It's the same every year. The team that wins more often than not has a better run of a multitude of things than those they beat. No one seems to bang on about it much though.
Tall poppy syndrome is the right of opposition fans. Just embrace that your team will not be liked.
Back in 2016 we had hardly any injuries and a nicely balanced squad. Yet we were copping crap about:
- peptides (geez didnt that do us a lot of good),
- getting a slap on the wrist from ASADA (even though they had an iffy case and were happy to settle),
- having a mercenary squad (even though they were a team of rejects)
- then Gus came up with the cracker "it's a soft comp" out of nowhere
Chooks have the nrl darlings and paper bags to deal with. Melbourne the same, but with cheating to boot.
If the worst Panthers get is having a soft draw, Cleary's tiktok time and being a bunch of smug unlikelable lads that over-react every time they score a try you are getting off lightly. Just own it.