The Lions have proved that there is a bounce-back, winning their third straight game against the Slamhounds 24-3, and bringing themselves back to an even 5-5 on the season as some teams already talking about their season hopes being all done and others already planning for the postseason. The Lions are in that spot where the next few games could determine how it plays out, with early divisional leader Florence now dropping, and the new Wildcats rising, it could be all to play for, and with the Lions now up against the Fools this week, it could be make or break, whether it’s another fight for the division, or if the Lions are going to be also rans this season.

Penrith were just the dominate team all game against the Slamhounds, forcing them into nothing by punts in the opening half, and while the drive chart wasn’t better reading for the Lions, it still showed two touchdowns, another two from Joe Chacon who seems to have found his mojo back and despite the three more sacks, he threw for another 294 yards, to bring him over 2,000 yards on the season. The big talking point was wide receiver Robert Stroupe, catching and running for 115 yards, and while he didn’t see the endzone, tight end Wayne Snyder saw it twice and battled his way through for another 59 yards to bring his year total to 339 yards, and his first two touchdowns of the season.

Speaking after the win, Head Coach Roy Rodriguez spoke about how a victory like this, and the three-game streak has built up the positive spirit of the team and how it’s looking moving into the final six games of the season:-

“The guys are very much in a better spot; the mood has lifted a lot and they are playing great football. We aren’t trying to get ahead of ourselves, we are still taking this one game at a time, and we are looking more positive at where our weaknesses are, and how we can better play and manage to get those weaknesses out of our gameplan. We don’t take anything for granted, it was a tough road to get to 5-5, and I think we are better placed because of that, and better suited to manage when we do take a loss and take the victories as well. We aren't playing easy teams, everyone in this league is getting there and they are getting stronger, and we just need to do that as well”.

Penrith have made some personnel changes this week, releasing running back Brett Snow, defensive end David Jones and tackle Brian Comer and bringing in some new personnel, with cornerback Sun Deng (formerly from the Forbidden City Dragons) being one of them, with talks now around the place that Luis Walsh has very much been out of favour and has likely played his last game not just for the Lions but for his career, with the rumours floating around that he has already announced to his teammates that he is retiring at the end of the season. The new players are getting a baptism of fire, with the Lions finally getting their chance for revenge as they face off against the Florence Fools this week and will be looking for a shot to avenge the 10-3 loss to open the season.

Penrith will need to again get off to a solid start as they have in the last three weeks and smother the Florence offense to making mistakes. Unlike in Week 1, where the Lions let the Fools get away with the game, they will need to see the same outcomes and pressure that they have shown over the last three weeks, 5.3 punts on average over the opening two quarters of the game, they will need to be on their game, with the Fools looking to bounce back after two straight losses.

With a quarterback that has on average thrown for 287 yards (861 yards total) in the last three games, far better than the 192.2 yards on average in the opening four losses and has now shot up into sixth for most yards this season, and equal fifth for touchdowns this season, whatever the improvement that the Lions have done, it has started with Joe Chacon, and it’s radiated around the whole squad and has put the Lions back into the conversation. On the other side, Florence quarterback Hmmm Goodenough has gone from the opening four games averaging 123.7 yards per game to now 166.6 yards per game, but only one touchdown to show for that slight improvement (Goodenough had two in the opening four games) and while they have lost their last two, they have been close games, including last week by only a single point.

The Lions need another victory, not just for the additional number but the divisional race. Sitting at 0-3 currently, the Lions will need to win the remaining three games in the division just to get to 0.500 and with it likely that the FB West will only be represented by the divisional winner, with second place in the FB North almost assured of a second spot, there are still two wildcard spots left, so the fight is there for the Lions. If they can get back into the contest, it could be enjoyable for them, and a nervous wait for some other teams.

The Lions also head into the game with everyone healthy, bare tackle Brian Fernandez who is out for another three weeks with an ankle injury and the only other injury being defensive tackle Clarence Hoff who looks likely to be out for the rest of the season with his leg injury suffered in the game against Star City. Other than that, Penrith have a full roster ready to play.

Game Prediction: Revenge has taken 9 weeks to get here, let’s hope the Lions can get that first divisional victory this season.

The Lions came back to earth this week, another divisional loss and questions not so much about the coaching staff, but about whether the Lions are just purely outmatched in a division that has seen improvements across the board and Penrith seemingly treading water or going backwards. A team that won the divisional title last season, likely to manage maybe 6 wins, or even wondering when the next win will come. With only four games left in the season, many have concluded that the Lions are out of it and are just looking to get to the end of a third poor season in the last four.

