Panthers legend Mark Geyer claims Penrith's downfall kicked off the day Anthony Griffin was dramatically sacked, sparking a whirlwind of drama that has plagued the foot of the mountains.
No other club has been in the headlines more than Penrith in the past six months, caught up in a sex tape scandal that saw three of their players sanctioned, divided by a power struggle between Phil Gould and Ivan Cleary and now claims of player unrest have fed the rumour mill.
The off-field attention has unarguably impacted their on-field performances, according to Geyer, who argued losing games correlates with the distractions hovering over the club.
‘’I can’t think of a team in recent memory who have had a more disrupted six months in their football season than Penrith have,’’ Geyer told Triple M's Rush Hour with MG.
‘’Since (Anthony) Griffin was sacked, that was basically the domino effect…We’ve seen so much happen. We saw the sex tape dramas in the off-season, Phil Gould leaving…it always seems to happen when you’re losing games.
‘’The only way you are going to get rid of all the nay-say and the hearsay is winning games.''
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A team destined for top four glory, Penrith's top eight chances are slipping by the week with the wooden spoon looming as a frightening reality.
It could also come at a cost for Nathan Cleary's NSW jumper as he battles to find fluency behind a forward pack being dominated far too easily with little fight back.
Over the weekend, lead journalist Paul Kent dived deeper into the club's issues and suggested there was hostility between coach Ivan Cleary and his assistant Cameron Ciraldo.
Geyer could not confirm if the whispers are true but he added that some of the playing group were still reeling at the decision to sack Griffin and had ill feelings towards Cleary's appointment..
But he implored the under siege group to put their distractions behind and get on with playing football, declaring ''time for excuses are over''.
‘’I’ve got no doubt that there’s some players in the Panthers’ ranks that aren’t Ivan fans. I’ve got no doubt that some of them are Griffin fans,’’ he said.
‘’But you’ve got a job to do and it doesn’t matter who your boss is.
‘’…Time for excuses are over. I don’t care which coaches are arguing, in fact I think most coaches in all clubs have disagreements.
‘’I don’t care what players aren’t fans of Ivan, pull your fingers out and start winning games and then you can have the right to say whatever you want, but until then you just have to shut up and play footy.’’
Penrith have a shot at redemption against rivals Parramatta, who got the better of them in round one, at Bankwest Stadium on Thursday night.
