of all.

This season feels a bit different thus far. Perhaps other clubs pillaging their roster has finally taken its toll, like it has for literally every other champion team that has risen and fallen before Penrith’s longevity broke all conventional wisdom. Perhaps the winning can’t really go on forever.

Some people come to watch the fall and the longer Penrith stay down the more they will circle, knives out and beaks bloodied, but it would still take a brave punter to bet against Penrith being there when it matters most.

They have overcome every challenge thrown their way for an impossibly long time and that should earn the benefit of any doubt.

A four-match losing streak is a blow, but not a fatal one and when it counts, the Panthers could still end up being the best side in the competition. They have all the pieces and they know what it takes.

But right now, with Thursday’s match against the winless Dolphins becoming a lot more important than anyone expected, they feel a little bit more like everyone else and it hasn’t felt that way for a very, very long time.