“If it was my business, I’d be laying off. But my dad, Jack, would never forgive me. He used to say, ‘Anyone who is happy to run second or third should not be allowed on the racecourse’.

“I should have waited until now and saved myself around 28 weeks of heartburn. It was awful seeing Nathan [Cleary] with his shoulder [in round 24]. I’ve had that same injury twice.

“Nathan sits just behind ‘Joey’ [Andrew Johns] in my opinion [as to the greatest halfback ever]. Joey played a stronger, tougher game, but Joey was also more of a solo performer. Nathan is the consummate team performer.”

Singleton, 82, has always loved a flutter. He confirmed this week he had won more than $1 million about “half a dozen times” on the horses, including a 100-1 shot called Charlie Bubbles, and earned $200,000 on Newtown when they beat Manly during the regular season in 1981.

Penrith have been his only league bet this year.

Singleton watches plenty of league, and had some free advice for the game’s administrators. For starters, he would love to see the return of an afternoon grand final, the game played in quarters, which would allow TV broadcasters to maximise advertising dollars, and wanted teams that scored to kick off rather than receive the ball.

The Jets clung to victory in the NSW Cup decider against North Sydney last Sunday, and it later emerged former president Barry Vining, 85, died of a heart attack after celebrating the club’s triumph.

No farewell for Jennings

Michael Jennings created a storm upon his return to the NRL, but he has chosen to bow out quietly by not applying to be included in the NRL’s official retiring players’ parade on Sunday.

Nathan Peats, Kevin Naiqama, Dean Whare, Zane Tetevano, Chris McQueen, Ava Seumanufagai, Hymel Hunt, Tautau Moga, Edrick Lee, Wade Graham, Dylan Napa, Brad Parker, Jesse Bromwich, Dale Finucane, Tyrone Peachey, Aaron Woods and Shaun Johnson will get the chance to thank fans one last time at Accor Stadium.

Jennings, however, did not apply to the NRL to be included. He also skipped an official luncheon on Friday.

The Roosters confirmed Jennings had retired, and he was one of seven players given a warm send-off at the club’s Jack Gibson Medal on Thursday night.

There was a lot of backlash when the NRL allowed Jennings to return to the game earlier this year. He had served three years for using banned drugs, but had also been ordered to pay his ex-wife Kirra Wilden nearly $500,000 in damages following a civil dispute in the NSW District Court in December 2021.

The NRL did not recognise his 300th game “due to his past conduct”, chief executive Andrew Abdo said at the time. Several players who continued their careers in England and had since returned will be recognised.

Doof Doof before Storm

Melbourne players were no chance of getting an early night’s sleep before the grand final because of an annual music festival taking place across the road from their hotel in Sydney Olympic Park.

Thousands of festival-goers attended the Knockout Outdoor dance festival at Sydney Showground.

Two years ago, several Penrith players told club officials how they could feel the bass vibrating through their hotel windows late at night. It is the very reason the premiers spent Saturday night down the road in Parramatta.

The Storm spent a few nights in Double Bay before they made the trek west for their captain’s run at Accor Stadium. Hotel staff warned them about the noise coming from the festival when they booked.

Pink is the new black

Pink is the new black. How else do you explain Penrith’s grand final strip selling out nearly a month ago?

Panthers officials confirmed to Grand Final Diary they were struggling to buy back jerseys themselves, with only a handful of 6XL and 7XL strips still available.

Melbourne will wear their home strip because they finished first on the ladder, meaning the Panthers will wear their pink away jersey for the first time in an NRL grand final on Sunday.

The club won the NRL state championship game against North Devils in 2022 wearing pink.

Manufacturers O’Neills, who also produce the Storm’s jerseys, produced 12,131 replica black ‘home’ jerseys for Penrith, and 5732 pink ‘away’ jerseys. The sales of pink jerseys last year outsold 30 per cent of rival NRL clubs’ home jerseys.

One of the men behind the pink strip was Shaun Mielekamp, the former Central Coast Mariners CEO who brought Usain Bolt to the club for a high-profile cameo and is now working at the Wests Tigers as their community manager.

Mielekamp was working at Penrith when they wore pink for the first time in the Women in League round in 2009.

“I remember captain Petero Civoniceva posing in the strip for Big League magazine, and he was like, ‘Are we really doing this?’” Mielekamp said.

“The pink included the shorts and socks. We wore it the following year, but when Phil Gould arrived at the club [in 2011], that’s when it burst to life.”

Coach Ivan Cleary wanted the pink used as the permanent away strip the first time he was at the club in 2012.

The pink strip has also been used in the early rounds of the regular season because the colour reflects heat better than the traditional black.

Hannant’s scratchie joy

There was plenty of laughter when Ben Hannant took to the stage as part of a guest panel at the NRL’s official grand final luncheon on Friday.

Hannant told those in the room at the Fullerton Hotel he won $200,000 on a scratchie during his only season at the Sydney Roosters.

“I’m tipping ten other young Roosters won the same scratchie,” host Andrew Voss quipped.

Reynolds’ Storm advice

Adam Reynolds lost two grand finals against Penrith – one with South Sydney and another with Brisbane – and says that if Melbourne are a chance of winning, they need to take risks in attack.

“You have to give them something they haven’t seen before, because they’re such a strong defensive unit – you have to play a bit of ad-lib football that can throw them off and create a bit of confusion,” Reynolds said.

“Last year, we spoke about getting one or two offloads every couple of sets, and trying to play fast. They slow the ruck right down, and work extremely hard from the inside.

“When I was at Souths, our strength was playing to the left. But we got them in the semi with a double-pump and a lead [down the right], which we hadn’t tossed up before. It was a different look. But they hunt so hard from inside, it’s hard to get those plays on.”

Reynolds predicted a low-scoring game, and would have leaned towards Melbourne had Nelson Asofa-Solomona not been banned.

Burton finishes on top

Bulldogs superboot Matt Burton was crowned winner of the inaugural Levels Network rugby league golf day at Concord on Thursday.

The brainchild of former Eels and Manly forward Justin Horo, the golf event featured some of the NRL’s biggest names competing for the cash prizes.

Burton, playing off 18, posted the best stableford score with 43 points on a countback from Parramatta’s Mitchell Moses and Todd Carney.

Dylan Walker and Feleti Mateo won the twoball event, while Souths pair Latrell Mitchell and Lachie Ilias and two sponsors won the fourball. Gold Coast’s rugby recruit Carter Gordon shot 37 points off a handicap of one.