The Lions continued their good and solid form with another impressive performance, defeating the Compton Catastrophe 27-3 to move to a solid 4-2 record and sit in a tie for first in the division with the Florence Fools, who will be their matchup this weekend. It was impressive from the get-go, with the Lions defense stopping Compton on their opening four drives, resulting in two punts, a fumble recovery that resulted in the opening points of the game, as well as a 3-drive, -11 yard drive that resulted in a safety and gave the Lions a 5-0 lead midway through the second quarter. A lone field goal by Compton was all that they had to show for their efforts, as the Lions seemed to have an answer for everything today and made it their third straight victory and after some dodgy performances earlier in the season, the wheels have well and truly come back on for the Lions as they push on with their season and the hopes of another divisional title are well and truly back on.

It was another impressive performance from the run game, with Jerry Surge racking up another 93 yards, with Jon Salas chipping in with 43 of his own and a touchdown, while quarterback John Decaro shone with 220 yards and a touchdown of his own to rookie wide receiver Bret Archer, while Chidobe Baconthorpe lead the team with 81 receiving yards. Not to be outdone, the defence racked up its own impressive stats with linebacker Andrew Meeks managing to break his own career-high tackle count with 13, having only just set his new career-high record back in the Week 2 matchup against Compton (11 tackles that day). Second-year linebacker Nathan Small chimed in with 6 of his own, while also forcing a fumble early in the fourth quarter, that eventually led to the Jon Salas rushing touchdown to extend the lead.

Speaking after the game, Head Coach Roy Rodriguez was happy with the result, but still knew that there was a lot of hard work to be done for the team, but was adamant that they were on the right track:-

“It’s three weeks, and we aren’t resting on anything that we have done, they are in the book, and we need to always move onto the next week. We do know that we have a lot of hard work left, and we won’t be resting on these results so far to just say that we are better than we were, because we know that if we stop and just hope that because we have three straight wins, then our opponents will just fly right past us and take us to the cleaners. We need to be ready for anything that can come our way and that is what we are focussing on every single practice and every single week. We have that mentality and that is what is guiding us right now and what will keep pushing all of us through this season”.

The Lions now face off against the also 4-2 Florence Fools, a team that is also on a three-game winning streak and will be looking to also keep their unbeaten divisional record in tact this season, and will be looking to break a losing streak to the Lions since Week 15 of the 2027 season, and are coming into the game off the back of a 10-6 victory over Harnosand, having averaged 15 points over those three games, while only giving up 25 points across those games, at an average of 8.3 points, but Penrith have been in a much stronger position (67 points, average of 22.3 points, while conceding only 15 points at an average of 5 points). With the push that the Lions have been on, it could be a tough one for Florence, but Florence themselves are on a strong push as well, and this game could be one for the ages.

With an offense that has the likes of running back Leeroy Jenkins, who managed 114 yards against Harnosand, showing why he is still an explosive feature of the Florence offense, especially now as rookie Mr Bill is still out with a knee injury, as well as quarterback Hmm Goodenough, who, excluding the Harnosand game, has thrown for a touchdown in every game this season, and is currently the 8th quarterback in the league with the best pass completion percentage (68.1%) with John Decaro only slightly lower at 65.4%, and with the Lions still struggling to get that passing game working, down at 23rd with an average of only 146 yards per game, they are now getting the pass defence working, only giving up an average of 149.2 yards per game, where as Florence are giving up just over 190 yards per game. It is going to be the run game that is going to show the difference, with Florence giving up only 96.7 yards on the ground, Penrith giving up 142.5 yards per game, the speed that Leeroy Jenkins can show, he will be looking for more of the same, even with the five straight losses, Jenkins has run for 175 yards himself, so this could be tough if the Lions don’t find a solid way to shut down the Florence run game and force them into an aerial attack throughout most of the game.

There hasn’t been much injury news this week, with the push now to get running back Antonio Rojas back into full training as soon as he is medically cleared, with the star having a slight setback this week, with fears he may have reinjured himself in a light run session he was doing with the medical staff and trainers, but scans showed nothing additional, so they have dodged that bullet. The only other issue is with defensive end Roy Talley who looks likely to miss the next month of football with a foot injury, with Head Coach Roy Rodriguez confirming that they were in the wrong when they brought him straight back in, but are confident that he will bounce back even better when he returns from this latest injury, while his management team also confident that despite the mess up with his return that he will be ready to get back into it when he is medically cleared.

Prediction: We really think the Lions are ready for this, the last three games have shown a strong side that has been better and better, and Florence could be in for a tough matchup. Still think that Penrith can manage this one, and get a fourth straight victory and that leg-up in the division.

