The Panthers have never been so good, so early in a season. There’s just one thing missing
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 evening’s western Sydney derby against Parramatta. That figure was revised to 18,000 late on Tuesday once Parramatta’s 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: “If we come out of the blocks well and win games early, hopefully we get more people to come along to the ground.”
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 club’s fast start, said it was not easy for fans to complete the 70km round trip.
“It took us some time to find our feet last year, but once we started progressing throughout the season, the fans jumped on board,” Yeo said. “You’d love to see that happen at the start this year rather than midway through it.
“Every player wants to play in front of a packed house. The loudest game I’ve been a part of was at CommBank when Australia played against Tonga [in 2024].
“The stadium is our home for another 12 months. We need to bite the bullet, and know we’ll be back in Penrith in the next 12 months.”
Back-rower Liam Martin added: “What 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 – especially for families with some of the timeslots – it means a lot.
“Playing inside bigger stadiums when they’re empty can sometimes make it feel like a library. You have to rely on your teammates for that energy. I’d love to see a decent crowd this weekend.”
Martin suffered a grade-two calf tear a fortnight before Penrith’s 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.
“I was a little bit nervous and probably felt a bit of pressure coming back into the side because the boys had played so well,” said Martin, who became a first-time father to a boy, Joey, late last year.
“I was like, ‘What if I lose my spot?’ and, ‘I hope I don’t disrupt the rhythm of the team’. The first ten minutes against the Roosters was a bit of a shock to the body, but then I went after it.”
Yeo said this was the best opening three weeks he had been involved in, “especially defensively, in terms of the tries we’ve let in”.
“The start of the year is always hard because teams are finding their feet, there’s no real form guide, and you can only trust your pre-season and the reps you’ve done,” Yeo said.
“But as [coach] Ivan Cleary always says, ‘You never remember the start of the season, you only remember the end of it’. It’s still nice to put ourselves in a better position than what we were last year.”