Why it's creator against creation when a reborn Penrith play Canterbury

Australia Broadcast Center

9 hours ago

Right now, Penrith is the picture of success in rugby league, and no team has tried to replicate that image as precisely as Canterbury.
It's not just because, between Stephen Crichton, Viliame Kikau, Matt Burton, coach Cameron Ciraldo, and general manager Phil Gould, the Bulldogs have enough Panthers alumni that their clash on Thursday night could double as a reunion.
It's not just the success either, as impressive as it has been thus far. Canterbury are top of the ladder and have been for months — they've lost just two games all year, one that came without their State of Origin contingent.
The personnel the Bulldogs have in key positions makes them look like the Panthers, and so far this season, they are winning like the Panthers, but what stands out the most is how they're playing like the Panthers.
It's not a direct comparison — the Bulldogs aren't asking Toby Sexton to be Nathan Cleary, and Connor Tracey isn't acting like Dylan Edwards. They have men who play to their own strengths.
Their forwards are built more for endurance than Penrith's blunt force artistry, and with the arrival of Lachlan Galvin, they could well have an attacking retooling on the fly.
But while the style might be different, the substance feels the same. Penrith themselves can see it.
"(I'm impressed by) their line speed, their ability to stay in the fight and be fitter than teams, out-compete teams, getting results off the back of that and running away with it at the end because the other team is wilting a bit because of the pressure they're putting on," Penrith skipper Isaah Yeo said.
"They do that really well, they play that field position and possession-style game, they've got the players that can do that really well.
"They're really fit, they need to be a fit group, and it shows."
In those words, Yeo could be describing his own side at many points over their four-year dynasty, when faith in the system, an ability to outlast the opposition, and a fanatical devotion to defence helped Penrith build the greatest run of success modern rugby league has ever known.
That's been in shorter supply this year for the Panthers as the ravages of time finally seemed to catch up to them, but the past three weeks have been a return to form.
The win over the Warriors last Saturday was particularly imposing in its familiarity, a return to form that was so like some of their toughest wins that it should send a shiver down the spine of everyone who thought this dynasty was a lion in winter.
Through the premiership years, winning without their Origin players was a point of pride for the Panthers — doing it on the road against a top-four side makes it feel like a turning point, a confirmation that the five-match losing streak and brief time in last place were just aberrations. Squint your eyes, and it could have been 2022 all over again.
The machine could yet roll on. But for that to keep being true, they need to beat Canterbury. Given how slow their start was, they need to beat everyone if they are to bolt from the quicksand enveloping the competition outside the top four.
"They're [Canterbury] the benchmark of the whole competition at the moment. You look forward to these sorts of challenges, we're in and around that mix where every win is important," Yeo said.
"The wins haven't been perfect. But they've been a lot more gritty and a lot more resilient than what we've shown through the season.
"We're lucky that everyone except for the top four has been inconsistent. Off the back of that, everyone has been beating everyone. We're really in that logjam.
"I like how, with our backs against the wall, we've been able to show some fight and some grittiness. We'll need it this week."
On the other side of the ledger, a Canterbury win could mark graduation day for the Bulldogs. This is just the second time they've played the Panthers with all three of their big-name Penrith premiership winners in tow and the first since last season's breakthrough finals appearance.
They do not enter this game as junior partners or as the upstarts looking to make a name for themselves. They are favourites to win this game and second-favourites to win the premiership.
If this is to be their time, the old world cannot survive in the new one. Penrith has not been invincible over the past four seasons, and especially this year.
They can be beaten, and they have been, but they have never been outfought, not when it mattered. It matters here because their margin for error is too slim for it not to be.
Like last year's grand final, this is creator against creation, past against future, with the spoils of the present on the line. And while the greater battles might be to come, the first one sets the tone.
The Panthers know what it's like to win these games, and the Bulldogs want to know. For Canterbury to complete their transformation into something that so resembles Penrith, they must take down their inspiration.
To be like the Panthers, they have to beat them, and while Penrith have handled so many challenges during their time at the top, they have never faced one that looks so like themselves.