The trade deadline is up at the end of this week, and many are wondering if the Lions will make any additional moves before the deadline, with this the most likely time to grab a few additional draft picks, or maybe a new player or two for the run into the second half of the season, and potentially into the postseason; but with the Lions on a four-game winning streak at the moment, and the momentum looking like swinging very much in their favour as they take down another divisional rival in Florence last weekend, the talk may be that the Lions won’t be active players at the deadline. Speaking to Majority Owner Leam Mark Farrar, he was assuring us that it would likely take a monster offer for the Lions to come to the table in the waning hours of the trade deadline:-

“To be honest, we are happy with the squad we have. Of course, we’d be happy to take the phone call if a team was at all interested in doing some sort of deal, but I think we have what we want out of the trades we have made so far this season. We have a really good team structure at the moment, and unless it was some sort of monster offer, a deal that we couldn’t refuse, something so remarkable that it was worth it to us right now and into the future, then I don’t think we will be as active as we have been in previous deadline day discussions. That is not to say that we can’t throw a curveball and make a last minute move right at the deadline”.

With only a few hours left in the trade window, the Lions have been more focussed on the review of last week’s game, defeating the Florence Fools 10-3 to secure that fourth victory in a row, and really show a massive turnaround from that Week 3 defeat to Zena. Since then, they have limited their opponents to an average of 4.5 points per game, while scoring an average of 19.25 points per game themselves. It has been a wild ride to be on, and despite the low scoreline, the Lions really could count themselves lucky to have come away with the W in this one. The opening quarter was probably the worst seen by the Lions in this run, 4 punts all from simple 3-and-out drives, with a total of 22 yards gained (and that’s not an average, that’s the total). If it wasn’t for the legs of Jon Salas, who was able to punch out a quick 5-yard touchdown off an 11-play 63 yard drive almost at the end of the second quarter, the game could have been 0-0 heading into halftime very easily.

Speaking after the game, Head Coach Roy Rodriguez was pleased with the result, but knew that there was still serious improvements that the team needed to make if they were to manage further wins and push for that second consecutive divisional title, or even push themselves beyond that:-

“That first quarter was beyond disgusting. I don’t know what happened there, but our offense failed in every aspect. It was lucky enough that we were able to finally manage some offense in the second quarter, and then our defense sprung into action. If we play like that first quarter again, teams are just going to steamroll over us and the game will very easily get away from us like that. We need to seriously take a look at what went wrong on each of those drives and figure out a plan to make sure that it doesn’t happen again like that. We can’t afford complacency like that, thinking that just because we’ve won some games in a row, that teams are just going to let us get away with it like we have before. That isn’t how football works. We all need to work for it, and that begins with our film review, and it keeps going on the practice field. We execute the game plan there; we can execute it much better on the field and we will be at the pointy end when it really matters”

The Lions will have a chance to redeem themselves from that opening quarter and make their mark on the division as they face off against the third of those teams in the North York Wildcats, who themselves are coming into the game off the back of only their second win of the season and their fourth win in two seasons and will look to finally get the jump on Penrith, having lost three of their last four encounters against the Lions. North York are coming into the game off the back of a tight 10-6 win over Pozzallo and will look to maintain the momentum they have. Both quarterbacks in John Decaro and Quimbus Baconmaker have struggled this season, managing only four touchdowns each so far, and finding themselves more on the ground than throwing the ball, roughly showing about the same level of accuracy (Decaro is slightly lower than Baconmaker at the moment). The one surprising fact between the teams is the run game. The Lions have seemingly found the answer to their troubles, with running back Jerry Surge pushing himself higher in the rushing yards race, sitting 11th in the league with 390 total yards, while the Wildcats have failed to see the endzone when pushing on the ground, with running back Garret Molyneux only managing 288 yards (an average of 3.6 yards per run). Despite a lack of receivers managing anything last week, the Lions still are seeing a solid improvement from Chidobe Baconthorpe this season, currently the 8th best receiver in the league (324 yards, 13.5 yard average) and will need to see more from him, including hopefully some catches in the endzone to boost those numbers even further.

The defense is also showing signs of life even more, with the likes of linebacker Andrew Meeks sitting with 51 tackles on the season, leading the team, along with three sacks and they will look to him to lead the defense again as they look to shut down a Wildcats offense that could hurt them when the signs are there. Despite only averaging 6.5 points per game over their last four games, the Wildcats have shown that they can take the game to their opponents. After giving up the 6 points to Pozzallo last weekend, the defense of North York effectively shut the Sicilian Slicers down, forcing them into a total of 6 drives, with four resulting in punts, a loss of downs and an interception, with an average drive of 4.8 plays and 23 yards. What is going to help the Lions is going to have to be a combination of both sides of the ball working together essentially. An offense that can explode and put points on the board early, and a defense that needs to make crucial decisions and crucial stops when it counts, to limit the effectiveness of that almost 70% pass completion from Baconmaker.