The good news coming out the 10-9 loss to Florence is that Team Owner Leam Mark Farrar has confirmed that the entire coaching staff will remain, and he has committed to retaining all of the staff, led by Head Coach Roy Rodriguez. In a statement released earlier this week, he noted the exceptional circumstances that this season has been and that it would only be the right thing to let Head Coach Rodriguez see it through to the end, and that the team review that is still underway and is due for completion prior to the draft next season, has already recommended minimal coaching staff changes, considering any future coaching offers from other teams.

The Lions were in the same for some time of it against Florence, down only 7-6 at halftime, but once again, the second half was another sad story to write home about, with the Lions failing to take any chances, going five of six drives without managing to trouble the scoreboard, a miserable average of 3.2 yards on those drives. It was a field goal by Bench Warmer late on in the third quarter that effectively sealed the game for the Fools, the Lions managing a field goal to bring it back to a single point, but nothing after that for them to manage a come-from-behind victory.

Speaking after the game, Head Coach Roy Rodriguez was proud of the efforts, but conceded that the Lions season is all but over, despite mathematically still being close to fighting for the division:-

“We just couldn’t manage anything today, Florence were stronger. They have been all season. So have the Wildcats and even the Corpses, we are the only ones here who have dropped backwards. Whatever it is, we are just not in the right place to get it right. We couldn’t get the offense moving, the defense was lacking, it has only been special teams that has kept us in the game, otherwise that game could have been much worse. They did play their hearts out, but sadly, as it has become a recurring story this season, it just hasn’t been enough. We now have 4 games to round the season out, and we can get away, recharge the batteries, recover and come back next season with fresh minds and a better outcome hopefully”

The Lions welcome the Nice Baguettes to town this weekend, with the Baguettes looking to bounce back themselves from a shock 35-7 drubbing by the Hong Kong Kings, to stop their win streak at 4 and with Nice starting the season at 1-3, a four-game win streak looked like they were back in business but crashed back to earth very quickly. Taking on a team that has averaged 17 points in the last five games is going to be a tough ask for the Lions, who have conceded 15.6 points a game over the last five, scoring 15.4 points themselves, if the Lions don’t get the defence on point early on, this could turn out to be a massive blowout.

With the likes of cornerback Fanny Gumption (63 tackles) leading the defensive line, as well as defensive ends Lynn Gatewood (11 tackles, 5 sacks) and Branson Literature (17 tackles, 6 sacks), if the Lions offensive line can’t manage to stave them off, quarterback Joe Chacon could see himself on the ground more often in this game, and with the quarterback at 27 sacks this season, he is getting close to an unwanted record. The Lions need to see the Joe Chacon of a few weeks earlier rather than what they saw last week against Florence.

Penrith have also announced this week that defensive tackle Clarence Hoff has been shut down and will not play any further part in this season with his leg injury causing further problems, and they have opted to make him inactive for the remainder of the season. Other than that, and tackle Brian Fernandez out for another week, the Lions have a full compliment of their roster reading to play against the Baguettes.

Game Prediction: Can we bounce back and get a victory. Please let us get another win.

Penrith just had no answer to a Baguettes side that was screaming for a win, and pretty much wanted it so much more than a Lions side that is all but defeated and all but gone from postseason contention. Losing 20-7 in another sad day for the Lions organisation, there was just nothing that they could do that could counteract the performance from the Baguettes. Despite another game with a large portion of the stat line favouring the Lions, the scoreboard was what counted, and it was Nice who managed it.

Despite an opening drive touchdown to Wayne Snyder, Nice were able to bounce back straight away and then pushing away in the third quarter thanks to another Donald Brown touchdown (his 16th of the season), and then able to knock the Lions out with another two field goals, all while pushing the Lions to two fumbles (on consecutive drives), and four straight punts.

After the game, Team Owner Leam Mark Farrar was asked whether he regrets making the public statement to commit to Head Coach Roy Rodriguez next season as well as his coaching staff, and also about how he saw the game:-

“We are committed to Roy and his staff, he has a contract, they have a contract and honestly, these discussions are silly. We made that statement because we are honest with our interactions and our statements, nothing we put out there is against what we are doing. We have the review going on and we will continue to review the whole operation and we are committed to the recommendations that they bring to us and we are sticking with our coaching staff, that’s the end of that. We have been honest about our season and the team played hard, it just was not our day and we struggled. We will bounce back”.

