Mayor confident of a Penrith win, hints at public holiday to celebrate

Thursday, 22 October 2020

Penrith Mayor Karen McKeown OAM has thrown the City’s support behind the Penrith Panthers this weekend as they look to secure their third NRL premiership title. 

“Penrith City Council and the Penrith community will be cheering on the Panthers come Sunday night,” Cr McKeown said. 

“Our community has rallied around the Panthers since their inception into the league in 1967 and that support is evident everywhere you look around Penrith at the moment – everyone is  displaying the team’s colours and in some cases houses and businesses have been painted in the Panthers colours to show their support.” 

Cr McKeown said that so many in the community have drawn inspiration from the team in what has been a challenging year for everyone. 

“The team has provided hope to not only the Penrith community, but also the fire ravaged communities they visited earlier this. It’s those visits that lift the spirit and strengthens the resilience of communities,” Cr McKeown said.  

Asked what it was that will see Penrith come out on top, Cr McKeown said there’s just so many things that point towards a Panthers victory that you cannot ignore their significance. 

“It’s been 17 years since the team last won the Premiership, they’ve had 17 wins in a row leading up to Sunday’s game and a win in the grand final will make it an NRL record for the most wins,” Cr McKeown said. 

“In 2003, the team won a with a father/son combination and in 2020 the Cleary’s have shown that has worked really well for them. 

“Plus, Penrith have won two of the three grand finals they’ve played in, while the Storm’s winning record of grand finals is almost half that.” 

Cr McKeown said a victory on Sunday night against the Melbourne Storm would see Penrith celebrate long and hard. 

“I may need to consider declaring a public holiday for Monday so we can celebrate the win properly – it would be un-Australian not to, wouldn’t it?” 

Video message: https://youtu.be/zgd2HdDyQ6g 

#GoPenrith #PenrithPanthers2020 

Photo opportunity 

Penrith City Council has decorated three waste collection trucks cheering on the Panthers. Two of the trucks will be at the Civic Centre tomorrow morning for a photo opportunity.    

Location: Turning circle at the Civic Centre – 601 High Street Penrith. 

Time/Date: 9am, Friday 23 October 2020 

Information contained within this news release was correct as at Thursday, 22 October 2020.