How I never new this forum existed is absolutely beyond me, considering I live on my phone and check the DT, SMH, WWOS, Sporting News and Zero Tackle websites about 30 times a day just hoping for a little bit more news on the Pennies. So glad I found it and boy, what a time to find it.
I’ve spent literally the last 24 hours reading all your posts and have a got a feel for who likes to pick fights, argue for no apparent reason and others who just talk bollocks. But it’s all good.
for what it’s worth, the first game of footy I can ever remember watching was the 91 GF. We’d finished Pony Camp in Moree (I didn’t ride but used to like a few of the girls that did!! So would help mum out who was on the committee blah blah).
From that day, I’ve been hook line and sinker a Panthers man. My mum bought me a panthers supporters ball signed by the entire 91 GF side soon after. She never had the heart to tell me I couldn’t play footy with it but it was never out of my hands.
I remember being about 7 watching the news (I was always fascinated with the news from a young age, dull!) and it was the morning they announced Ben Alexander had died. This was my first experience of someone dying and even though I didn’t know him, I was so sad.
the lean years came and then we had a bit of a revival in SL 97, no coincidence with Brandy returning and Girds/Gowie carving it up and TP debuting that year too (I think)
A couple more steady years and then 03 came, I was 18 and couldn’t make it down to Sydney for the GF. I was destroyed. Missing the GF was not something I could comprehend and swore I would never miss another as long as there was air in my lungs.
Roll on 2020 - I now live in England and have done for the best part of 16 years on/off, have 5 kids (2 biological and 3 foster daughters) and my son watches every game with me on Watch NRL if not on sky sports no matter how early (although we haven’t copped too many 6am starts this year)
The ONE year in all that time that I cannot leave the country or get back into Australia let alone get a ticket, would be the year we ARE going to go win the comp and we are going to win it.
I f*cking shake (with excitement) watching us play the style of football we play. Parra was a blip, Newcastle we should have destroyed but at no stage have I felt we cannot win this.
I may be the only one but this feeling started for me last game last season when “Jimmy wins” took a step back and let Nathan steer the ship.
What makes it even more exciting, is that I don’t think we’ve even played the best footy we can play. We have another gear, maybe 2 and I don’t say this out of pure bias for our panthers. D*ckheads in the media might downplay our favouritism (until it suits them to get on the bandwagon) but the other teams must be privately sh*tting themselves to cop us on the way through the finals.
what we have here is something so special that I cannot see disappearing anytime soon, the future is so bright for our club. Love or hate them, Gus & Hook set this thing in motion and we must all be grateful for that.
I’d love to see Burto stay and develop and not go the same way Wade Graham did for someone else. I’d love to see Charlie Staines’ raw speed every week as Sauce eases out (still think if we win, Sauce will make way early and head over this way for a good pay day) but if they go, they go, others will come and we’ve shown we can develop from within and blood talent at the right times.
If you haven’t fallen asleep yet, please just enjoy the ride, be nice to each other as we’re all in this together and we have so much to look forward to in the next few weeks!!
go you pennies!!!! If any other members on here are UK based, particularly in Norfolk, then be good to watch the next few games with a fellow die hard.