The Panthers have had to change their preparations before flying to Las Vegas for the start of the NRL season.
Nathan Cleary and Dylan Edwards will likely head into the Penrith Panthers’ season opener in Las Vegas without a proper hit-out under their belts after the club cancelled a scheduled trial game against the Melbourne Storm’s feeder club North Sydney. The Panthers had planned on holding a scrimmage against the Bears before flying to Vegas for the first round of the NRL season on March 2.
Ivan Cleary’s side have two official trial games in the ‘pre-season challenge’, but not many of the regular first-graders played last weekend against Canberra. The Panthers are also slated to play Manly on February 21, but the NRL squad will already be in Vegas preparing for the season opener against Cronulla.
Nathan Cleary and Edwards both underwent shoulder surgery in the off-season, and are still touch-and-go to be fit for the Sharks clash in Vegas. The Panthers were reportedly keen for them to take part in the scrummage with North Sydney this weekend, but those plans have been ruined.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Panthers have cancelled the hit-out because the Storm plan to use a number of Bears players in their trial game against the Warriors in New Zealand on Saturday. The Bears have a number of players with NRL experience on their roster – including Morgan Harper, Tui Katoa and Nathaniel Roache.
Why the Panthers cancelled scrimmage against North Sydney
But they’ve all been called up to play for the Storm against the Warriors, leaving the Bears with a weakened side. Panthers coach Cleary told the SMH: “We wanted a decent quality team, and Norths were the best option. [But] we didn’t really get what we thought we were going to get.”
The Bears were reportedly happy to play anyway, but the Panthers weren’t interested. Cleary said the scrimmage would have been like “the grand final winner playing against a Ron Massey team (semi-professional)”.
Ivan said he wasn’t too concerned that son Nathan and fullback Edwards wouldn’t get to test their shoulders before the season opener, although he conceded he would have liked Liam Martin to have some minutes in his legs after he also had surgery over the break. Off-season recruit Blaize Talagi also had shoulder surgery after his move from Parramatta to Penrith, and will face the task of filling the shoes of departed five-eighth Jarome Luai.
Harry Grant plays down Melbourne Storm expectations
Meanwhile, Storm captain Harry Grant has played down suggestions his side are the front-runners to stop the Panthers winning a fifth-straight premiership. Penrith have lost Luai, James Fisher-Harris and Sunia Turuva from the team that won a fourth title in 2024, but the salary cap pressures haven’t slowed down their juggernaut to date.
In 2025 they won’t have the luxury of playing games at BlueBet Stadium, and instead will play home games at CommBank in Parramatta due to a refurbishment of their stadium in Penrith. The Storm would seemingly be the favourites to end the Panthers’ dynasty after finishing runners-up last year.
But Grant said on Monday: “I don’t think it’s fair to say that (we are favourites) because no footy has been played yet. We’re lucky we have ‘Bellsa’ (Craig Bellamy) and some of the coaching staff who have been through those losses and then flipped the coin to go on and win the following season. It’s important that we learn from those guys and put that into practice.”
