PENRITH, NSW – As the trade deadline gets closer, the Lions have made some last-minute trades.

The Lions have traded away running back Fred Pickney to the Entebbe Elders in exchange for a second and third-round draft pick. The move ends the short spell of Pickney on the Lions roster and returns a second-round selection back to the Lions along with a third, to go with the fifth and sixth round selections the Lions picked up when they acquired Pickney earlier in the season.

The move provides Entebbe with additional help in the running back position, following injuries to most of their key rushers and provides Pickney with more opportunities to play in the offense, with the team looking more towards Steven Alvarado as their main running back, following several solid performances from the rookie.

Pickney, who played only 7 games for the Lions finished with 204 yards on 62 attempts, with an average of 3.3 yards per attempt, which was almost the same as what he achieved with the Derry Mean Machine, with his best game being against Florence in Week 1, with 83 yards on 13 attempts. Pickney will now join his fourth team in only three years and will look again to settle himself into another offense.

Speaking after the trade was finalized, General Manager Todd Carlton talked about what this means for the Lions moving forward, with many now saying that they are putting all their eggs into the basket of Steven Alvarado and are essentially trusting him with the run game moving forward:

“We feel confident that Steven is our guy, and that he can be a big part of our offense moving forward. We want to ensure that we are in the best position not just for the remainder of this season but heading into next season and we felt that the offer given to us by the Elders was the right decision for us as a franchise. We appreciate Fred's effort and commitment to the Lions in just a short time, and we wish him all the best over the remainder of the season and moving forward".

PENRITH, NSW – Another last-minute trade made by the Lions, as the trade deadline gets closer for the league.

The Lions have traded away rookie defensive tackle Peter Gant to the Nice Baguettes in exchange for a second-round selection in the draft. In trading away Gant, the Lions have traded away at least one drafted rookie in the last two seasons, while also becoming the most active team this season with regards to trades, making their 20th trade official.

Gant, who was drafted in the first round this season, finished his career with the Lions with 4 tackles and a sack in only five games played for the team. He joins a Nice roster that is coming off a solid victory and only two loses this season, leading the FB South division heading into the second half of the season.

Rumours began swirling early last week about Gant’s unhappiness with the roster and the direction of the franchise, and also his lack of playing time, and with Nice in the hunt for a postseason berth, there was opportunities for him to play more games and boost his career. The rumours were confirmed when a social media post was seen, made by Gant where he expressed opinions regarding the team following the Week 7 loss to Florence in which he failed to make a tackle.

The team made a quick decision to offer him up for trade and given the quick nature of the decision, finding a trade so quickly may work out well for both sides as Penrith now have an additional selection in the second round of the draft, and currently have 13 selections, some of which may be swapped heading into the last few hours of the trade period for this season, or during the offseason.

Speaking after the trade was finalized, General Manager Todd Carlton talked about what this means for the Lions moving forward:

“We want to wish Peter all the best as he heads off to a new chapter in his career. We are disappointed that things haven’t worked out well for him here, but we feel that he will have much better opportunities moving forward from this trade, and we can begin planning for what we want to do with the pick selection that we have received. We feel that this is the best path forward for us as a team and for Peter in his career”.

PENRITH, NSW – The Lions have made a final trade with the Baguettes, as the trade deadline passes for the league for the season.

In the final trade made before the closing of the trade deadline for the 2024 season, the Lions and Baguettes have made a last-minute trade. The Lions have received defensive end Pedro Lee, whilst handing over a sixth-round selection to Nice in the 2025 draft.

The Lions were on the lookout for additional support at defensive end following confirmation that Joseph Hoops will be likely out for the remainder of the season with a very nasty leg injury suffered in the loss to Florence. Lee joins the Lions with 17 tackles and 6 sacks across 9 games, however, he has not played a game this season and will most likely slot right into the defensive end position on the field.

Speaking after the trade was finalized, General Manager Todd Carlton talked about what this means for the Lions moving forward:

“We are saddened by the potential loss that Joseph is to our roster this season, and we know that his recovery is the utmost importance to us, and we will be supporting him and we felt that it was important that we bring in some reinforcements moving forward as Joseph begins his recovery, and we felt that Pedro was the right fit for us, he is confident to get right involved and we hope that he can integrate into the squad quickly and be a positive influence to the side as we head into the second half of the season”.

Penrith slumped to their fifth defeat of the season and fifteenth in the last two seasons, with a demoralizing 28-7 defeat to the Florence Fools, who get their second divisional win of the season and consign the Lions to the bottom of the division. The Lions on their opening drive got close to the scoreboard, but a missed field goal wasn’t the least of their worries with the Fools going forward with 17 unanswered points on their next three drives, while the Lions could only muster a punt, a fumble and an interception. That was enough for the Lions to not even be in the game, with the only positive being a 69-yard interception by Luis Walsh that resulted in their only score of the game, but by that time, the game was all but over.

