The Penrith Panthers have featured in the big dance every year since 2020, but their path to claiming a fifth consecutive premiership has not been the easiest of journeys.
A season full of learning curves saw Penrith go from sitting at the bottom of the ladder to sneaking into the top eight, with the Warriors their first challenge of the finals.
Unlike other seasons, Penrith will only have one shot to progress to the next stage but Warriors coach Andrew Webster is hopeful that will not happen for his former team.
Webster played a role in the Panthers’ coaching ranks during their 2021 and 2022 premiership wins before he took on the top job at the Warriors.
While he still has mutual respect for his elimination final rivals, Webster is ready to send his men into an intense fight.
“They’re a great team. I have a lot of respect for them,” Webster said.
“One year they are going to lose, I don’t know when that is. Hopefully it is this week.
“You have to beat those good teams somewhere anyway. It could be any part of the finals series you have to do it, so it doesn’t hurt to do it now.”
With seven of their last 11 games lost, Webster admitted he can understand why many may not be backing the underdogs to pull off a win on Saturday.
But he has warned that it is risky to do so.
“I can understand why people would have doubts,” Webster said.
“But I think the true faithful know that when we play our best footy it looks good.
“I know there is belief here and belief from every single person at Mt Smart on the weekend, from the top of the country to the bottom.
“Rather than worrying about how much everyone thinks we can’t do it, I’m more excited and focused on the ones who think we can.”
‘Influential’ missing gun has Joey sniffing big finals upset
Andrew Johns believes a shock upset could be on the cards for the Penrith Panthers as they prepare to start their finals campaign without one of their “most influential players,” Mitch Kenny.
Penrith will enter a do-or-die battle against the Warriors on Saturday without their gun hooker, who was left out of the squad due to a hamstring injury.
Coach Ivan Cleary admitted the three-time premiership winner’s injury is “a little bit worse than what we initially thought,” but confirmed it is still only considered to be a minor strain.
The Panthers are hopeful that Kenny will be able to return for week two of the finals if they qualify, meaning he could return to face either the Bulldogs or the Storm.
While Penrith are still the favourites to win as per Sportbet’s odds at the time of publication, Johns is concerned by the absence of one of the competition’s busiest players.
“This is one game where an upset wouldn’t surprise (me) because of Mitch Kenny,” Johns said on Nine’s Freddy and the Eighth.
“Mitch Kenny does so much work for them… He does all the tough work, gets the speed of the defensive line, gets up in all the effort areas and cleans up the mess.
“I think this game is going to be a lot closer than what people think.”