In further good news, it looks likely that running back Antonio Rojas will be ready for full training either this week or next week, with a return very likely in either Week 10 or Week 11. That is welcome news but does present itself with the potential for a running back controversy with Jerry Surge showing his brilliance in Rojas’ absence. With the deadline well and truly passed once Rojas returns, how will they manage this for the remainder of the season. Rookie center David Munoz and offensive guard Alonzo Black are facing last minute fitness tests to be passed fit to play in this game, with the likeliness that Black will not play regardless, but that David Munoz may make a last minute switch into the active lineup depending on his fitness test, while defensive end Roy Talley is the only other serious concern, looking like still being out of action for the next month as he recovers from his foot injury.

Prediction: The Lions have the momentum here; they have the ascendency to go further. A fifth win on the trot would be amazing, but history in these situations has not been kind to the Lions. Both times the Lions have gone for a fifth straight win, they have faltered either very badly (17-0 shutout to the Cubs in 2022 anybody?) or have lost a close one (also, 2022 against Los Angeles). I think this team here can buck that trend and get that fifth win in a row this weekend!

With the trade deadline now over, the Lions along with every other team, made no last minute trades and took the same 53-man roster into the second half of the season, and the Lions made every effort to show that they are going to force their way into the discussions for a divisional title and a postseason berth, with a smashing 33-6 victory over the North York Wildcats, to extend their divisional record over the last two seasons to 9-1, and push themselves to their fifth straight victory, the first time that the Lions have achieved this record in their franchise history. Penrith took another step towards really showing the changes that they have made since their opening games of this season, having defended very tough opposition, and giving up only 24 total points, who are the second best defence in that period of time, only behind Stockholm who have given up 16 total points.

The Lions looked the stronger of the two sides from the opening kickoff, with four of their opening six drives resulting in points, while forcing North York into three punts, a missed field goal and two interceptions, with the Wildcats forced into pushing quarterback Quimbus Baconmaker into rushing as well, and he ended up leading the team with 36 yards, while running back Jerry Surge once again staked his claim for the top spot there with a massive 102 yards on the ground, and while it didn’t result in a score today, he has shot himself up into ninth in the rushing yards leaderboard for the season, while quarterback John Decaro had another solid performance, racking up another 220 yards in the air, to go with three touchdowns and despite three sacks on the day, he did finally manage a game without an interception, making that his fourth of the season.

Speaking after the game, Head Coach Roy Rodriguez was pleased with the effort put in, knowing the difference that a week can make but also keeping himself, and his team grounded as much as possible, knowing what the remainder of the season has in store for them:-

“It’s a great day when you can come storming out of the gates like that, putting a lot of points up on your opponent and knowing that you have the tools on the field to be able to weather anything that they put up against you. We’ve truly been on the other side of that before, so I know the feeling from both angles. We just need to understand that it is just another game, we still have plenty more games to go through this season and it’s not over yet. We still need to be working harder than we did this week to be ready for our next game, to be ready for our next opponent and to make sure that we stick to that plan, because if we start looking too far ahead, thinking that just because we’ve won five games in a row that we are unbeatable, that is when we will get beaten. We aren’t looking at this as a fifth win a row, we are looking at it as a victory, and we go again next weekend for another 1-game winning streak”

Penrith now, after a three-game divisional run, head off to face off against the Al-Asfoor Oryx (formerly Catacol and Wausau), and will look to get their third straight victory over them, having last played back in 2026. The Oryx are looking to be a much improved team this season, sitting at 5-3, already hitting their win total from last season and will be looking to get back into the postseason for the first time since 2023, and already two games ahead of the Crazy Wolves, while the Lions are still fighting to get a gap from the Fools, having the lead by only one game at the moment (Florence are up against the Crazy Wolves this weekend). Al-Asfoor have seen a marked improvement, running as the 5th best passing team so far this season, while giving up almost the most in pass completion (giving up 72.2%, average of 162 yards per game), compared to the Lions who are giving up only 140.1 yards per game (3rd best in the league) at 55.1% pass completion percentage (2nd best in the league). It’s the running game where the Oryx are at their best, sitting third in the league, with 35.1 rushes per game on average and giving up only 28.4 rushes per game on average (the Lions are gaining close, now at 31.6 rushes per game, 7th in the league and giving up 25.3 rushes per game, 16th in the league). This game could be a shootout, with the Oryx scoring on average 17.2 points per game over the last five games (going 3-2 in that time) while the Lions are averaging 22 points per game (going 5-0).

