Proof the incredible Panthers dynasty is not over yet
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The Penrith Panthers may have missed a spot in the grand final for a second consecutive year, but the dynasty built at the foot of the mountains is not over yet.
Ivan Cleary’s men entered what became their final game of the season bruised and wounded, with a number of key stars pushing through significant injuries.
Penrith is not short of talent around the park. Getty Images
Isaah Yeo (pectoral rupture) and Dylan Edwards (PCL) were dealt the tough task of lifting the team’s spirits in the preliminary final in the absence of Nathan Cleary, who had been taken off via a medicab due to a gruesome ankle injury.
The next man up mentality has always been prominent within the Panthers squad, with countless young talents coming through in the wake of high-profile departures.
Blaize Talagi, 21, stepped into the shoes left by the PNG-bound Jarome Luai last season. Jack Cole, 23, tried his hand at the role, too. Casey McLean, 20, earned his spot following the departure of Stephen Crichton in 2024.
A number of key stars will depart the club over the off-season, including Liam Henry, Cole and Scott Sorensen. At the end of 2027, Penrith will farewell Brian To’o.
With the departures lounge not jam packed, Penrith will still likely to look to their pathways system as they once did for the likes of McLean and Cole.
And there is no shortage of emerging stars within that system, especially when you consider Penrith made the finals in every junior representative division.
The NSW Cup team produced a stellar 36-6 statement win over the Newton Jets in the grand final on Saturday, where the likes of Izack Tago and Kurt Falls played.
Prior to that match, Penrith’s Jersey Flegg team, captained by Judah Galuvao, the son of Kiwi international Joe Galuvao, crushed the Bulldogs 62-16.
Penrith’s SG Ball and Harold Matthews squads fell short of making Saturday’s grand final, falling to the Newcastle Knights and Sydney Roosters respectively.
In the women’s league, Penrith’s Lisa Fiaola side fell to a 32-6 defeat in the first week of the finals against the Tigers. The Tarsha Gale team advanced to week two but were knocked out by the Roosters’ Indigenous Academy.
Phil Gould, the general manager of football for the Bulldogs, was left in awe of the results Penrith’s junior teams pulled off, even if one win was against his own men.
Penrith’s Jersey Flegg team celebrates their grand final victory. Instagram/@penrithpanthers
“The Panthers are quite the rugby league machine,” he wrote on X.
“They are in a world of their own. [The Bulldogs’ Jersey Flegg team] ran into a better team today.”
Several teams across the competition have benefited from Penrith’s pathways system, with Jett Cleary and Luke Hanson the latest talents to debut in the NRL.
Cleary and Hanson were named to start in the halves for the Warriors in round 26, helping guide the team to a 46-32 win over Newcastle in Auckland.
Both young playmakers will depart the New Zealand-based club in the off-season, with Cleary returning home to Penrith to link up with his four-time premiership-winning father and brother, Ivan and Nathan.
Hanson, 22, inked a two-year deal to join the Gold Coast Titans ranks.
French rugby has also poached from Penrith’s system, securing the talent of 18-year-old Heinz Lemoto, who was considered one of the next big Panthers stars.
His brother Hokafonu, a powering prop, is still at Penrith in the Jersey Flegg team.
With rival clubs and codes keeping an eye on the pathway system, coach Cleary will be working with incoming coach Peter Wallace to lock some talent down.
But even if some slip out of the ranks, it is clear that there is no need to worry that Penrith’s remarkable dynasty could be coming to an end.
