Cast your mind back to Round 9 of the 2017 NRL season.

The Panthers have just lost in Brisbane, marking their fifth consecutive defeat. They are now 2-7 to start the season, despite many originally tipping them to take out the premiership.

Their only wins have come against the Wests Tigers and Newcastle Knights in rounds two and four.

It is crisis mode at the foot of the mountains, the coach is under intense scrutiny, and almost everybody has put a line through their name.

Next up is the New Zealand Warriors at home. If Penrith are any hopes of salvaging their fast-fading season, they have to win this game.

Sound familiar?

Fast forward to 2019, and the Panthers find themselves in a carbon copy situation, which does sound bleak.

That is, until you remember that the Panthers actually made the finals in 2017. In fact, they only just missed out on a Grand Final qualifier.

So how did they do it?

Well to start with, they defeated the Warriors in Round 10 at Panthers Stadium, just as they are this week. That 36-28 win was one of the greatest comebacks in rugby league history.

The 2017 Panthers proceeded to win 11 of their final 15 matches, ending up in seventh place on 30 competition points. They upset Manly in an elimination final, before they suffered a cruel 13-6 semi-final loss to Brisbane.

It goes to show that even after a 2-7 start, the Panthers still have scope to dig themselves out of this hole and make something out of this year.

Yes, a top four finish is beyond them. A premiership is too.

But for now, the top eight is still within reach, and that's all they need. The finals are a whole new competition, as we also saw in 2017 when the eighth-placed Cowboys marched into the grand final.

And it's not like the Panthers don't have the squad to pull it off.

James Maloney, Viliame Kikau, Nathan Cleary, Josh Mansour, Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, James Fisher-Harris, Waqa Blake, James Tamou.

As the saying goes, form is temporary but class is permanent. They are all playing awfully at the moment - and two of them are playing ressies this week - but among this lot are premiership winners, representative stars and wonder kids.

And the best part is, almost all of them were there when the Panthers did the job in 2017.

So, Panthers fans, there is still hope.

Perhaps history is about to repeat itself, with a victory over the Warriors this week setting in motion a string of wins and an unlikely finals berth, just as it did two years ago.

After all, the Panthers are the comeback kings, aren't they?

7 COMMENTS

  1. They the Chocolate Soldiers have got NO HOPE.——————-Put the line through them now.💩💩💩💩💩Last season they were winning lots of games in comeback mode but this team has not got the DNA to perform. This club is going through turmoil and Gould seen the writing on the wall. He was never going to be part of this sinking ship 💩 as it sails through the “S” bend. Ahahahahahahahahahaha🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣 Even Blacktown workers don’t want to be a part of Penrith Juniors🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

  3. At 99 I think I’ve grown up enough youngster. Look lets dissect what I wrote. 💪👴👍

    Fact 1. Blacktown Workers have turned their back on Penrith by becoming Manly’s reserve grade team.
    Fact 2. Penrith won many games last season after giving numerous teams big head starts.
    Fact 3. Phil Gould completed his job and saved Penrith financial buttocks and departed two weeks ago when the Choc Soldiers were still on four points and not showing any signs of knowing how to score points.

    Sorry Panthers18 but there will be no champagne flowing out in the sticks in 2019. Hence……
    Fact 4. Gould seen the writing on the wall. He was never going to be part of this sinking ship as it sails through the “S” bend. 💩💩💩🚽🚽🚽

  6. The contributor of this story is hoping that history repeats itself like in 2017. Not going to happen Penrith play a few hard games until round 17 when they might get the Gold Coast. BUT that is a BIG MIGHT.🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣 sorry Choc Soldiers save your money and don’t bother going to the footy now. Instead save up your cash for Penrith’s yearly new jersey that everybody has to buy because The Penrth Chocolate Soldiers change their jersey every single year with a tweak here and a tweak there and sometimes even change their complete colours.🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣 You’ll probably beat soufffffffffffffffs though.😁

  7. I’d just like to confirm my accurate prediction of the Chocky Soldiers has been certified by their efforts tonight. Congratulations WoodChook on saying it how it is.🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣🐈💩🚽🏚

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