MARK ‘SPUDD’ CARROLL: Penrith on the brink of joining NRL immortals as greatest-ever team

I wasn’t around when St George went on that incredible 11-year premiership run from 1956-66.

To win that many titles in a row still blows my mind nearly 60 years later.

It’s rightly held up as the ultimate achievement in our game and a record teams from all over the globe, in a variety of codes, view as the Mt Everest of football achievements.

So, what I am about to write I do so with the greatest of respect to those legendary Dragons teams.

If Penrith go on to win this year’s title, their fifth in succession, they will have earned the right to join the Saints on the top step of rugby league’s podium when it comes to the game’s greatest feats.

I’m not talking statistically, obviously, as Penrith will still be a long way off that magical 11-year figure if they again take possession of the Provan-Summons Trophy.

But in terms of defying the odds and beating a system that is not designed to allow one team to dominate for a sustained period, it would rank right up there and maybe surpass anything we’ve seen before.

Those Saints teams of the ‘50s and ‘60s were blessed with brilliant players, some of whom would go on to join the ranks of the Immortals.

The fact so many of those greats stayed together in the same team for so long was no doubt a huge reason why the Red V was so successful for a decade.

Penrith don’t have that same luxury thanks to the salary cap.

The cap’s been ripping at the fabric of Ivan Cleary’s side every year for the past five or six seasons.

Did you know that of the 34 players who took the field in last week’s Tigers-Bulldogs clash, at least 10 spent time at Penrith during their run of four consecutive premiership wins?

And we’re not talking fringe players.

Matt Burton, Viliame Kikau, Stephen Crichton, Jarome Luai and Api Koroisau are elite NRL players who departed the Panthers when the salary cap began to bite.

Add Spencer Leniu, James Fisher-Harris and Kurt Capewell to that list and you just shake your head as to how Ivan Cleary has managed to keep this club so competitive for so long.

I was like many who thought 2025 was the year it would finally all catch up to the Panthers.

A 1-5 start to the season had the premiers running last and facing a hoodoo stretching back to the start of rugby league in Australia.

Since 1908, no team has lost that many games to start the year and gone on to win the comp.

Yet here we are, four weeks out from the finals, and Penrith sit fourth on the ladder on the back of nine straight victories.

If they keep winning – and I am mindful they have a tough run home – Cleary’s men will finish in the top four.

The Panthers know what to do from there.

If they go on to win the premiership from where they were and after losing so many quality players, it will go down as the greatest achievement I’ve witnessed in my lifetime.

Superior to the Dragons’ 11-year title run?

I will let you debate that.

But it’s certainly a discussion worth having.

AND DON’T GET ME STARTED

Every good football team needs a lunatic.

That player who has rivals packing a rearview mirror in their playing kit just so they can keep an eye on him at all times.

I think back to my playing days and there were madmen everywhere.

Blokes who could hurt you either side of the ball – both legally and, at times, just the other side of the law.

You needed side mirrors along with rearview mirrors to keep them in check!

The no-punch rule has rid the game of a lot of that back-alley stuff but there’s still room for players who like to push the boundaries.

Of the teams vying for grand final glory, most have at least one borderline loose cannon.

Liam Martin (Penrith), Viliame Kikau (Canterbury), Nelson Asofa-Solomona (Melbourne) and Corey Horsburgh (Canberra) immediately spring to mind when I think of players who get the eyes spinning when they cross that white line.

You’d hate to play against them.

But at the head of the alpha male pack, I can’t go past old mate Leniu.

As I have written here before, I love how this bloke goes about his work.

The Roosters enforcer all aggression and menace with that touch of old school craziness.

Watching Leniu rip into the Dolphins while taunting the Suncorp Stadium crowd brought a smile to this old front-rower’s face on Saturday night.

I love a player who backs up words with deeds, lifting and inspiring teammates with a big run or monster hit.

And if the crowd’s giving it to you, I don’t mind a few choice words being thrown back over the fence.

Leniu might give way the odd penalty and occasionally spend time in the bin, but the pay-off is he genuinely intimidates the opposition and strikes fear into them.

Keep it up, Spence.

You’ve got a big fan right here.