Winning for fun: Inside Penrith's remarkable three-year run

As the Panthers head into September on the back of another dominant home-and-away season, comparisons are rightly being made between Ivan Cleary’s men and the ‘winningest’ sides in history.

Since the start of 2020, the Panthers have played 74 matches: belting out the team song after 64 of those while losing nine and drawing one against the Knights in the first match back after the COVID-enforced lay-off two years ago.

The pay-off for their sustained excellence has been two minor premierships, in 2020 and 2022, and, if all goes to plan over the next month, two Premierships.

The Panthers’ incredible streak started with wins over the Roosters and Dragons in the first two rounds of 2020 before the NRL went into its 66-day hiatus.

After blowing out the cobwebs in that tight battle with Newcastle at an empty Campbelltown Stadium, the Panthers beat the Warriors and lost to the Eels before peeling off 17 wins in a row to march into the club’s first grand final in 17 years.

A 26-20 loss to a battle-hardened Storm outfit in the decider lit the fire for 2021, a season that began with 12 straight wins before the Origin-depleted Panthers went down 26-6 to Wests Tigers and 19-18 to the Sharks in consecutive weeks.

By the end of 2021 the Panthers and Storm had both amassed a 21-3 record, the men from Melbourne taking the JJ Giltinan Shield on points differential.

After losing the qualifying final to Souths, the Panthers took care of business against the Eels (8-6) and Storm (10-6) before taking revenge on the Bunnies in an epic decider at Suncorp Stadium.

Superstar halfback Nathan Cleary collected the Clive Churchill Medal to cap a magnificent season that saw him lead the Blues to Origin glory and finish runner-up to Tom Trbojevic in the Dally M count.

As good as Cleary has been during Penrith’s golden run, it’s worth noting that he has missed 19 games due to injury, suspension and rep duty, proving the defending champs are anything but a one-man band.

With Cleary still recovering from off-season shoulder surgery, Jarome Luai and Sean O’Sullivan steered Penrith to a 3-0 start this season, before the star halfback returned in Round 4 and the Panthers won eight of their next nine.

Their only defeat in that stretch came against arch-rivals Parramatta in Round 9, and when Brad Arthur’s men repeated the dose in Round 20 at CommBank Stadium it gave them the rare privilege of having beaten Penrith three times in the past three years.

The Storm can also lay claim to three wins over the Panthers in that time, including that 2020 Grand Final when Ryan Papenhuyzen stole the show to send captain Cameron Smith into retirement on a winning note.

That victory put an exclamation mark on another of the modern era’s most dominant runs; the Storm winning 62 of their 76 games between 2019-21 at a success rate of 81 per cent.

For all their dominance across those three seasons the Storm had just one title to show for it, much like the Sea Eagles of the mid-90s, who played in three successive deciders for one victory in 1996.

With rugby league Immortal Bob Fulton at the helm, Manly launched their 1995 season with a club record 15 wins on the bounce, going on to claim the minor premiership with a 20-2 record before suffering a shock 17-4 loss to the Bulldogs in the grand final.

Another minor premiership came Manly’s way in 1996 and they parlayed that into the club’s sixth premiership, outclassing the Dragons 20-8 in the big one at the SFS.

Come 1997 and Bozo’s boys compiled 15 wins, five losses and two draws to finish top of the heap for a third straight season, something the Panthers and Storm were unable to achieve in recent years.

Across those three seasons the Sea Eagles lost only 13 games, but the fact two of those defeats came on the game’s biggest stage must surely still haunt the likes of Mark Carroll, Steve Menzies and Geoff Toovey.

When it comes to converting minor premierships into premierships, no one did it better than the all-conquering St George outfit of the 1950s and 60s.

Between 1956-66 they finished on top a staggering 10 times at the end of the home-and-away season, going on to claim the title in all 10 of those seasons.

The only time they were rolled for the minor premiership during their golden era was 1961, finishing equal on 30 points with Western Suburbs, who took top spot courtesy of their +209 differential compared to the Dragons’ +200.

With future Immortals Reg Gasnier, John Raper and Norm Provan leading the charge the Red V went on to beat Wests in the major semi and the decider to secure their sixth straight title.

The Dragons’ best stretch came between 1957-59 when they put together 54 wins, six losses and a draw at a success rate of 88 per cent.

By way of comparison, Penrith are currently going at 86 per cent across the past three seasons but when all is said and done, only another premiership will truly satisfy the firm of Cleary, Cleary and Co and establish the Panthers as one of the greatest rugby league juggernauts of all time.

The NRL Telstra Premiership Grand Final returns to Sydney. Will you be there to witness real glory? Tickets are on sale now, visit nrl.com/tickets.