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Amid another Penrith premiership, the praise for the Panthers mounts and the “what ifs” spew out of the league journos mouths. “Are they the greatest team of the modern era?” being the most common. Should Nathan Cleary be an Immortal?
Comparing the Panthers to great teams of eras gone by is another favourite of the journo’s – with those trying to go back to the great Dragons team who won a million in a row, Parra of the 80s, the great Raiders and Broncos of the 90s, Manly of the mid 90s, the Broncos of the early 00s, or the Roosters and Dogs of the mid 00s or more recently, some of the great Storm teams.
The reality is, with the salary cap now in place, it is not fair nor is it comparing apples with apples when comparing this team to the pre-salary cap era. Yet, it’s enticing to do so purely because it has been so long since anyone has won three, let alone four in a row.
I argue – and this isn’t a criticism of Penrith, it is a criticism of the NRL and the salary cap – that Penrith winning four in a row is significantly more difficult than what those previously mentioned teams achieved. However, in the same breath, I also argue that the Penrith team does not stack up against these great teams. For the purpose of this discussion, I will use the powerhouse teams of the Broncos and Raiders of the 90s as examples.
The salary cap has evened out the competition, to a point – albeit some clubs continue to enjoy the bottom eight most years than not without their share of success. However, I would argue that this has been achieved by an overall lowering of the bar across the competition, rather than the cellar dwellers rising and being competitive with those at the top.
The Panthers hold aloft the Provan-Summons Trophy. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
The standard and depth of playmakers in the NRL is at an all-time low. The salary cap, introduced in 1998, is a decent place to compare the top halves in the game to where we sit today.
Halfbacks and five eighths playing in 1998 included Andrew Johns, Allan Langer, Ricky Stuart, Adrian Lam, Brett Kimmorley, Geoff Toovey, Stacey Jones, Greg Alexander, Paul Green, Craig Polla-Mounter, Jason Taylor, Cliff Lyons, Laurie Daley, Steve Carter, Trent Barrett, Craig Wing, Brad Fittler, Greg Florimo, Jason Smith, Julian O’Neill, before a string of other decent players – Matty Johns, Mat Rogers, Scott Hill, Adam Dykes amongst many others.
Looking at the top halves of the game as it is today, there’s Cleary, DCE, Munster, and Hughes at the top…and then what? Jarome Luai? Mitchell Moses? Nicho Hynes? Ben Hunt? Tom Dearden? We’re struggling to list half a dozen decent halves. Compared to the top tier halves of Johns, Langer, Stuart, Kimmorley, Walters, Jones, Barrett, Fittler there is simply no comparison.
Looking at the next tier of halves, the difference is even more stark – guys like Geoff Toovey, Jason Smith, Greg Alexander, Craig Gower, Craig Wing compared to the second tier of current NRL halves? The depth of halves in the competition today is appalling and an all-time low. Perhaps the changing role of fullbacks who are effectively an additional half in todays game has amplified this lack of depth in talent in the halves, but that is a discussion for another day.
Braydon Trindall, who has barely cemented a position in a mid-tier team as the second-best half in his team, is being touted as an 800k+ a year player when off contract, simply because there’s nobody else on the market.
The lack of depth of talent in the halves is apparent, but the lack of stacked teams is also apparent. Teams simply cannot keep their top players due to the salary cap. It is a true shame that Crichton, Koroisau, Kikau and many others are not still playing for the Panthers and we miss the opportunity to witness a truly great team.
Let’s compare three of the great teams: the Raiders of 1994, the Broncos of 1998 and the Panthers of 2024 (the Raiders only played with two on the bench).
1. Brett Mullins / Darren Lockyer / Dylan Edwards
2. Ken Nagas / Michael De Vere / Sunia Turuva
3. Mal Meninga / Steve Renouf / Izack Tago
4. Ruben Wiki / Darren Smith / Paul Alamoti
5. Noa Nadruku / Wendell Sailor / Brian To’o
6. Laurie Daley / Kevin Walters / Jarome Luai
7. Ricky Stuart / Allan Langer / Nathan Cleary
8. Quentin Pongia / Shane Webcke / Moses Leota
9. Steve Walters / Phillip Lee / Mitch Kenny
10. Paul Osborne / Andrew Gee / James Fisher-Harris
11. Jason Croker / Gorden Tallis / Luke Garner
12. David Furner / Brad Thorn / Liam Martin
13. Bradley Clyde / Tonie Carroll / Isaah Yeo
Ricky Stuart. (Photo by Getty Images)
14. Brett Hetherington / Michael Hancock / Brad Schneider
15. David Westley / John Plath / Lindsay Smith
16. N/A / Kevin Campion / Liam Henry
17. N/A / Petero Civoniceva / Matthew Eisenhuth
If you are trying to slot Panthers players into the Raiders team, who would be selected? I personally would have both Panthers props ahead of the Raiders props. But across the rest of the park in every position, the Raiders team is stronger.
Similarly for trying to slot a Panthers player in the Broncos ’98 team, I would find a spot for To’o on one wing ahead of De Vere and Fisher-Harris would get a start ahead of Andrew Gee. Aside from that, there isn’t another Panther getting selected. You could twist my arm and select Yeo ahead of Carroll and I wouldn’t disagree too much. I wouldn’t select Cleary ahead of Stuart or Langer, but in the fullness of time and as Cleary plays out his career, my opinion could change on this.
These great Raiders and Broncos teams are significantly stronger than the Panthers team, yet did not achieve the great things this Panthers team has, this is not due to the strength of the Panthers team but due to the watering down of the NRL talent and dragging the standard of the top teams down.
This isn’t a discredit to this Panthers team. What they have achieved with the talent they have lost is nothing short of incredible.
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