{"id":336544,"date":"2023-10-05T19:41:15","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T19:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=336544"},"modified":"2023-10-05T21:01:23","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T21:01:23","slug":"crucial-ingredient-needed-for-panthers-four-peat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=336544","title":{"rendered":"'Crucial' ingredient needed for Panthers four-peat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can the Penrith<\/a> juggernaut continue to steamroll all comers and win yet another title in 2024?<\/p>\n

That's the question the league world is asking after the Panthers' stunning comeback to win the NRL title<\/a> last weekend.<\/p>\n

Four straight grand finals, a premiership three-peat – the Panthers are already up there with the greatest teams of all time.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>World Cup holders 'completely outplayed' as NZ gets revenge\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Bizarre reason this photo was wiped<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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But if they do conjure up a fourth consecutive title, it will be the longest run since St George's magical era of the 1950s and '60s – and the Panthers already have the Saints in their sights.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Sure, they've lost world-class players Stephen Crichton and Spencer Leniu – but let's not forget that this time last year critics were ready to write them off after the departure of strike forwards Api Koroisau and Viliame Kikau.<\/p>\n

And when the Panthers suffered a shock defeat to St Helens in the World Club Challenge and then lost two of their first four premiership games, plenty thought the golden run was over.<\/p>\n

But under Ivan Cleary's steady hand, the Panthers regrouped, did a hard reset – and lost just four more games in the entire year.<\/p>\n

It's a measure of how good the Panthers are that they played fairly ordinary football for the first 60 minutes of the grand final, looked dead and buried – yet stormed home for a remarkable win.<\/p>\n

The big dance was Nathan Cleary's piece de resistance and earned him a place in the game's folklore – it was truly a work of genius for which he will be forever remembered.<\/p>\n

\"Cleary<\/p>\n

The Panthers had many heroes during a year in which they had targets on their backs from start to finish, with rivals desperate to stop the three-peat.<\/p>\n

Fullback Dylan Edwards was superb, regularly racking up 200 and even 300 running metres per game.<\/p>\n

Wingers Brian To'o and Sunia Turuva were like extra forwards, getting their team out of trouble – and bagged over 30 tries between them to boot.<\/p>\n

Centres Izack Tago and Crichton enjoyed their most profitable seasons in the NRL and the latter, off to the Bulldogs, will be sorely missed.<\/p>\n

Jarome Luai was at his love him or hate him best, taking the pressure off Cleary in the playmaking stakes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Up front, big forwards James Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota intimidated rival packs with their aggression and back-rowers Liam Martin, Scott Sorensen, Spencer Leinu and Zac Hosking fed off their go-forward.<\/p>\n

Hooker Mitch Kenny proved a capable replacement for Koroisau and lock Isaah Yeo was the perfect link man between the forwards and backs, a popular winner of the club's player of the year award.<\/p>\n

While they were the best team in the land, the Panthers did have some crucial luck in one area – injuries.<\/p>\n

Remarkably, 15 players turned out in 20 or more games, allowing Ivan Cleary to pick basically the same team virtually every week.<\/p>\n

If that blessed run of luck continues, the four-peat is a massive chance.<\/p>\n

\"2023<\/p>\n

Best player:<\/strong> Without Nathan Cleary, the premiership trophy would be sitting in Broncos headquarters – and the star halfback won the team plenty of other big games as well with his class and vision.<\/p>\n

Key signing:<\/strong> The versatile Daine Laurie showed flashes of brilliance at the last-placed Tigers in 2023 and will appreciate playing in this star-studded Panthers outfit next year.<\/p>\n

2024 gains:<\/strong> Daine Laurie (Wests Tigers), Brad Schneider (Hull KR), Paul Alamoti (Bulldogs)<\/p>\n

2024 losses:<\/strong> Stephen Crichton (Bulldogs), Spencer Leniu (Roosters), Jaeman Salmon (Bulldogs), Jack Cogger (Knights)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can the Penrith juggernaut continue to steamroll all comers and win yet another title in 2024? That's the question the league world is asking after […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":336547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336544"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=336544"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":336554,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336544\/revisions\/336554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/336547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=336544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=336544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=336544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}