“Nathan (Cleary) coming back in won’t rescue the side unless the rest of the team do their job.”
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The Penrith Panthers are looking to solidify themselves as one of the greatest teams of all time as they aim for a fourth-straight Premiership in 2024.
However, the powerhouse club has gone through its share of struggles in recent weeks, winning just two of their last four games whilst putting on disappointing performances in the process.
Although the club has been decimated by injuries and a significant absence of star Nathan Cleary, the Panthers enter a rare territory as they go into the finals series not as the favourites.
Panthers legend and current deputy chairman Greg Alexander was quizzed on the side’s recent form by SEN’s Andrew Voss and opened up on the club’s Premiership hopes.
“They’re in the poorest shape than they have been in the last four years going into the finals,” Voss said.
“When I say poorest, I’m not saying they’re poor but they’re in poorer shape than their high, lofty standards of the last four years.
“They’ve played in the last four Grand Finals in a row but this is the worst shape they’ve been going into finals.”
“I don’t think you’re wrong about that,” Alexander replied.
“I think it’s been evident over the last six weeks, even the wins that they’ve had, a miracle win against the Eels, a Nathan Cleary miracle against the Dolphins, they’ve lost two games and South Sydney are sitting (towards) the bottom of the table, it’s hard to get a gauge on how your team is going when you play Souths or a side down the bottom.
“If you’re talking about the Premiership bus, it was wobbly on Saturday night.”
Alexander admitted that whilst he isn’t ready to write off any teams yet, he did concede the Melbourne Storm are now the favourites to take it all out.
“I’m not going to write teams off yet but they (Melbourne) are favourites,” Alexander continued.
“But Penrith… their execution was off, there’s a few players that need to lift their form dramatically, you can’t win a comp off the back of someone going ok, you can’t even have one player in your team that’s just not playing his best, it just doesn’t happen.
“Nathan (Cleary) coming back in won’t rescue the side unless the rest of the team do their job.”
The Penrith Panthers open up the 2024 NRL Finals series against the Sydney Roosters at home on Friday night.
