State Championship 2014

[1910]

Intrust Super Cup premiers Northern Pride have made one change to their 17 for Sunday’s NRL State Championship match against NSW Cup holders Penrith Panthers in Sydney.
Pride back-rower Joel Riethmuller will miss the inaugural match after accepting an early plea to a Grade 1 Detrimental Conduct charge.
With Riethmuller to serve a one match suspension, promising forward Jack Svendsen will start from the interchange bench.
Pride coach Jason Demetriou has also named Tom Hancock and Patrick Kaufusi on an extended bench.
The Pride are coming off an impressive 36-4 grand final victory over Easts Tigers at Suncorp Stadium.
Penrith Panthers were just as ruthless in their decider, crushing the Newcastle Knights 48-12 to clinch the NSW Cup.
PENRITH PANTHERS v NORTHERN PRIDE
ANZ Stadium, Sunday, October 5
Kick-off: 3.55pm (AEDT)
Referee: Adam Cassidy
Broadcast: LIVE on Channel 9
Broadcast: Radio coverage courtesy of ABC (Link available via ABC Grandstand)
Broadcast: Radio coverage courtesy of 2GB (Link available via 2GB.com)

NORTHERN PRIDE:
1. Hezron Murgha
2. Javid Bowen
3. Brett Anderson ©
4. Kyle Feldt
5. Semi Tadulala
6. Shaun Nona
7. Sam Obst
8. Ricky Thorby
9. Jason Roos ©
10. Ethan Lowe
11. Blake Leary
12. Tyrone McCarthy
13. Ben Spina
Interchange
14. Ryan Ghietti
15. Sheldon Powe-Hobbs
16. Davin Crampton
17. Jack Svendsen
18. Tom Hancock
21. Patrick Kaufusi
Coach: Jason Demetriou
PENRITH PANTHERS:
1. Kieran Moss
2. Eto Nabuli
3. Waqa Blake
4. Kevin Naiqama
5. Wes Naiqama
6. Luke Capewell
7. Tom Humble
8. Sam Anderson
9. Kevin Kingston
10. Reagan Campbell-Gillard
11. Ben Murdoch-Masila
12. Nathan Smith
13. Ryan Simpkins
Interchange
14. Vaipuna Tia Kilifi
15. Kierran Moseley
16. Leilani Latu
17. Andy Saunders
Coach: Garth Brennan

 

[Alec]

Panthers have far more NRL experience. They should win.

 

[1910]

Talk to folk up north and they reckon it was the New South Wales Rugby League running scared.

In the days when the NSWRL and Brisbane Rugby League competitions operated independently of each other and players only ever crossed paths at State of Origin time, the general consensus was always that Sydney was the premier – and stronger – competition.

But this was different.

In 1984 the team assembled by Wynnum Manly has come to be considered one of the greatest Brisbane club sides to ever take the field, and they wanted to prove they were better than the best Sydney could muster.

On Sunday the Northern Pride will represent Queensland's Intrust Super Cup against the VB NSW Cup champions from Penrith in the first NRL State Championship Final but 30 years ago two of the greatest club sides Australia has ever seen had agreed to duke it out before the hierarchy down south stepped in.

The Wynnum Manly team that defeated a Southern Suburbs side coached by Wayne Bennett and boasting names such as Belcher, Meninga, Jackson, Lindner in the 1984 BRL Grand Final was laden with state and national representatives.

Wally Lewis – at the absolute height of his powers – captained a Kangaroos team that year that also included Seagulls teammates Gene Miles and Greg Dowling and which contained BRL stars Mal Meninga, Mark Murray, Bryan Niebling and Greg Conescu as the player power base subtly shifted to Queensland.

Australia won that Ashes Series against Great Britain 3-0 and Queensland won the Origin Series 2-1 with only a handful of Sydney-based players in the Maroons squad so when Wynnum won the 1984 BRL Grand Final in a record 42-8 scoreline the locals began to wonder: Could this team beat the champion Sydney team from Canterbury-Bankstown?

"Not too many people gave us any chance of beating the Sydney premiers in any competition but that one, that was something different," remembers Wally Lewis. "That was a team that was as good as any club team that I ever played in in Brisbane that's for sure.

"The suggestion was that we'd never beat the teams from NSW but it was always a burning question for a lot of people and I was one of those blokes. While we used to respect the consistency and the level displayed in Sydney there was always that wonder in the back of your mind: Could we do it? Would we do it?

"The fuse had been lit at State of Origin level and we probably expected that if we were given a chance perhaps we could beat them. I can honestly say that in the back of my mind I used to think, I reckon we would be a chance of beating them."

The concept of a state playoff was believed to have been hatched by a Brisbane journalist about a month prior to the Brisbane grand final and soon gathered momentum, Wynnum's sponsor of the time, Peter McKenna from Century Air Conditioning, backing the proposal wherever it was played.

