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2025 NRL season officially launched | 02:44
The Panthers have reignited their rivalry with last year’s grand finalists the Storm after cancelling a trial with their feeder team the North Sydney Bears.
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The Sydney Morning Herald reported the Panthers were scheduled to play Melbourne’s feeder team, the North Sydney Bears, before heading to Las Vegas for their Round 1 season opener.
However, at the last minute the Storm decided to pull a number of players out of the NSW Cup side to use in their trial in New Zealand.
The clash between the Panthers and Bears was scheduled for last Saturday, but the Panthers decided to not go ahead with the fixtures due to a lack of quality in the opposition ranks.
Morgan Harper, Ben Talty, Tui Katoa and Nathaniel Roache were among the names to be pulled out of the Bears side to travel to New Zealand.
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“We wanted a decent quality team, and Norths were the best option,” Panthers coach Ivan Cleary told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“[But] we didn’t really get what we thought we were going to get.”
Cleary went on to refer to the potential Bears side as a “Ron Massey team” despite them playing the NSW Cup grand final last year.
The Panthers and the Storm rivalry needs little more amunition after facing off in two of the last five grand finals and splitting the chocolates.
The Storm are favourites to win the 2025 title after losing 14-6 in last year’s decider, given they have kept the same team together, while Penrith have lost some key members of their squad in Jarome Luai and James Fisher-Harris.
The Panthers will play a trial against the Sea Eagles on Friday, but their team will be depleted with their top players travelling to Las Vegas.
