Frank Pritchard has a hard-learned message for his young teammates in their first grand final week – don’t take anything for granted.
Pritchard debuted for Penrith in 2003, the season they won the premiership, but had to watch that grand final from the stands as coach John Lang’s 18th man.
“The thing that he (Lang) said to me was ‘you know it’s been a great year, and (another grand final) will probably come again next year’,” Pritchard said.
“But it hasn’t come for nine years.
“They’re the things you learn over the years.
“It’s not going to come easy but we’re just going to enjoy the week and just soak it all in.”
While many believe the youth of the Bulldogs team and their rapid rise under new coach Des Hasler mean the blue and whites will be regular title contenders for years to come, Pritchard is wary of such assumptions.
Like the Dogs, Pritchard’s Panthers were loaded with young talent like Luke Lewis and Luke Rooney, but another grand final appearance never materialised.
There was the 2004 preliminary final loss to Canterbury, when the match was turned on it’s head by a 10-minute sin-binning of Penrith fullback Rhys Wesser.
“We had the team to do it but they just ran in three quick tries and that was our season,” Pritchard said.
“The Bulldogs went on to the GF to play the Roosters. I can remember it clearly. I don’t want to talk about it.”
Now that he’s finally made it to his first grand final, Pritchard won’t go down quietly, even though he acknowledges it will be a big task against a Melbourne team that has hit top gear in the finals.
Following their qualifying final demolition of South Sydney a fortnight ago, Craig Bellamy’s men put the cleaners through a lacklustre Manly to win 40-12 on Friday night.
So dominant were Melbourne, Pritchard switched his TV off at halftime.
“(They were) devastating,” he said.
“It wasn’t the game that we thought was going to happen. We thought it was going to be a bit of a grudge match but they’re too strong.”