Senior Panthers players cannot recall playing such a complete brand of football so early in an NRL season.
Now their only wish is that their fans make the trek down the M4 Motorway to their temporary home in Parramatta to see it.
The Panthers have obliterated premiers Brisbane, Cronulla and the Sydney Roosters in the opening three rounds, conceding just two tries.
Yet club officials were expecting a crowd of just 15,000 at CommBank Stadium for Saturday eveningโs western Sydney derby against Parramatta. That figure was revised to 18,000 late on Tuesday once Parramattaโs team list was announced.
The four-time NRL premiers have been forced to relocate while their Penrith base undergoes a $309 million re-development.
Former Panthers Group CEO Brian Fletcher said at the start of 2025 about the impending move: โIf we come out of the blocks well and win games early, hopefully we get more people to come along to the ground.โ
Last season, the Panthers won two of their opening eight games, and averaged just 14,564 fans at CommBank. It was a huge drop from the near-20,000 they averaged the year before inside the old Penrith Park, which had a capacity of just over 21,000.
Not helping the Panthers this year is their own scintillating form, which has left opposition fans reluctant to fork out money to watch their own team blown off the park. Early ticket sales indicated there is zero appetite from Parramatta fans and members to attend this weekend.
Panthers co-captain Isaah Yeo, who acknowledged the uninterrupted pre-season had been a big reason for the clubโs fast start, said it was not easy for fans to complete the 70km round trip.
โIt took us some time to find our feet last year, but once we started progressing throughout the season, the fans jumped on board,โ Yeo said. โYouโd love to see that happen at the start this year rather than midway through it.
โEvery player wants to play in front of a packed house. The loudest game Iโve been a part of was at CommBank when Australia played against Tonga [in 2024].
โThe stadium is our home for another 12 months. We need to bite the bullet, and know weโll be back in Penrith in the next 12 months.โ
Back-rower Liam Martin added: โWhat we always experienced at Penrith Park was hard to put into words. We fed off that passion, and while I know getting fans to travel to CommBank is a big ask โ especially for families with some of the timeslots โ it means a lot.
โPlaying inside bigger stadiums when theyโre empty can sometimes make it feel like a library. You have to rely on your teammates for that energy. Iโd love to see a decent crowd this weekend.โ
Martin suffered a grade-two calf tear a fortnight before Penrithโs first trial, and after feared he might struggle to win back his starting spot on the right edge despite being one of the first back-rowers picked for NSW and Australia.
โI was a little bit nervous and probably felt a bit of pressure coming back into the side because the boys had played so well,โ said Martin, who became a first-time father to a boy, Joey, late last year.
โI was like, โWhat if I lose my spot?โ and, โI hope I donโt disrupt the rhythm of the teamโ. The first ten minutes against the Roosters was a bit of a shock to the body, but then I went after it.โ
Yeo said this was the best opening three weeks he had been involved in, โespecially defensively, in terms of the tries weโve let inโ.
โThe start of the year is always hard because teams are finding their feet, thereโs no real form guide, and you can only trust your pre-season and the reps youโve done,โ Yeo said.
โBut as [coach] Ivan Cleary always says, โYou never remember the start of the season, you only remember the end of itโ. Itโs still nice to put ourselves in a better position than what we were last year.โ