The Lions will have to bounce back very quickly, as they welcome the North York Wildcats to town this week for their second to last home game of the season. The Wildcats, who have been under new owners this season, have shown a serious bounce in improvement this season, currently at 7-5 this season and look to be stronger each week, coming off a strong 23-13 win over the Slamhounds, all led by a quarterback in Quimbus Baconmaker, who despite a low touchdown number (6 this season), North York have seen a better outcome with all aspects of their offense, averaging 14.8 points per game over the last seven games, managing a record of 6-1, and rightly so are leading the division, while the Lions sit at the bottom, while managing all five of their victories, they averaging 15.2 points per game, but are giving up on average now 10.7 points per game.

Penrith, however, have some solid defensive structure, the likes of safety Miguel Logan sitting 12th in tackles on the season (79), and both Len Price and Christopher Frase sitting high up in the sack totals with 11 each, good enough for equal 4th in the league at the moment. However, this looks to be the only shining light, with overall, the Lions sitting at the top in turnover per game (+2.7) and 3rd in sacks/game (3). Whether the Lions can manage a victory, they really need to push the Wildcats to the ends of the game, and get back to forcing the opposition to punt more, while actually managing to get some points more than just field goals, if they are to have any chance of winning the game and getting a sixth victory and that first one in the division this season.

The Lions also are heading into the final month of the season with some nasty injuries to manage, with it all but confirmed that running back Steven Alvarado, cornerback Tom Henson and now linebacker Carlos Broman are all done for the season. For Alvarado, this is the second season in his three-year career that he has suffered a season-ending injury late on in the season. The concerns for his body now have to be mounting. The injury to Tom Henson now opens the door for Luis Walsh to come back into the active roster as he looks likely to call time on his career at the end of the season. While nothing official has been announced, the rumours are very much still flying around.

Game Prediction: Come on, just one divisional victory this season, please. Is that too much to ask for?

Penrith have again managed to keep their season on life support, managing a tricky 9-3 victory over the North York Wildcats, getting their first divisional win of the season, but with the Fools winning against the Corpses, the Lions are very much hanging on by a thread and would likely have to win out to just manage a wildcard berth in postseason. A boring first quarter, but then the Lions managed to get themselves off the mark with another Chacon/Snyder touchdown, their fourth touchdown combination of the season. Joe Chacon managing a solid 274 yards, but with another three interceptions, it just made a bad season just a little worse.

The shining light from the game being running back William Cole, a solid 105 yards in the game, his first 100+ yard game since the 2022 season when he played for Stockholm. Sadly, the Lions were unable to get a rushing touchdown, another week without one. Week 14 last season being the last time the Lions scored a touchdown on the ground, but with Penrith getting the win, don’t think many fans will begrudge how it happens, just that a touchdown is scored, and the victory comes their way.

Speaking after the game, Head Coach Roy Rodriguez spoke about how the game played out and how the Lions are approaching the final few games of the season:-

“We played alright today, was nice to get that safety and get the small margin, and honestly, we had a lot to say that we did right, the stat line was very much in our favour, but we also have a lot to look at in our weaknesses and as we always are doing at the moment, we will look at how we are going, what we did right and what we did wrong and go from there. That’s how we are approaching each game, and we win, or we lose, we keep on fighting no matter what, because I want to make sure that we are in a better position next season, and better than we are this season”

The Lions have another chance to make it two in a row, when they face off against the Sumpan Crazy Wolves, in their final home game of the season. The Crazy Wolves themselves will be looking for their second win in a row, and their second win in the whole season, having finally gotten that monkey off their back, winning a tight matchup against the Dutch Prodigies 27-26, getting the final say in the game, a last second field goal with the crowd at Sundbyberg going absolutely wild. No matter what happens, they are finally the last team to get a victory this season. Despite a 300+ yard game from Prodigies quarterback Scott Moseley, and a poor 99 yards from William Bradley, Sumpan are just more pleased to get the victory.

