MG II may depart Panthers
Mavrik Geyer coming through the ranks at Penrith and then playing first grade with the club was a beautiful story given the connection with his father Mark.
But I keep hearing Geyer is looking for other options next year as he looks to get more regular time in first grade.
The 24-year-old is off-contract at the end of the season and the Panthers have been in no rush to re-sign him.
Kiwis come calling
Penrith’s media team have been fielding calls left, right and centre from media organisations in New Zealand desperate for a slice of the Panthers this week. It’s unusual for local media to have so much interest in the visiting team, but there’s a lot of love for the Panthers across the ditch.
CommBank concerns
The Panthers are legitimately concerned they’ll be totally outnumbered by Bulldogs fans at next Thursday’s game between Penrith and Canterbury at CommBank Stadium. So much so the club will roll out some of their biggest stars for media opportunities next week in an effort to boost ticket sales.
Spotted
Nathan Cleary tearing up the training field in Perth ahead of State of Origin II on Wednesday night. It was great to see him reunited with his mate Jarome Luai at representative level.
Origin impossibility
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary has rightly given the NRL a clip over its scheduling of this Saturday’s match against the Warriors in New Zealand.
The league essentially made it impossible for Penrith’s Origin stars to back up given they’ve been in Perth for Origin II. Even if the likes of Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo jumped on a plane at 6am on Thursday (hardly an option given Origin didn’t finish until 10pm Wednesday), they’d be facing 14 hours of travel and would arrive just before Midnight in Auckland.
I’m not as convinced as others that fixing the Origin headache is easy, but scheduling clashes like this shouldn’t happen.
Auckland sell-out
The lack of Penrith’s Origin stars won’t impact the crowd at Go Media Stadium in Auckland on Saturday. The showdown between the Panthers and Warriors is sold out, with a capacity crowd to be in attendance.
Radio woes
Tough news for Panthers legend Greg Alexander this week with his radio show with Andrew Voss on SEN experiencing a ratings slump. SEN lost audience across the board, which is a huge surprise given the station only gets better in terms of its content.
The station does perform well in the podcasting world.
Meanwhile, there was some good news for 2GB on weekends with its Continuous Call Team now out-rating all of the rugby league stations.
COVID strikes
Bad news for Daily Telegraph journalist Phil ‘Buzz’ Rothfield who has been knocked for six by a bout of COVID-19. He even missed his regular slot on ‘NRL 360’ on Monday night. To make matters worse, Buzz’s podcasting colleague Andrew Webster also has COVID – making their ‘Off The Record’ podcast last week a difficult listen.
Doolan gets to work
Doolan Co has been awarded the plumbing and civil stormwater contract for Penrith Stadium, being built by John Holland. It’s a great win for a local company, founded by Jared Doolan who is a life-long Panthers fan.
Internal candidates line-up
I’m aware of at least three internal candidates who will submit formal applications to replace Brian Fletcher as Panthers Group CEO.
The Board is of course taking a slow and steady approach given Fletcher won’t depart until March next year.
There has been a feeling the club will go outside to find its next leader but there’s at least one of the internal candidates who will impress if he’s given a legitimate shot.
Got some goss?
If you’ve spotted a player out and about or you have some gossip, we want to hear about it! Email maskedpanther@westernweekender.com.au. I don’t keep secrets but I do protect my sources.
Masked Panther
The Masked Panther is the most mysterious journalist of all. He has the inside word on everything happening in rugby league.