# 2011 Penrith Panthers season

The 2011 Penrith Panthers season is the 45th in the club's history. They are competing in the NRL's 2011 Telstra Premiership. This year saw Phil Gould appointed as the Penrith Panthers' new football operations manager.

## 2011 Players and Coaching staff

= Injured (SE) – Season Ending Injury
| No. | Position | Player 416 Luke Lewis – LK 431 Trent Waterhouse – SR 456 Michael Gordon – WG (GK) (SE) 457 Matthew Bell – PR 461 Nathan Smith – LK 463 Michael Jennings – CE 464 Tim Grant – PR 472 Petero Civoniceva (captain) – PR 473 Brad Tighe – CE 476 Joseph Paulo – LK 477 Sam McKendry – PR 480 Masada Iosefa – HK 481 Lachlan Coote – FB (GK) 506 Luke Walsh – HB (GK) 513 Adrian Purtell – WG |
| No. | Position | Player 514 Travis Burns – FE (GK) 515 Kevin Kingston – HK 518 Sandor Earl – WG (SE) David Simmons – WG Arana Taumata – FE Nafe Seluini – HK Yileen Gordon – CE Michael Worrincy – SR Timana Tahu – CE (SE) Sarafu Fatiaki – CE Nigel Plum – SR Brendon Gibb – SR Tim Winitana – CE Dayne Weston – PR |
Source:
* Panthers Group CEO: Glenn Matthews
* Rugby League CEO: Unknown
* Head coach: Steve Georgallis
* Rugby League Marketing Manager: Shannon Donato
* Media Manager: Andrew Farrell
* Coaching, Development and Recruitment Manager: Jim Jones
* Stadium Operations Manager: Tamara Van Antwerpen

## Transfers

| Player | Previous club |
| Arana Taumata | North Queensland Cowboys |
| Michael Worrincy | Bradford Bulls |
| Dayne Weston | North Queensland Cowboys |
| Nafe Seluini | New Zealand Warriors |
| Yileen Gordon | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs |
| Brendon Gibb | Norths Devils |
| Junior Paulo | St. George Illawarra Dragons |
| Tim Winitana | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs |
| Timana Tahu | Parramatta Eels |
| Junior Vaivai | South Sydney Rabbitohs |
| Player | New club |
| Shane Elford | Retired |
| Wade Graham | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks |
| Gavin Cooper | North Queensland Cowboys |
| Frank Pritchard | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs |
| Maurice Blair | Melbourne Storm |
| Frank Puletua | Retired |
| Daine Laurie | Released mid season |

## Jersey and Sponsors

In 2011 the Panthers jerseys were again made by ISC. They retained their predominantly black home jerseys from 2010, but instead only was near fully black (Faint claw marks on either sides) with only teal on the collar and sleeves. The teal jersey of last year was to be used as the away jersey again, but was dumped in Round 4, for a white jersey with teal and black stripes and the same claw marks from the home jersey. The heritage jersey used was from their 1991 jersey. The "Pink Panthers" jersey used was based on the new away jersey, except absolutely everything on the jersey was made of different shades of pink.
Sanyo were again the major sponsor of the Panthers in 2011. Titan Warehousing Solutions were dropped as the sleeve sponsor with the club opting to go with no sponsor at all, until 17 April, when the club announced that Onsite Cleaning would be the 2011 sleeve sponsor.

## Fixtures

The Panthers again used Centrebet Stadium as their home ground in 2011, their home ground since they entered the competition in 1967.

### Pre-season

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Score | Tries | Goals | Attendance |
| 19 February | Trial 1 | Newcastle Knights | Port Macquarie Regional Stadium, Port Macquarie | 28–22 | Kingston (2), Earl, Purtell, Jesse Sene-Lefao | Gordon (2/3), Harry Seijka (2/2) | ??? |
| 26 February | Trial 2 | Parramatta Eels | Centrebet Stadium, Penrith | 0–30 | | | 13,228 |
| Legend: Win Loss Draw |||||||||