In other news around the team, ownership has finally begun to make changes, however, not the way that many think the team should have, with quarterbacks coach James Myers announcing that he is stepping down from the role at least for the upcoming game as he deals with a personal family matter. The team announced that former Phoenix Head Coach Franklin Deshotel has joined the coaching staff and will take on the role for at least the remainder of the season. Through a team statement, the Lions ownership made it known that the decision to bring in Deshotel was made with the support of James and what this means for the team moving forward for at least the remainder of the season:-

“James Myers is returning to California this week to deal with a personal family matter, something that will mean he is unable to continue in his role as quarterbacks coach for the team. We have placed James on administrative leave and his role will be filled, at least for the remainder of the season by Franklin Deshotel, who has agreed to the role. We will continue to support James and his family through this period of time and look forward to welcoming him back in due course in a role to be decided later. The team will be making no further comments”.

The Lions will need to ignore the distraction, as they head back home to face the Balsicas Zombies, who are again on top of the division and on a three-game winning streak, as they took a narrow 9-6 victory over the Reasonable Lengths last week and will look to extend their winning streak against the Lions to three. The game looks to be another blowout, even with the low scoring last week. The likes of running back David Fodor, who ran for 115 yards in his return from injury, and Tiberius Shambles who has thrown for an average of 203 yards in his last three games look to be no match for the Lions offense, which is struggling to manage much, Joe Chacon averaging a meagre 173.6 yards in his last three games, whilst the entire offense has managed one offensive touchdown in the last three. It is not pretty reading for the franchise.

The Lions will be looking to get things somewhat back on track, but it won’t look likely, with the Lions sitting in the bottom third for passing touchdowns per game, while Shambles has only had the game against the Lengths being only his second game this season without a touchdown, and the Zombies again seeing a solid defensive structure, led by Sammy Shock with 37 tackles and Clarissa Woodwind with 34 tackles, meanwhile, most of the Lions defence is being led by Paul Quick, sitting with 65 tackles, which leads the league across the opening seven games. It seems to be the only and small positive light that the Lions have, small pockets of solid performances, surrounding downgrading and poor performances from other members of the offensive and defensive units.

Game Prediction: Sorry, not a chance. Zombies to walk this one in, 20 points plus will be the margin.

Another defeat, the same story for the Lions as they went down to the Zombies 27-16. The Lions gave up 17 unanswered points during the middle of the game, before they were able to get back into the contest, but another fine touchdown from Tiberius Shambles in the third quarter put the game basically out of reach, even with the two field goals from Jeffery Paz late on could not get the Lions over the line, and the Zombies were able to close it out, despite a last drive push that got the Lions all the way to 11-yard line, but they just couldn’t get it done.

Speaking after the game, Head Coach James Jennings was confident that the losing streak would end at some point, adding that this is a long process that the team is going through:-

“We are in a bad spot right now; it is not good enough where we are right now, and we understand that. It is a struggle for our fans and all we ask is that they stick with us through the tough times, even with them being as tough as they are. We will, as a franchise, come out of it looking so much better for it, knowing that defeats are not as hard to swallow as they are, and we can celebrate the victories because they will be even sweeter. We are going to get there; we are going to be a better and a stronger franchise for it in the long run”.

Penrith head into Week 9 to face off against the Echunga Echidnas, in the first Australian Derby matchup. The Echidnas come in off the back of a solid 24-3 demolition of the Edlington Anarchy, with Knuckles S. Knuckles showing his skills, with another solid performance, throwing another 200+ yard game, and avoiding the sack for the third time this season and showing why he is considered an elite quarterback this season, nine touchdowns so far this season, even with a high 62.2% completion rate. Looking at the Lions, with Joe Chacon sitting at 68% pass completion, the issue with the Lions is that the receivers just are not getting into the endzone, with the Lions at 5 receiving touchdowns all season, where the Echidnas are with 11 touchdowns. There is a big discrepancy with the offenses of both teams, and many predict a solid Echidnas win.

The defence still is not firing on all cylinders, with only a small handful of players being the shining lights on the team, another nine tackles from Robert Jimenez, seven from Paul Quick, to push him further ahead in the tackle count. The Lions will again look to have another top ten tackler on the defense, with Douglas Dunham looking like being down on his tackle count, only with 35 compared to 75 last season. It is just one of the number of decreases that the Lions have seen across both sides of the ball this season and just shows the rebuild is going to take a whole lot longer than just one season.

The Lions head into the game with a small injury crisis, with star cornerback Luis Walsh looking like missing the game with a leg complaint, while Jeremy Keillor will also miss with turf toe. The main concern with Joseph Hoops looks promising, with his recovery coming along nicely, however, team doctors believe that he will still miss the remainder of the season.

