Former premiership-winning Penrith coach John Lang says the Panthers’ class of 2014 is “living the dream” and should be shooting for nothing less than another fairytale NRL title.
Lang guided the Panthers to their last grand final triumph back in 2003, when his side was just as big an underdog as Ivan Cleary’s surprise packets are this year.
Eleven years ago, Lang’s mountain men stunned the much-fancied Sydney Roosters in the title match and now Cleary’s unfancied outfit are one win away from another grand final berth after shocking the tricolours in the opening week of the playoffs.
Lang has been super impressed with Penrith’s young guns led by superstars-in-the-making Matt Moylan and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and sees no reason why the Panthers can’t go all the way.
“If I was a Panthers supporter, I’d be looking for a premiership,” Lang told AAP on Thursday.
“I wouldn’t be thinking: ‘Oh well, this is a good step towards next year.’
“I’m a bit of a believer that your future is now and they’re a chance to win it this year.
“You don’t finish top four by luck. If you finish top four, you’ve had a really consistent year and then beating the Roosters, that was a big win.
“Each hurdle, they keep jumping it. So they’ve got to be in with a shot.”
Moylan has won many a game at the death for the Panthers in 2014 and last Saturday night it was Watene-Zelezniak’s turn to pull the match out of the fire.
The teenage winger’s extraordinary over-the-sideline airborne flick pass for the late match-levelling try by Dean Whare has turned the finals race into a lottery.
“They remind me of the young blokes I had out at Penrith; they’re just living the dream. They’re not feeling the pressure,” Lang said.
“The young players remind me of the Luke Lewises and the Luke Rooneys and these guys that we had.
“They weren’t feeling the pressure either.”
Written off pre-season as a bunch of misfits more likely to finish last than first, Penrith’s fearless young brigade is perfectly complemented, Lang says, by premiership-winning old heads Jamie Soward, Brent Kite and Sika Manu.
“There’s a lot of talent there and some really top-class professionals,” he said.
“They’re just a really well-balanced side and by beating the Roosters, they’ve put themselves on the better side of the draw.”
Lang lost three preliminary finals coaching Cronulla before taking Penrith to the title and believes the Panthers’ biggest challenge will likely come at the same penultimate stage of the competition against either Manly or Canterbury.
“Sometimes I think that game’s harder to win than the grand final,” he said.
“I know when I was at Penrith, I was more nervous for that game than I was for the grand final.
“Maybe I was a bit bruised by the grand final qualifiers but, once you get to the grand final, that’s it, you just go for it.
“But the further you go, the harder it is. That’s the bottom line.”
