With their seventh successive victory for the 2022 season sewn up when Viliame Kikau crossed the chalk to take them 36-6 last Sunday, Penrith Panthers fans took their newfound joy to the next level.
While competition successes had been few and far between for the Mountain Men and their loyal fanatics until October of 2021, the reigning premiers are now content to mock those that reside on the rungs below them.
Since storming to their levels of near glory in 2016, the Canberra Raiders were powered by the perfuse support of their own supporters and their vaunted 'Viking Clap'.
However, following Kikau's four-pointer over the ANZAC weekend, the celebration morphed into mocking.
With Panther fans taking to their feet and clapping in unison as the minutes ticked down to full-time, Raiders players and fans took exception to the disrespect on offer from their hosts.
But with the observance officially heisted from Icelandic football fans, do the cogs within 'The Green Machine' have a leg to stand on?
The derision is nothing new either, as evidenced when notorious stirrer Michael Ennis gave it to the Raiders during his final year at first-grade level.
The Rugby League Outlawsย stressed in the aftermath of the Raiders' most recent loss that their current run of form was "terrible" and that they were "lucky not to be sitting last".
And though the sight of Penrith locals mugging them off in plain sight may be too rich for many of the Raiders' palates, their chief, Ricky Stuart, had little time for the claims.
"I've got no thoughts," Stuart said of the minor furore.
"Is that really a big focus point?ย F*** me dead."
Where do you stand, folks? Do the Raiders - by name and nature - have a case, or is 'Sticky' on the money?
I guess we'll find out in Round 20 when the cocksure Panthers make their way Canberra in Round 20.
