Royce Simmons has a confession to make: he almost regrets his promise to “have a schooner” with every Penrith fan after the 1991 grand final.
Almost.
Simmons will on Sunday night hope to watch Penrith’s third title success, when they take on Melbourne at ANZ Stadium.
But he was a crucial part of their first.
The fans’ favourite in his retiring game, the Panthers hooker bagged the first try when he stepped and spun his way over before later claiming the match sealer.
Despite all that, the Panthers’ maiden premiership is still best remembered for Simmons’ post-game speech and offer of a beer with all.
“If I had my time over again, I wouldn’t say it,” Simmons admitted.
Even today, barely a week goes by where someone doesn’t try to take the 61-year-old up on the offer.
But there is an upside.
“I can be walking anywhere … Even overseas sometimes and you hear an Aussie accent say, ‘you owe me a beer’,” Simmons said.
“I normally yell back, ‘no, you owe me one!’.
“But I love meeting people, and it is a good way to break the ice to have a beer with a person you’ve never met before and have a yack with them.
“Sometimes I go out to the bush for a weekend and you walk into a pub and someone will say it. And before long everyone in the pub are friends.”
Confident of success on Sunday, Simmons does expect the 2020 Panthers to one day be in the same position.
And he can see plenty of the similarities between his 1991 side, the 2003 winners and today’s, with local juniors again at the fore.
Simmons had seven locals in his team, while there were eight in 2003 and six in the 2020 side.
“Going back to 1991 and 2003 and this side, the common thing about all of them is the lot of local boys in the side,” he said.
“Some of these boys have played together since they were 14, 15 or 16 as junior rep players.
“They all get to know each other’s games and they all become good friends.
“It does such a positive thing to the town. The boys come through various clubs and towns.
“It’s great for the atmosphere. You have people saying ‘I know that bloke. I went to school with him or played football with him’.”
Source:: SportsNews
