Pink is the new black. How else do you explain Penrith’s grand final strip selling out nearly a month ago?
Panthers officials confirmed to Grand Final Diary they were struggling to buy back jerseys themselves, with only a handful of 6XL and 7XL strips still available.
Melbourne will wear their home strip because they finished first on the ladder, meaning the Panthers will wear their pink away jersey for the first time in an NRL grand final on Sunday.
The club won the NRL state championship game against North Devils in 2022 wearing pink.
Manufacturers O’Neills, who also produce the Storm’s jerseys, produced 12,131 replica black ‘home’ jerseys for Penrith, and 5732 pink ‘away’ jerseys. The sales of pink jerseys last year outsold 30 per cent of rival NRL clubs’ home jerseys.
One of the men behind the pink strip was Shaun Mielekamp, the former Central Coast Mariners CEO who brought Usain Bolt to the club for a high-profile cameo and is now working at the Wests Tigers as their community manager.
Pink is the new black: Panthers players pose for the official team photos.Credit: NRL Photos
Mielekamp was working at Penrith when they wore pink for the first time in the Women in League round in 2009.
“I remember captain Petero Civoniceva posing in the strip for Big League magazine, and he was like, ‘Are we really doing this?’” Mielekamp said.
“The pink included the shorts and socks. We wore it the following year, but when Phil Gould arrived at the club [in 2011], that’s when it burst to life.”
Coach Ivan Cleary wanted the pink used as the permanent away strip the first time he was at the club in 2012.
The pink strip has also been used in the early rounds of the regular season because the colour reflects heat better than the traditional black.
Hannant’s scratchie joy
There was plenty of laughter when Ben Hannant took to the stage as part of a guest panel at the NRL’s official grand final luncheon on Friday.
Hannant told those in the room at the Fullerton Hotel he won $200,000 on a scratchie during his only season at the Sydney Roosters.
“I’m tipping ten other young Roosters won the same scratchie,” host Andrew Voss quipped.
Former Rabbitoh Adam Reynolds after defeat to Penrith in the 2021 grand final.Credit: Getty
Reynolds’ Storm advice
Adam Reynolds lost two grand finals against Penrith – one with South Sydney and another with Brisbane – and says that if Melbourne are a chance of winning, they need to take risks in attack.
“You have to give them something they haven’t seen before, because they’re such a strong defensive unit – you have to play a bit of ad-lib football that can throw them off and create a bit of confusion,” Reynolds said.
“Last year, we spoke about getting one or two offloads every couple of sets, and trying to play fast. They slow the ruck right down, and work extremely hard from the inside.
“When I was at Souths, our strength was playing to the left. But we got them in the semi with a double-pump and a lead [down the right], which we hadn’t tossed up before. It was a different look. But they hunt so hard from inside, it’s hard to get those plays on.”
Reynolds predicted a low-scoring game, and would have leaned towards Melbourne had Nelson Asofa-Solomona not been banned.
Burton finishes on top
Bulldogs superboot Matt Burton was crowned winner of the inaugural Levels Network rugby league golf day at Concord on Thursday.
The brainchild of former Eels and Manly forward Justin Horo, the golf event featured some of the NRL’s biggest names competing for the cash prizes.
Burton, playing off 18, posted the best stableford score with 43 points on a countback from Parramatta’s Mitchell Moses and Todd Carney.
Dylan Walker and Feleti Mateo won the twoball event, while Souths pair Latrell Mitchell and Lachie Ilias and two sponsors won the fourball. Gold Coast’s rugby recruit Carter Gordon shot 37 points off a handicap of one.