Such was the interest in who would come out on top that when it became clear that the game would not go ahead, officials in Queensland staged a computerised match-up of the two teams, complete with a call by legendary caller John McCoy.

"It was at the height of the Brisbane Rugby League competition and everyone was so interested in how they would have gone. I remember people sitting around the radio listening to this pretend game that Wynnum Manly won 32-28," recalls Wynnum Manly historian Paul Comber.

"We believed that our team was just as strong if not stronger than Canterbury. We knew what was going on down there whereas they knew bugger all about what was happening in Brisbane."

"We didn't care whether we played it in Brisbane or in Sydney. Naturally we backed ourselves but we wanted to see how good we were," Greg Dowling tells NRL.com.

"That Canterbury side was a beauty, it was. It was chock full of international and representative players and a tough forward pack.

"In our team there was Wally, myself, Gary Coyne, Gene Miles, Colin Scott, Terry Butler, Ian French, Brett French who all played State of Origin out of the side and throw in Warren Green who played for Queensland Residents... We had Brian Walsh, Terry Saunders and throw in a couple of other guys like Tony Kajewski and Mark Zillman, it was a bloody good side.

"They were keen, we were keen and it's a pity it never went ahead because when you look back on it now, our team was one of the best attacking teams Queensland had seen for a long time and you had the defensive side of the Bulldogs coached by Warren Ryan so it would have been a good clash.

"It's a pity they never let it happen, we had sponsors and everything ready to go. People were climbing on board for it but the NSWRL, they knocked it on the head, they didn't want it."

But if the suggestion is that the NSWRL were the roadblock, Canterbury prop Peter Tunks said the Bulldogs players and officials were just as keen to make the game happen as their northern rivals.

"There was talk in the media about it and we were keen to play it because they obviously had a pretty good side with Wally, Gene Miles, Greg Dowling but we loved playing anybody back in those days," Tunks said.

"We knew that it was a decent comp in Brisbane but we obviously didn't think it was as strong as the Sydney comp because this was the be-all and end-all.

"At Canterbury, we really loved a challenge and we would have loved the opportunity of going up against a team full of great players like they had. It's like anything, to be the best you have to beat the best and that was our attitude but unfortunately it didn't come off. I don't know where we were supposed to play but it would have been good fun."

 

[1910]

By Matt Harris (Queensland Correspondent) and Matt Encarnacion (Western Sydney Correspondent)