The Lions can look towards the rejuvenated bounce back, as they have managed back-to-back wins each time they have had a win streak this season and have not gone through a one-and-one since the middle of last season. Again, the Lions will need a strong performance from Joe Chacon, another 200-300 yards from him, with touchdowns from the receivers or even a rushing touchdown from the likes of William Cole or Caleb Frank. The Lions will head into the game with the same injury list that they have last week, with only seeing new addition Hans Young not playing this week, with Dennis Smith coming back in, and again, rookie Ernest Morley being made inactive.

If Penrith can get off to a solid start again, as they have done in previous weeks, and keep the interceptions down (Chacon has 18 this season, third most amongst qualifying quarterbacks), keep Joe Chacon off the ground, currently the quarterback with the sixth most sacks this season, then the Lions may have a chance to get the victory. That being said, both quarterbacks have lacked in their performances this season (Chacon throwing at 62.8%, Bradley only slightly better at 65.7%). The Lions will, however, need to find a way to nullify the tackle prowess of linebacker David Whitworth, leading the league with 99 tackles (best for Penrith is Miguel Logan with 83 so far, best for equal 10th in the league). Even safety Claw Scratchboard is up there with 83 tackles as well. They will need to find a way to stop both of them, and the defence, with the Crazy Wolves over the last three, limiting their opponents to an average of 17.3 points (Penrith is at 6.3 points per game).

Game Prediction: Um, we said a second straight victory last time this happened, but we think it will be right this time.

The Lions did it, they kept their season alive with an impressive 23-3 victory over the 1-13 Crazy Wolves outfit that on the face of it has dropped off several cliffs this season. Penrith dominated from the outset, forcing Sumpan into three straight punts and while it wasn’t that much better early on, once the Lions got going, it was all one-way traffic with 11 drives at an average of just over 23 yards, and holding Sumpan to only 9.7 yards per drive across the whole game. Penrith held the Crazy Wolves out, a net yards advantage of 338-142.

Once again, the connection between quarterback Joe Chacon and tight end Wayne Snyder was on full display, 36-for-28 and 280 yards for Chacon and a two-touchdown, 95-yard performance from Snyder, bringing his total to 722 yards on the season and six touchdowns, the most for his career. He sits second only behind wide receiver Robert Stroupe (Stroupe has 748 yards on the season, but only 1 touchdown). Chacon himself managing to get over the impressive 3,000 yards passing for the season, his third straight and will likely surpass his total from last season.

Speaking after the game, Head Coach Roy Rodriguez talked about the confidence that the team has heading into the final few games of the season and how they are placed heading into it, as well as whether or not he thinks the Lions will make the postseason:-

“The guys are looking solid, they are taking it game by game, and just ensuring we take it one game at a time, and not get ahead of ourselves. Postseason is not a bother to us right now, we aren’t saying anything to do with the postseason, we are just looking towards next week against North York, and what that game will be for us, with our training this week and our game planning. Whatever happens, will be whatever it is, and we will evaluate the season when that ends, whatever week that may be”

Penrith now get a chance to get a second divisional win as they head off to North York for another matchup against the Wildcats, in this quirky schedule that the Lions have had this season, they face the Wildcats a mere two weeks after their 9-3 victory, and the game will mean a whole lot more to both sides, with the Wildcats managing a 13-0 shutout against the Fools to tighten up the divisional title race for themselves, the Fools and now even the Lions are in the picture, but with the Lions basically having to win out and hope that both North York and Florence drop a game, or both; the title race could easily be decided this weekend.

North York bounced back from the Penrith loss, with nothing going wrong by the sounds of it for them against the Fools, despite the low scoreline, there was a look that Florence could have stormed back, but with the Wildcats limiting Florence to only five drives of more than 10 yards, it could have easily turned the other way very quickly had the Florence offense gotten off the mark. The Lions can easily look towards their win in Week 13 to kickstart their gameplan against the Wildcats, not a whole lot between the two sides has changed, the only real difference has been the roster changes for Penrith, with a change in fullback, with Dennis Smith returning to the active roster in place of Hans Young.

If the Lions are planning on getting the victory, take away the positives from the win two weeks ago, and the momentum that they have through the two victories at the moment, and they can really make a difference. If they can easily nullify the Wildcats offense, they will have a fighting chance to get the victory. With a Wildcats offense that is limiting opponents to an average of 10.4 points per game over the last five, compared to the Lions who are giving up 7.8 points per game over their last give, this could be a shootout, but on the flipside, it could also be another close and low-scoring game.

Game Prediction: We think the Lions can make it a third straight victory and make this divisional title race just that little bit more exciting...