PENRITH, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 03: James Fisher-Harris (C) still pictured in his playing kit during a fan day at at BlueBet Stadium after winning last night's NRL Grand Final at BlueBet Stadium on October 03, 2022, in Penrith, Australia. (Photo by Jenny Evans/Getty Images)
Sorrowful news: the panthers team received the death of the penrith owner early today
Penrith has defeated their opponents on the field to win back-to-back titles, but their own conceit could bring them to an internal collapse.
After demolishing their longtime rivals Parramatta 28–12, the Panthers overreached themselves with some of their post-game celebrations at BlueBet Stadium. There’s a difference between having the swagger of a champion team and being petty.
They had obviously been celebrating their win with a few drinks, if not more. After a demanding season that saw them become just the third team in the last thirty years to successfully defend their title, they deserved the freedom to celebrate.
Kiwi prop James Fisher-Harris’s jab, “Parra are our sons,” was a direct play on the audience. It started a chant of “we hate Parra” and sent the Panthers fans into raptures.
Fisher-Harris taunted their defeated grand final opponents once more in the run-up to the game when Jarome Luai boldly declared the Eels “can call them daddy” after Penrith had been perceived as Parramatta’s little brother. That’s the truth; he informed the roughly 3,000 supporters in attendance.
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Watch the JFH speech video in the player at the top of this article.
“Daddy’s home,” Luai exclaimed to the throng, infusing them with even more fervor.
JFH’s audacious remark brought back memories of Allan Langer, the Broncos captain, asking supporters to yell, “St George can’t play,” during celebrations following a victory in 1993.
There are lots of rivalries. When these teams play each other next year, Parramatta and Penrith will be facing off in a match that will excite both young and old.
But to rub it in their noses in that way, JFH and Luai were being churlish.
Fisher-Harris claimed the current Penrith team was the best in club history on Tuesday, posing as a pseudo-apology to Parra and the other Penrith teams he disregarded. “I just want to maintain the rivalry between the players and the area, which is fine with me! And I have the utmost respect for the players who came before me or us. Thus, don’t misunderstand.
Thank goodness he said those controversial things, or the Penrith-Parramatta rivalry might have ended.
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When Api Koroisau said, “To go out on a high like that, it’s pretty incredible, and I’ll probably do the same thing at the Tigers,” on the fan day microphone, he laughed like a schoolboy.
The Wests Tigers have paid a hefty sum of money to sign the Fijian international for the next three seasons, not that he was thinking about them or anything at all.