The Lions do also get a boost in seeing both running back Antonio Rojas and offensive tackle Gregory Bradshaw cleared to return this week, however, the conversations throughout the week have been that both will be given another week to get back a little bit more conditioning and get themselves back into the training regime, before being put back into the active roster, which could be a decision that comes back to bite the Lions, if the Oryx defence can get a run on the Lions’ offensive line. They are both slated for fitness tests on Saturday and could make a surprise return depending on how it plays out. The other concerns are now with some of the defensive line with reports surfacing this week that linebacker John Matthews may have injured himself further following the game, and while he is currently slated to play as the backup to John Simon in the wide linebacker slot, there is rumours rolling around that he could be a late out if things don’t improve this week for him.

Prediction: Five wins in a row is a nice feeling, great to get that. Could we make it a sixth in a row this week. The Oryx are stronger this season than they have been in seasons past, but so are the Lions. The Lions have also severely limited their opponents of late, and Al-Asfoor got shutout last week by another team that is restricting their opponents even more. Really hoping for that sixth win in a row, let’s go Lions!

They did it the tough way, but managed to come away with a striking (and team record-extending) sixth victory of the season as the Penrith Lions managed to defeat the Al-Asfoor Oryx by 16-13, with many saying that this was their closest time to losing so far in this run, where they were matched up at every step and it was only the “magic” foot of Orlando Norris that came in to save them, knocking over two crucial fourth-quarter field goals to snatch victory from the hands of defeat and give the Lions that sixth win a row. Despite an opening drive resulting in a field goal, it was all the Oryx after that, with their defence all but stopping the run game (38 yards, the worst rushing attack in this stretch), with them stopping the Lions in six straight drives, managing to average Penrith out to 3.6 yards in that span, and it seriously looked like the win streak would end, but a third-quarter bomb by John Decaro managed to get the Lions ahead, before 5 minutes later, the Oryx answered back and looked like stealing the match away.

After the game, Head Coach Roy Rodriguez was not impressed with the quality of the game that the Lions produced for the fans and was adamant that things had to change if they were to keep the win streak alive, as they head into the final part of the season, and some very strong and tough matchups ahead:-

“To be honest, we were lucky there. We threw that game away during the middle part of it, it was terrible the manner in which we were playing and frankly, it is a surprise to a lot of us that we came away with the win there. Al-Asfoor deserved that win more than we did. If we play like that again, the win streak is gone, and we can push ourselves back to square one. We had no answer to their defence, their offence pushed further and further on our defence, and they had an answer to whatever we threw at them. Even the run game suffered today, it was just like the moment they found an answer to our game, we fell back into our old habits. We have some really tough matchups coming along, we have some serious opposition to face in these last seven weeks, any one of them could have that day where everything works for them, and if we don’t exploit that, we can simply go back to square one. We have fought long and hard these last six weeks to be where we are, and I don’t want to give that up. We just need to be better than we were today. Plain and simple”.

Penrith will get that chance to get back to the football they have played in the five weeks previously, and move on from what could have been a loss, as they face the winless Star City Slamhounds this week, as they head back to a home field that has been a little bit of a fortress of late, winning ten of their last eleven games at home, while Star City have had a season to almost forget about, with it really being only a couple of games that they have been close enough in to look at a victory, but just have struggled to get an offence going, with quarterback Joseph Christian one of the lowest pass completion quarterbacks in the league, down at 28th with only 60.3%, while John Decaro is up in 12th at 65.7% and with the Lions giving up an average of 55.8% in pass completion, second best in the league behind Heliopolis, this could be a very long day again for the Slamhounds. It doesn’t read much better for the run game, with Star City languishing at second last in the league for rushing yards per game (56.9 yards) whilst giving up over 125 yards per game, compared to Penrith who are up over 100 yards themselves, but their downfall is that they are giving up almost the same as Star City (129.3 yards). This could turn out to be a game for the receivers.

The injury front for the Lions has turned from an offensive issues to now a defensive issue, with defensive end Ernest Delcambre likely now done for the season with a serious knee injury, and linebacker John Matthews out for what could be the rest of the regular season with a leg injury. It doesn’t compare to the news this week that second-year offensive tackle Gregory Bradshaw has been confirmed with an ankle injury that now requires surgery and will see him miss the rest of the season. While the injury is not severe enough that the Lions have opted to put him on the IR list, it is enough that unless they make the conference championship game, Bradshaw’s season is done. In positive news, running back Antonio Rojas has been cleared to return to active duty and will line up for his first piece of action since Week 2, with the hope that his return will spark the offense, and in particular, the run game, back into life after the disaster that was last week.

