{"id":831870,"date":"2026-07-29T19:13:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T19:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/831870\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T19:13:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T19:13:21","slug":"masked-panther-marto-eyes-world-cup-the-western-weekender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/831870\/","title":{"rendered":"Masked Panther: Marto eyes World Cup \u2022 The Western Weekender"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Marto desperate for World Cup call-up<\/p>\n

Liam Martin is determined to have a strong finish to the season with Penrith and get a call-up to the Australian team for the World Cup at the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Marto missed out on the Ashes series last year, opting to stay behind for the birth of his son. He obviously has no regrets, but missing out has made him hungry to wear the green and gold this year.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s going to be a busy period for Martin. He\u2019s commenced preliminary talks with Penrith about a contract extension. While it\u2019s understood he has softened on an initial desire to play in Papua New Guinea, there is no question Martin is on the radar of several NRL clubs \u2013 if he goes to market, don\u2019t be surprised if the Bulldogs, Eels and Wests Tigers all have a crack.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Liam Martin. Photo: NRL Photos.<\/p>\n

Cleary tees off<\/p>\n

Panthers legend Nathan Cleary has launched his own kicking tee under the NC7 brand. He\u2019s using the tee himself, and it\u2019s available to purchase from his website at http:\/\/www.nathancleary.com.au<\/a>. NC7 match balls are also being sold via the site, as Cleary expands his brand.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Cleary\u2019s new kicking tee.<\/p>\n

Mayor on the hunt<\/p>\n

Mid-Western Regional Council Mayor Des Kennedy is on the hunt for a replacement for the Penrith Panthers, who finish their short-term agreement to play in Mudgee this season.<\/p>\n

The Panthers took three home games on the road this year but that will scale back to two next year when they return to Penrith Stadium, with Bathurst and Magic Round on the agenda.<\/p>\n

There will be no renewal of the Mudgee agreement, so Kennedy is on the lookout for another NRL club to head his way.<\/p>\n

Spotted<\/p>\n

Panthers legend Mark Geyer, with a Western Weekender in hand, grabbing a coffee at Southlands Shopping Centre last week.<\/p>\n

Dream debut (kind of)<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t exactly his first NRL game, but it probably felt like a debut for Jaxen Edgar against the Eels last Thursday night at CommBank Stadium.<\/p>\n

His official debut game actually came last year, but he was an unexpected inclusion mid-game \u2013 so he didn\u2019t have the huge array of friends and family that tend to gather for big moments like this. They were there in big numbers last Thursday to celebrate Edgar\u2019s performance against the Eels.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jaxen Edgar with his family. Photo: NRL Photos.<\/p>\n

Creativity shines<\/p>\n

Credit to these fans who had two of the more unique signs we\u2019ve seen at the footy in recent times at CommBank Stadium last Thursday night.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Some great fan-created signs. Photo: NRL Photos.<\/p>\n

Cleary\u2019s last dance<\/p>\n

Sportsbet has launched a market that leans into Ivan Cleary\u2019s final two years at the club. \u2018The Last Dance\u2019 offers odds of $10.00 if you believe Penrith can farewell the super coach in style and win both the 2026 and 2027 Grand Finals.<\/p>\n

Spotted<\/p>\n

Injured Panthers hooker Mitch Kenny enjoying some Frango\u2019s for dinner in Penrith last Friday night.<\/p>\n

Country-lovin\u2019 Panthers<\/p>\n

Move over Brian To\u2019o and that boom box, a country music revolution is sweeping through the Panthers camp.<\/p>\n

Join Dylan Edwards\u2019 jam session and you\u2019ll be grooving along to some Luke Combs. Liam Henry loves it old school with the great Alan Jackson, while Lindsay Smith is a big Jordan Davis fan. You\u2019ll find Kalani Going chilling to some Chris Stapleton, while Billy Scott is joining Edwards in the Combs fan club.<\/p>\n

Robot referees? <\/p>\n

We\u2019re not sure what the purpose of this Parramatta Eels robot was at CommBank Stadium last Thursday night, but Panthers coach Ivan Cleary certainly enjoyed saying g\u2019day. Perhaps the robot is learning the ropes and will one day be a referee? Or at least throw him in The Bunker!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ivan Cleary meets the Eels\u2019 new robot. Photo: NRL Photos.<\/p>\n

Spill the tea<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t keep secrets, but I do protect my sources. If you\u2019ve got some gossip to share or you spot a Panthers player or official out and about, let us know about it. Email [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Masked Panther is the most mysterious journalist of all. He has the inside word on everything happening in rugby league.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marto desperate for World Cup call-up Liam Martin is determined to have a strong finish to the season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":831871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-831870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=831870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/831871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=831870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=831870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=831870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}