Wed, Oct 01, 2014 - 03:30PM

Penrith Panthers reserves v Northern Pride
ANZ Stadium
Sunday October 5, 3.55pm (AEDT)
When NRL Grand Final Day consists of two Sydney-based teams squaring off against each other, interest levels north of the border have a tendency to wane slightly.
Due to the Melbourne Storm's mortgage over a grand final spot in recent years, Sunday's NRL decider marks only the second time in 10 years the NRL decider will feature two clubs from Sydney.
On these particular occasions passionate Queenslanders are more likely to support the side containing their favourite player or whichever team has more banana benders on board.
However, thanks to the inaugural NRL State Championship Grand Final between the Northern Pride and the Penrith Panthers, Queensland fans have the perfect excuse to crack open a XXXX (not that one is needed) and sit down to watch some enthralling rugby league featuring the top team from the Intrust Super Cup taking on their equivalent from the NSW Cup.
Finishing the 2014 season as minor premiers, the Cairns-based club outclassed Easts Tigers in the ISC decider, running away with a 36-4 victory at Suncorp Stadium last Sunday. It was a fitting end for the Pride who had dominated the competition throughout the season, losing only four games to finish six points clear at the top of the table.
The Pride's stellar season saw five of their of number, including coach Jason Demetriou, named in the Queensland Residents side with two of those – five-eighth Shaun Nona (Storm) and back-rower Blake Leary (Sea Eagles) – earning NRL contracts as a result of their outstanding form.
Penrith were equally impressive throughout the 2014 VB NSW Cup, matching the Pride's record of 20 wins and four losses and finishing 10 points clear of fellow grand finalists Newcastle.
The Panthers crushed the Knights 48-12 in the Allianz Stadium decider last Sunday with fullback Kieran Moss bagging a hat-trick and claiming Man of the Match honours.
It's been an exciting season for the whole club as their senior side fell just one game short of making the NRL grand final. Although a fairytale showdown with the Rabbitohs wasn't to be, diehard and closet Panthers fans can now jump back aboard their bandwagon as it rolls down the M4 towards ANZ Stadium for Sunday's blockbuster.
In team changes, Demetriou has made one change from the Pride's grand final side with Joel Riethmuller suspended for one week after accepting an early guilty plea to a grade-one detrimental conduct charge. Jack Svendsen will come back into the 17 with Tom Hancock and Patrick Kaufusi named on an extended bench.
The Panthers have made a number of changes with Kevin Naiqama coming into the centres, pushing older brother Wes out to the wing in place of Tom Eisenhuth. Prop Sam Anderson comes into the starting side for Leilani Latu who drops to the bench, while back-rower Ben Murdoch-Masila comes in for Issah Yeo with coach Garth Brennan adding Andy Saunders into the 17.
Official Grand Final Day Team Lists
Watch out Panthers: The Pride ooze quality and experience all over the park but their main strength lies with their speedy and powerful outside backs. Javid Bowen, Kyle Feldt, Brett Anderson and veteran Fijian Semi Tadulala make up the Pride's three-quarter line with Demetriou able to inject the dangerous Davin Crampton into the game at any given moment.
The Panthers may have a whole deck of NRL stars to choose from but Crampton is the Pride's ace in the hole. The versatile 25-year-old can cover a number of positions and is the club's leading try-scorer in 2014 with 17 tries, including one in the Pride's grand final win over Easts Tigers.
Normally a regular at right centre, Crampton came off the bench in the ISC decider with Kyle Feldt the preferred starter. However it didn't take long for the Normanton junior to make an instant impact when brought onto the field, bagging the Pride's third try while playing at lock where he has done so in a handful of games this season.
Watch Out Pride: The Panthers are blessed with an embarrassment of weapons right across the park but in recent weeks it's been the damaging play of undersized second-rower Vaipuna Tia Kilifi that has been integral to their recent wins. The NSW Cup champions have been slow starters in their past two games, but the headgear-wearing dynamo has provided instant impact off the bench with his fringe-running and offloads. Should Penrith fail to fire early, then the timely insertion of Tia Kilifi would give them the impetus they'll need.
Plays to watch: Not only do the Panthers need to be wary of Crampton coming off the bench, they also need to keep a watchful eye on the Pride when they attack down their potent left edge. The Pride love running the ball down the left to utilise back-rower Blake Leary, co-captain Brett Anderson and winger Javid Bowen. The trio have 32 tries between them this season and are sure to give the Panthers' right edge defence a headache while the Pride are on the attack.
For the Panthers, early ball to powerful centre Waqa Blake is key. The Israel Folau clone has as much speed as he does strength, making him an instant threat each time they head to their right edge. His combination with the team's leading try-scorer Eto Nabuli has been a reliable path to the tryline all season. If it's not in the right corridor, then the cunning dummy-half play of hooking duo Kevin Kingston and Kierran Moseley, as well as the excellent support play of fullback Kieran Moss, that has been another source of points all year.
Key Match-up: Luke Capewell v Shaun Nona
There are a number of intriguing battles due to take place on Sunday but one of the more interesting match-ups feature two players at very contrasting stages of their careers.
Despite both players only being born one year apart and hailing from country Queensland, the current career progression of Penrith five-eighth Luke Capewell and Pride counterpart Shaun Nona are poles apart.
On top of the pile you have 24-year-old Nona, who has signed with the Storm for the 2015 season and was awarded the Duncan Hall Medal for his Man of the Match performance in the ISC grand final.
At the opposite end of the spectrum lies Capewell, who has been solid but not spectacular for the Panthers' reserves this season. The 25-year-old has 40 NRL games under his belt spread between three clubs after debuting for Souths in 2008. The Charleville product is off contract and facing an uncertain future after failing to crack into Penrith's senior side during the season.
Both Nona and Capewell have plenty to prove on Sunday, although it's the Penrith pivot that has more on the line as he looks attract interest from other NRL clubs.
Where It Will Be Won: Penrith come in having won 22 of their past 24, while the Pride have won 15 of their past 17, ensuring this is a meeting of two of the hottest rugby league teams in the country. So whichever team can apply their game plan the earliest is likely to get the edge. As alluded to earlier, Penrith have been slow out of the blocks over the back end of their finals run and won't want to do it against a victorious Queensland Cup side that piled on the points after a hot start in their state decider.
Match Officials: Referee: Adam Cassidy; Touch Judges: Liam Nichols and Clayton Sharpe; Video Referees: Steve Chiddy and Henry Perenara.
Televised: Channel Nine 3.55pm (2.55pm Qld time).
The Way We See It: NSW fans have been burned too many times when overlooking a Queensland side that appear somewhat inferior on paper. But that doesn't mean we can just gloss over Penrith's 400-plus games worth of NRL experience littered across their roster. And they'll all come in good use on Sunday, in what sure to be an intense and fast-paced State Championship.
The bookies have installed the Panthers as warm favourites, but the Pride are a determined outfit and won't be swept aside that easily. The men in black can expect some healthy support from the ANZ Stadium crowd making Sunday's match a virtual home final, a factor that could prove the difference in what is sure to be close contest. Penrith by seven points.