The Warriors are top of the ladder, 8-2 at home, and every pundit in the country is treating a finals trip to Auckland like a death sentence. Blake Austin isn’t convinced the players see it that way; he reckons most finals sides will still turn up with an arrogance about it, and that he’d have wanted the trip himself.
Plus: Adam Reynolds’ career ends on a calf strain, Josh Papali’i’s last home game in Canberra, why every contender is suddenly carrying a bopper on the bench, and what Blake got wrong about Penrith last week.
00:00 Josh Papali’i’s last home game — Blake on a mate and a teammate
01:54 “Almost the last of his kind” — Adam Reynolds’ career ends
03:09 Two fan bases, one halfback — Reynolds, Cronk, and a rare career
06:29 The Papali’i story you haven’t heard
08:14 Finals permutations, and the conversation in the sheds
10:24 Is a finals trip to Auckland actually a death sentence?
11:52 The Warriors: methodical, deep, and still unproven in September
14:42 Luke Metcalf as a bench trump card
15:16 Are the Warriors everyone’s second team — and does winning change it?
16:07 Big boppers: start them, or save them for the 25-minute mark?
18:03 What happened to the Roosters
19:26 Blake marks his own homework on the Penrith “base level” call
21:34 Latrell off the bench in Round 27?
23:02 The race for eighth
23:56 No Cogger — why Blaize Talagi coming in might actually help Penrith
25:17 Why “finals footy” suits Penrith, and the small-pack theory
27:15 Three-horse race? And why nobody wins a comp on attack
28:07 Schoolboy and Schoolgirl Cup — Central Coast Sports College
29:02 The first generation of girls to play footy their whole life
31:06 Coaching girls: quotas, feedback, and why dads matter
32:13 The bus, the streamers, and a state grand final
33:38 Blake the agent: “no one under 16 needs an agent”
35:26 Super League, corrected — why 14 teams is too many
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