Prediction: Star City have struggled this year, and the Lions are on the up and up still, so here’s going for a seventh win and extend that team record. It’s been a great season so far (well, since Week 4). Go for the win Lions!!!

This season keeps on throwing up some crazy results, and also showing what could really be achieved when the right roster, coaching staff and game plan is in place, as the Lions secured their seventh straight victory with a clinical 28-10 victory over the winless Star City Slamhounds. Despite giving up a 110-yard kickoff return to even the score midway through the first quarter, it was all Penrith after that, with quarterback John Decaro throwing for 126 yards and a touchdown, while Jerry Surge went for another 83 rushing yards and his second touchdown of the season, to put himself into 8th for the most rushing yards this season, with the real possibility they he will break the team-all season rushing record that was set only last season.

After the match, Head Coach Roy Rodriguez was pleased with the effort, having essentially shut Star City out after the touchdown for all bare the final 22 seconds of the game, but was adamant that this didn’t mean the Lions were there finally:

“It’s a victory, it’s not the end of it. It’s great to see a game like that, where we pressured the opposition all game and came away with a victory like that one, but it’s not something we can rest our laurels on and say we are complete. We still have some very tough opponents to come in our schedule, and maybe the postseason. We aren’t there yet, nor are we at our end goal. We still have some sloppy mistakes and issues that we need to be working on, and our opponents are seeing that and if we don’t fix those mistakes, or at least limit their weakness to our game plan and our team, then we will be left in the dust over the coming weeks. We have a plan, and a goal and we work every day for that”.

Penrith will have a tough assignment coming up, facing off against the 4-5-1 Paris side who are coming into the game off two solid and more than clinical victories, giving up 7 points in total and themselves scoring 53 points. After a tough run of three straight losses, and the tie against Tokyo, they seem to be back into the groove that has seen them as a perennial postseason team and always one of those teams talked about making a long run into the postseason, if not a title contending team each season. The Lions seem to be getting into a better position this season compared to previous ones, despite the last two games seeing them giving up as many points compared to the previous five matchups. It’s also going to be tough for a Lions squad that is still yet to manage a victory over Paris in three previous attempts.

This Paris side has been improving over the past few weeks, they sit with the 17th best passing yards in the league, the eight best passing attempts (averaging 36.7 per game) and are averaging around 25 rushes per game, whilst limiting opponents to the third lowest pass completion at 58.1% (Penrith only slightly better at 54.7%), so John Decaro is honestly going to have his work cut out for him. It may be that the run game needs to take the next step and keep pushing their ongoing improvement in this game, with the Lions the 9th best team when it comes to rushing yards per game, but whilst they give up almost 130 yards per game to their opponents, Paris are finding it difficult to get the yards themselves, but when they do, they are racking up the touchdowns, with 7 on the ground alone this season. With Penrith only producing 5 rushing touchdowns so far this season, and with a defense that is giving up 7 points in the last two games, this could be a real crash back to earth for the Lions if they let Paris get away with this early on.

If the Lions are serious about keeping this win streak alive, they are going to need to take that next step that they are always talking about, that next step that they need to take in order to be up there with the upper echelons of the league. There is a gap between the teams like Penrith and the teams likes Paris, and for Penrith to seriously be considered as having taken that step forward, they need to be winning games like this and whether it is a win by 1 point, or twenty; a victory is just that and Penrith can really make themselves a mainstay and a future long-term player in the postseason conversation year upon year.

The sad part of the game this weekend is that running back Antonio Rojas will miss the match with another occurrence of the arm injury that forced him to miss some games back in 2027, all despite an amazing 115 yard game against Star City, the Lions will opt to hold him out at least for this week and reports are that he will be reevaluated over the week before they make a decision on whether he will face off against Sumpan in Week 11. Besides Rojas, the team looks to be in solid fitness, with only the long-term injuries to Gregory Bradshaw, linebacker John Matthews and defensive end Ernest Delcambre still sitting there for a team that has had to weather some serious injuries this season but is looking for what could be seriously considered a double victory this weekend against an opponent who, with a win today, could really cement that spot in the long-term conversation as to where they are right now in the pecking order.

Prediction: It would be great to finally tick off another name in the short list of teams that the Lions have never won against in the history of the team. It’s only six teams at the moment. Would love to make that list have only five on it after this weekend and rack up that amazing eight victory in a row, Would really be something special. Whether it happens, depends on the Paris side that shows up I think.