It’s been a huge year for the Jersey Flegg Cup Penrith Panthers and according to pathways manager Lee Hopkins, they’re not finished yet.
Taking on the Sydney Roosters in the Preliminary Final at Leichhardt Oval this Saturday, the team led by head coach Jono Rolfe are “well prepared” for the do-or-die battle.
“The boys are good, they’re enjoying themselves, they’re having fun. Everything’s prepped and ready to go,” Hopkins said.
“We’re just making sure that we tick every box at the moment to be prepared and ready for what’s happening this weekend, but all the boys and coaching staff are feeling good.”
The Panthers ended the St George Illawarra Dragons’ season last Saturday with a 36-26 win at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, an effort that saw rising star Isaiah Iongi bag a first-half double, lighting up the field with his fancy footwork and creative playmaking.
Many of the players named in Rolfe’s side to play the minor premiers this weekend featured in the triumphant SG Ball Cup team, who defeated the Sydney Roosters 22-20 to claim the championship on April 30.
Hopkins says that while Sam Lane, Keagan Russell-Smith, Harrison Hassett, Ryley Smith, Billy Scott, John Sagaga, Liam Ison and Aston Warwick are familiar with winning junior competition titles, they understand that the battle for the Jersey Flegg Cup poses a whole new set of challenges.
“The SG Ball was the SG Ball competition, and the Jersey Flegg is the Jersey Flegg competition, they have their differences,” he said. “I think that learning to win is more important. If you learn to win that always makes a difference.
“People say winning is a habit, but so is losing. If you keep getting beat then you learn to lose, whereas if you keep winning, you have the opportunity to learn from your wins and build confidence.”
In the first week of the finals series, Peter Wallace named six Jersey Flegg Panthers in his NSW Cup team that defeated the much older and more experienced North Sydney Bears 22-14 in wet conditions at St Marys Leagues Stadium. While in the same weekend, Mavrik Geyer travelled to Townsville as the 18th man in the NRL.
Hopkins believes that having the opportunity to mingle and play with more senior players in the pathway is really beneficial for the younger athletes, but agrees that having a team-first, winning attitude is most valuable.
“I think that’s more the idea that any and every possible win you achieve is really important. The other important factor is how you learn from your wins as well,” he explained.
“While winning is an extremely important part of the process, it’s what you can learn from your wins and how you can step forward into the next game and continue that form moving forward.”
The Sydney Roosters will enter the Preliminary Final on Saturday with only one win from their past five matches, but Hopkins says that’s not something the team is thinking about in the lead up to the game.
“That won’t even really be discussed. They’ll go out there doing what they want to do and try and win and we’ll do the same, and, after 70 minutes on Saturday we’ll know who has done the best prep.
Hopkins says the Jersey Flegg players and coaching staff have felt the support of the club throughout the season, but especially this week, after the NRL and NSW Cup teams were awarded with a week of rest following earlier finals success.
The support from all the group has been brilliant, all the coaches are right behind everything that’s happening and the whole club has thrown everything at this which is important to us and it’s important to the players too. We’re showing them a bit of love which is even more important.
Lee Hopkins
“Any support you receive from any of them is really really crucial heading into a big game. All the NRL coaches were around watching the game on the weekend against the Dragons. The support has been there all year too, it hasn’t just arrived this week, that support has been there all year.”
With the Harold Matthews, SG Ball, Jersey Flegg, NSW Cup and NRL teams all playing in their respective finals series’ throughout the season, Hopkins reflects on the pathway in place, saying that while the support is advantageous, the system boosts the squads too.
“What we have in place at the moment works for us, it helps us prepare for everything that we possibly can for every team we have. From Harold Matthews right through to Tarsha Gale, SG Ball and NSW Cup it helps prepare everyone.
“The system is what protects you, and at the moment we’ve got a system that works for us.”
As the battle for a spot in the grand final approaches, Hopkins says Rolfe’s team is ready to go.
“They’re just doing what they normally do, going through the processes of what they would normally do, and then hopefully everything falls into place on Saturday.”
“The team is as confident as they need to be, you don’t get to this far in the season without showing some form of confidence. Jono’s more than confident, we’re all more than confident.”
Penrith Panthers will face the Sydney Roosters at 1pm on Saturday 17 September at Leichhardt Oval. The match will be streamed via NSWRL TV.
