As uncommon as they’re, the second a real sporting dynasty springs up, predictions of it is imminent demise are by no means far behind.
In the course of the previous three seasons, as they’ve change into arguably the best staff rugby league has ever identified, Penrith aren’t any exception.
In maybe essentially the most enduring proof of their excellence, they’ve confirmed each a type of calls to be wildly incorrect.
Since their first premiership win as a bunch in 2021 they’ve survived the lack of Stephen Crichton, Kurt Capewell, Matt Burton, Spencer Leniu and Api Koroisau — and all of the whereas saved on successful and successful and successful by means of their particular model of rugby league brutalism.
They’ve survived every thing and defied many years of measures particularly designed to cease a run like this from occurring. There was nothing they might not overcome and so they very effectively may add a fourth-straight premiership later this yr.
However in releasing James Fisher-Harris to the Warriors, the Panthers aren’t simply farewelling top-of-the-line forwards within the membership’s historical past, they’re shedding a bit of their soul and one of many bedrocks that is made all this attainable. This can be a loss maybe not even they’ll maintain.
It isn’t a matter of merely taking the cash they’d have used on Fisher-Harris and ponying up for one more prop, though that can nearly actually occur.
Neither is it so simple as changing his virtues on the sphere, which shapes as a tough job on it is personal.
Payne Haas runs for extra metres, Addin Fonua-Blake is extra blockbusting however Fisher-Harris is essentially the most well-rounded props within the league – he is sturdy in yardage, passes and offloads with intelligence, and holds the center of the sphere collectively defensively.
Plus, he does all of it each time he takes the sphere with a consistency you’d anticipate extra from a machine than a person.
Not many can do what he does each weekend, however his affect runs deeper than that.
Success has many fathers, however ask round on the Panthers and so they’ll all inform you an identical factor. That livid high quality they play with, the willingness to all the time pay the value for fulfillment and the countless starvation to combat and dominate and win – numerous the Panthers carry it in them, however a lot of it flows from Fisher-Harris.
It comes from his angle on the sphere and off it, the best way he trains day-to-day, the toughness he exudes so effortlessly and calls for of his teammates so merely and straight that emulating it isn’t a selection, however a calling.
At their greatest, Penrith play with the ravenous starvation of ravenous canine and Fisher-Harris is the unquestioned chief of the pack.
Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo are in all probability the 2 greatest gamers of the Panthers dynasty. Cleary shared many of the greatest moments with Crichton. Koroisau was transformative, each within the talent he introduced himself and the house he may present for others. Jarome Luai is their vitality and Dylan Edwards and Brian To’o are their consistency.
However their most enduring qualities, the issues that took them from champions to legends, are greatest represented in Fisher-Harris.
The resolve, the power, the consistency, the unbreakable will and the utter lack of mercy for opponents, the willingness to speak – even when Fisher-Harris is not all the time one for speaking, when he does it makes an affect, like when he declared Parramatta have been Penrith’s sons – as a result of it is not bragging for those who again it up.
And whereas Cleary and Yeo are the co-captains, a lot of what Fisher-Harris does effectively has been transferred into the membership’s different gamers. He would not all the time must be a captain as a result of he has change into a pacesetter by nature, the type of man others comply with simply because it is smart to take action.
You possibly can see items of him in gamers like Moses Leota, his partner-in-crime who found an identical relentless vitality, and in Scott Sorensen, who thrived a lot within the atmosphere Fisher-Harris helped create he went from NRL journeyman to one of the vital adorned roughnecks within the sport’s historical past.
There’s a clear sample to Penrith’s retention technique in recent times. To keep away from the wage cap molasses that has claimed so many budding dynasties of the previous, they needed to establish the issues of their facet they might no do with out, the fundamental parts of their success, and ensure they saved them.
You possibly can lose Crichton, Kikau, Koroisau, Burton and all the remainder and as long as you’ve got a defence that is near unbreakable, sufficient athletes to dominate the yardage sport, Nathan Cleary’s kicking sport and a perception you possibly can beat down a mountain.
This yr could possibly be significantly better than alright. Penrith are premiership favourites – once more – and the prospect of sending their departing gamers out as winners has been a propulsive drive for them many instances earlier than.
However Fisher-Harris could be one of many only a few departing heroes they can’t substitute. There isn’t any strategy to recreate him within the mixture by means of gamers like Lindsay Smith, Liam Henry and no matter free agent props Penrith will throw their cash at.
If there’s somebody with Fisher-Harris’s qualities on and off the sphere lurking of their countless junior nursery, it will not come out in a single day.
You could be born with it, however you continue to must be taught it. Fisher-Harris himself was in first grade for 4 years earlier than he changed into what he is change into. It is the type of factor that can not be discovered, solely uncovered, and is nearly not possible to purchase, as a result of it should be earned.
Penrith will not collapse. They’ve had an excessive amount of apply at being nice for that to occur. Come subsequent season they will nonetheless be among the many title favourites together with the Broncos, who’re so in contrast to the Panthers in model however so like them in method, and sure the Warriors themselves, who should really feel like they’re tantalisingly near one thing particular.
However, a few years from now, when the historical past of Penrith’s dynasty is written, this would possibly effectively be the day that is pinpointed as the start of the top. There are some losses a staff can’t survive, even when it would not kill them.