Game Prediction: Lions could get this one, a small victory. 7 points.

The Penrith Lions today have today relieved Edward White from his duties as Offensive Coordinator and relieved James Myers from his duties as Quarterbacks coach, it was announced by Owner Leam Mark Farrar today.

STATEMENT FROM OWNER LEAM MARK FARRAR

“On behalf of the ownership and organisation, I want to thank both Edward and James for their dedication and service to the team in their positions, and we sincerely appreciate all that they have done for the team over the last two and a half seasons.

“Following extensive discussions with both Todd and James, we determined that we needed a new direction for the team and how that will be made for the best interests of the team moving forward. This change is being made out of respect to both Coach White and Coach Myers and to allow us to immediately allow our coaching staff to rebuild and start their work together.

“We also understand and respect that Coach Myers is undertaking leave from the franchise to deal with a personal family matter, however, we have been in constant contact with him, and he has been part of these decisions at all times.

“We are pleased to appoint on a full-time basis Coach Deshotel as our quarterbacks coach and welcome Coach James Henry as our new Offensive Coordinator. Coach Henry joins us after a successful spell as the Head Coach of the Nice Baguettes, and we look forward to him bringing a new style of game to our offense over the remainder of this season and beyond.

“As we begin the process of evaluating our football operations and our franchise, I will be taking the lead in this review and evaluation, while we all remain focused on playing competitive football to finish the season on a positive note."

The Lions may have seen the same result; however, it was much closer than many expected, with the Lions going down to the Echidnas 17-10. In a close one, the Lions lead 10-3 as the game almost reached half-time, but a last-minute field goal that tied it up put the Echidnas back in it, and after a slow third quarter, the Echidnas managed the knockout blow with a touchdown from Knuckles S. Knuckles to Cutmethroat Dibbler, his first of his short career, consigned the Lions to their seventh defeat of the season, and many are beginning to wonder if this is just another season worth scrapping and already starting the focus on next season. Being six games behind the leading Zombies, and five games behind the final postseason spot, the Lions season could be all but over now, but officially; they are still in the hunt somehow.

The Lions looked like a different team in the game, despite the defeat. Quarterback Joe Chacon having only his third game for the team without an interception and a second straight game with a touchdown, which might be the spark that he, and the offense needs to get things moving, even in a small and slow direction. He also achieved a career high of season passing yards, reaching 1,706 yards on the season, and the team will look to build on this, and while they won’t see the heights of 2022, these small records are going to have to be the glowing remarks on the season, something that can be taken forward.

Speaking to the media, Head Coach James Jennings talked about what these small milestones mean for the team going through such a tough season:

“We all look at these small milestones like they are big ones, no matter what. Even when you are staring down the season results that we have, it is still important to celebrate and appreciate these milestones. We have 53 players on our roster who are pushing themselves week in and week out and we cannot give up on them no matter what the team results are. 53 players who are achieving great results for themselves and for this team each week, and we will keep on going because with each small achievement, we get better each week and eventually, we will see the results come out and we will develop a strong winning tradition, not just as a team, but as individuals”.

The Lions head into Week 10 looking to snap out of the losing streak, with another visit to Balsicas, as they look not only to get rid of those losses, but to get back for the tough 27-16 loss only two weeks earlier. They are going to need to see the best from both sides of the ball, and not the performances they have been showing in the last couple of weeks. The Lions need a stronger showing from Steven Alvarado, who has struggled in the last couple of weeks, averaging a lowly 31.6 yards in the last three games, a big drop from the 68 yards in his first three games. On the other side, David Fodor has averaged 89.6 yards per game in his last three (up from 75.6 yards in his first three games). The one “advantage” the Lions could have in the game is that Fodor will miss the game after suffering an ankle injury against Florence that looks likely to keep him out for the next six weeks.

The defense of the Zombies is going to be a tough nut to crack, the Zombies being second in the league with sacks per game, achieving on average 3 per game, whilst only seeing 0.4 sacks against quarterback Tiberius Shambles, where the Lions are giving up almost 2 per game. The Zombies are seeing the defence also smother the opposition, forcing on average 6 punts per game, whilst the Lions are seeing Jeff Robinson on the field for on average around the same amount per game, with the punter sitting with the 15th most punt yards this season, with 2,789 yards (from 59 punts), while Jorge Gusta Vino is 6th best of qualifying punters with 2,353 yards (from 52 punts). The Lions will need to avoid nasty 3-and-out situations if they are to have any chance of making this a game, otherwise, it is going to turn out like it did in Week 8.

Game Prediction: Sorry Lions fans, but this is going to be another loss, but probably by a smaller margin this time. 10 points.