Panthers coach Ivan Cleary has urged supporters to make the hour trek to CommBank Stadium in Parramatta this season as the club kicks off its stint at their new home away from home this Friday night.
With the $309 million knockdown-rebuild happening at Penrith – albeit slowly – it’s forced the four-in-a-row Premiers to play on the road this season, with the swish Parramatta venue set to host eight official Panthers home games this season.
Instead of families travelling five to 10 minutes from their home to Penrith Park, they’ll now be hitting the busy freeways and unpredictable Sydney public transport system to get to matches.
Speaking on Wednesday, Cleary cheekily said Parramatta’s CommBank Stadium wasn’t necessarily Eels territory but a place where everyone in western Sydney is welcome.
“It’s western Sydney,” he affirmed.
“We love the fans turning up. We play for the fans. We play for our community. It’s going to be different but it’s a fantastic stadium too and we should celebrate that – it’s a really cool stadium!
“I’ve actually been there a couple of times when I’m not working, and you understand how good it is. We’d love our fans to come and celebrate and watch the boys and be part of what should be a great atmosphere.”
Speaking with the Weekender, Cleary said his players are also looking forward to making themselves at home at the venue, which will have upgraded facilities that they weren’t privileged to at the former Penrith Stadium.
“I think so… it is what is is… we can’t live in the past,” he said.
“We’re just excited to play footy. Most of our team didn’t play a trial game, so we’ve only had the one game and then we’ve been off another week. They’re all just itching to get back out there.”
Unlike in previous years under coach Cleary, Penrith will no longer have a Captain’s Run training session at their home ground, with CommBank Stadium only to be used on game days by teams. Instead, the Panthers will conduct Captain’s Run at their Academy in Penrith.
All eyes will be on the Panthers this Friday night as they look to capitalise on their season opening victory in Las Vegas against the Cronulla Sharks.
As per the CBA, the Panthers were permitted four days off after landing back in Sydney last Tuesday before resuming training last weekend.
Cleary said due to the favourable time difference between Sydney and Vegas, he doesn’t expect his players to feel any type of post trip hangover.
“It feels better than last year when we came back from Manchester, but time will tell,” he said.
“The Manchester time difference is kind of opposite to ours whereas Vegas is only five hours. I feel like that’s made a difference.”
Cleary said he learned a lot from last year’s trip to the UK and is confident his players will be ready.
“We were a bit flat last year when we came back, hopefully that’s not the case this year,” he said.
“We had extra time off to try and work it all out and we had a plan and have gone through with it. I’m pretty happy with how it’s going but we’ll find out a little bit more on Friday.”
Boosting Penrith’s chances of victory is the inclusion of the Energizer Bunny Brian To’o, who missed the clash against the Sharks due to a hamstring injury.
Cleary confirmed the father of one will return against the Roosters on Friday as will Casey McLean (head knock), while Liam Henry (shoulder) is considered a 50-50 chance.
“It’s great to have Bizza back. He’s an incredible player for us for many years now and a huge piece in our puzzle,” he said.
“Liam Henry is close. He has to tick a few boxes, and we have to decide whether he’s ready or not but he’s very close. As you can imagine, he’s itching, he’s banging down the door.”
Nathan Taylor
Nathan Taylor is the Weekender's Deputy Editor and Senior Sports Writer. He also compiles the weekly Chatter on the Box TV column. Nathan is an award-winning journalist, who has worked at the Weekender for a decade.