Penrith chairman David O'Neill delivered a puzzling motivational speech to the playing group in the lead-up to the 2020 Grand Final that left some with second-hand embarrassment according to a new report.
League writer Danny Weidler from The Sydney Morning Herald claimed in his report that the Panthers playing group endured an obscure rev-up speech from the chairman before the decider against the Storm in October.
O'Neill, whose job by many accounts is under threat, delivered a "gladiatorial" style talk to his team, with an anonymous player labelling it "cringe".
This is not the first time that the Panthers chairman has used choice words, with O'Neill last year labelling Phil Gould's claims of an agreement with a Wayne Bennett move to Penrith as "a whole heap of bull***t."
There are also claims within Weidler's report that the chairman is wanting to emulate Sydney chairman Nick Politis' relationship with the Roosters squad, with some Penrith players jokingly calling O'Neill "Uncle Dave".
The interviewed player described the mood in the room when O'Neill spoke.
“It was all this gladiatorial stuff about who we are representing," they said.
"We know all of that. We know we play for the Penrith community and we are proud of that and don’t need reminding. We saw him walking up to us and were wondering what is going on here. The boys didn’t know what the point of it was.”
Penrith had a disastrous grand final week, with Brent Naden testing positive to a prohibited substance as well as the club being fined $10,000 for breaching COVID-19 restrictions in the form of hosting a stand-up event at the Penrith Panthers League Club.
The club today started pre-season training, with the team hoping to go one better next season and avenge their Grand Final loss to Melbourne.