### Regular season

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Score | Tries | Goals | Attendance |
| 13 March | Round 1 | Newcastle Knights | Centrebet Stadium, Penrith | 8–42 | Coote | Gordon (2/2) | 12,431 |
| 18 March | Round 2 | Parramatta Eels | Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta | 20–6 | Coote, Gordon, Simmons | Gordon (4/5) | 15,974 |
| 26 March | Round 3 | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | Centrebet Stadium, Penrith | 12–44 | Simmons, Coote | Gordon (2/2) | 9,275 |
| 1 April | Round 4 | Brisbane Broncos | Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane | 18–10 | Gordon, Kevin Kingston | Gordon (1/2) | 25,263 |
| 9 April | Round 5 | Canberra Raiders | Centrebet Stadium, Penrith | 36–10 | Simmons (3), Burns, Gordon, Civoniceva | Gordon (6/7) | 10,229 |
| 17 April | Round 6 | Melbourne Storm | Centrebet Stadium, Penrith | 10–25 | Earl, Tahu | Gordon (1/2) | 11,137 |
| 22 April | Round 7 | Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | Brookvale Oval, Brookvale | 22–16 | Simmons, Tahu, Plum | Gordon (2/3) | 14,623 |
| 1 May | Round 8 | New Zealand Warriors | Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland | 26–18 | Grant, Waterhouse, Seluini | Gordon (3/3) | 11,412 |
| | Round 9 | Bye | | | | | |
| 13 May | Round 10 | Brisbane Broncos | Centrebet Stadium, Penrith | 33–10 | Tighe (2), Kingston, Lewis, Tahu, Gordon | Gordon (4/5), Walsh (0/1), FG (1) | 11,336 |
| 21 May | Round 11 | Wests Tigers | Campbelltown Stadium, Campbelltown | 20–18 | Iosefa, Simmons, Coote | Walsh (3/3) | 16,172 |
| 30 May | Round 12 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | Centrebet Stadium, Penrith | 22–10 | Lewis, Waterhouse, Purtell, Coote | Walsh (3/4) | 5,703 |
| 4 June | Round 13 | Gold Coast Titans | Skilled Park, Robina | 23–10 | Jennings, Kingston, Purtell, Burns | Burns (3/3), Walsh (0/1), FG (1) | 12,262 |
| | Round 14 | Bye | | | | | |
| 18 June | Round 15 | Newcastle Knights | EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle | 16–12 | Iosefa (2) | Burns (2/2) | 16,652 |
| 26 June | Round 16 | North Queensland Cowboys | Centrebet Stadium, Penrith | 30–20 | Civoniceva, Coote, Lewis, McKendry | Burns (7/7) | 14,090 |
| 2 July | Round 17 | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | Centrebet Stadium, Penrith | 20–6 | Burns (2), Purtell | Burns (4/4) | 15,383 |
| 10 July | Round 18 | Sydney Roosters | Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney | 34–26 | Coote (2), Lewis, Kingston | Burns (5/5) | 9,713 |
| 16 July | Round 19 | Parramatta Eels | Centrebet Stadium, Penrith | 23–22 | Coote (2), Simmons (2) | Burns (3/4), Walsh FG (1) | 17,323 |
| 24 July | Round 20 | Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | Centrebet Stadium, Penrith | 8–12 | Simmons, Coote | Burns (0/1) | 13,832 |
| 30 July | Round 21 | North Queensland Cowboys | Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville | 18–30 | Walsh, Purtell, Tighe | Walsh (2/2), Seijka (1/1) | 12,349 |
| 6 August | Round 22 | Melbourne Storm | AAMI Park, Melbourne | 26–6 | Purtell | Walsh (1/1) | 12,162 |
| 12 August | Round 23 | Wests Tigers | Centrebet Stadium, Penrith | 18–32 | Purtell, Walker, Waterhouse | Walsh (3/3) | 15,192 |
| 20 August | Round 24 | New Zealand Warriors | Centrebet Stadium, Penrith | 12–26 | Simmons, Tighe | Walsh (2/3) | 11,644 |
| 27 August | Round 25 | Canberra Raiders | Canberra Stadium, Canberra | 18–19 | Simmons, Tighe, Walsh | Walsh (3/3), FG (1) | 10,085 |
| 2 September | Round 26 | St George Illawarra Dragons | WIN Stadium, Wollongong | 32–12 | Austin, Coote | Walsh (2/2) | 13,621 |
| Legend: Win Loss Draw Bye |||||||||

#### Notes

* ↑ Travis Burns would forgo the shot at goal after the second try in a bid to save time with the possible chance of scoring another try with 31 seconds left Archived 31 December 2012 at archive.today

