My favourite Panther of all time.
I remember when I was six, sitting in the lounge room of my old house watching the 91' Grand Final with my dad....then watching the Field Goal...then the kick from the sideline to seal it...it was just beautiful.
Since then I had found footage of games Brandy played at Fullback and Half for Penrith and in Rep games...and his ability with the football just amazed me. I have never had as much respect for a footballer than I had for Brandy. He was a gentlemen, he was a beautiful football player, it was like watching poetry in motion when seeing him run and jig and pass. He was a complete footballer. If he was in any other era he probably would have played a lot more rep games.
I remember in 1997, I went out to Penrith in Round 1 when we played Perth Reds. Brandy was wearing the #99 jersey. Scrum about 50 out....went off the scrum base, jigged inside Mackay, straight through the gap great pace through the middle of the field, stepped past the fullback...and ran the last 30 metres untouched and I just remembered thinking "Thank God he is back".
I really feel sorry for Brandy. We were going really well in 1992 up until his brothers tragic death. After that both he and Geyer could not conjur up any real strength or motivation up till their departures. We were not the same time for many years up until Brandy and MG's return.
I feel if that incident hadn't have happened...92,93,94,95,96 were his years to shine. Unfortunately after the incident he rarely showed much....the club was too much for him to bare with memories. We never really got to see the best of Brandy, but by god he was a damn fine footballer.