## Milestones and achievements

* Round 2 – (18 March): the Panthers notched up their first win of the season
* Round 5 – (7 April): against the Canberra Raiders, Winger David Simmons would bag the first hat trick of the season for the Panthers. In the same round, Sarafu Fatiaki made his debut for the club.
* Round 6 – (17 April): Timana Tahu would score his first try for the club since signing with the Panthers in Round 6
* Round 7 – (22 April): the board decided that they club would part ways with coach Matthew Elliott at the end of the season after a poor start to the season which sees them in 14th
* Round 8 – (1 May): Nafe Seluini scored his first try for the Panthers against his former team, the New Zealand Warriors. In the same match, new recruit Yileen Gordon would make his debut for the club as well as Trent Waterhouse scoring 150 career points. The match also saw Michael Gordon and Travis Burns notch up 100 career matches, all of Michael Gordon's coming with the Panthers
* Round 10 – (12–17 May) Phil Gould signed on as Coaching Manager for next season. Dayne Weston made his debut for the club off the bench. The match was also the first Drop Goal scored by the club this season. It was confirmed on the 14th, the day after the match, that fullback Michael Gordon had ruptured his Anterior Cruciate Ligament and will miss the rest of the season. It was announced by FoxSports that new recruit Timana Tahu had ruptured his Pectoral Muscle and would be out for the rest of the season
* Round 11 – (19–22 May) It was announced by both the NRL and Newcastle Knights that injured player Timana Tahu will link up next season with the Knights for 2 seasons. Lachlan Coote made his return from Osteitis pubis, marking the return with a try. Prior to the match during warm up, Travis Burns would have to withdraw after the team doctor gave him a pain injection, accidentally hitting the nerve causing Burn's leg to go numb.
* Round 12 – (23–30 May) Round 12 couldn't have got off to a worse start with CEO Mick Leary would resign from his position effective immediately.
* Round 13 – (4 June) Michael Jennings would play his 100th game in a bitter sweet win against Gold Coast Titans. Although it was a milestone in games, he would hobble off in the 60th minute after getting his leg stuck under a Titans player. He was ruled out for 4 weeks and missed Origin II and Origin III
* Round 15 – (20 June) Matthew Elliott stepped down as Coach for the rest of the season, Steve Georgallis was named caretaker coach for the rest of the season. Daine Laurie was also released midweek due to behaviour. New signing Arana Taumata was also investigated by police after using a script pad he stole from the club doctor. Star centre Michael Jennings was also fined $10,000 for drinking whilst being injured
* Round 15 – (20 June) Steve Georgallis would coach his first match as head coach in NRL by beating the North Queensland Cowboys 30–20 on a day that would see a new maximum crowd for the season of 14,090. The game would also mark the 100th game for Adrian Purtell.
* Round 16 – (2 July) Steve Georgallis would notch up his second win in as many games as the Panthers beat the Bulldogs 20–6. It was announced earlier in the week that Trent Waterhouse would leave the club for a 3-year deal at Warrington Wolves in the Super League. It was also announced during the week that Ivan Cleary would take the head coach role with the club from next season.
* Round 21 – (26 July) Petero Civoniceva would announce his return to the Brisbane Broncos in 2012, citing it was for his family. The Panthers would grant him a release with 1 year left on his contract.

## Ladder

2011 NRL Telstra Premiershipvte :
| Pos. | Team | Pld | W | D | L | B | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
| 1 | Melbourne Storm | 24 | 19 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 521 | 308 | 213 | 42 |
| 2 | Manly Warringah Sea Eagles (P) | 24 | 18 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 539 | 331 | 208 | 40 |
| 3 | Brisbane Broncos | 24 | 18 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 511 | 372 | 139 | 40 |
| 4 | Wests Tigers | 24 | 15 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 519 | 430 | 89 | 34 |
| 5 | St. George Illawarra Dragons | 24 | 14 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 483 | 341 | 142 | 33 |
| 6 | New Zealand Warriors | 24 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 504 | 393 | 111 | 32 |
| 7 | North Queensland Cowboys | 24 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 532 | 480 | 52 | 32 |
| 8 | Newcastle Knights | 24 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 478 | 443 | 35 | 28 |
| 9 | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 24 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 449 | 489 | -40 | 28 |
| 10 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 24 | 11 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 531 | 562 | -31 | 26 |
| 11 | Sydney Roosters | 24 | 10 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 417 | 500 | -83 | 24 |
| 12 | Penrith Panthers | 24 | 9 | 0 | 15 | 2 | 430 | 517 | -87 | 22 |
| 13 | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 24 | 7 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 428 | 557 | -129 | 18 |
| 14 | Parramatta Eels | 24 | 6 | 1 | 17 | 2 | 385 | 538 | -153 | 17 |
| 15 | Canberra Raiders | 24 | 6 | 0 | 18 | 2 | 423 | 623 | -200 | 16 |
| 16 | Gold Coast Titans | 24 | 6 | 0 | 18 | 2 | 363 | 629 | -266 | 16 |