But things started to go downhill almost immediately after that. Under Gould and new coach Ivan Cleary, the club was forced to cut a number of senior players and withdraw contractual promises of pay upgrades due to salary cap tension. As captain, Lewis was caught in the middle of the chaos. I was asked if I had any ideas about who should have that clause taken out of their contracts. Lewis was then selected for the NSW Origin team and when he went into camp Cleary relieved him of the Penrith captaincy.
That, for me, was very disappointing. It was hard to turn up to training and do the best I could. I knew something had to change, not just for me but for Penrith as well.
I love turning up to training now. It has all worked out for the best and Penrith are going well, which is great to see. Lewis: Gus has a job to do and is doing the best he can. He has to do what is right for the club. Penrith are just out of the top eight. It's good to see the local guys getting a crack. Lewis: I love Penrith to death. I had been there all my life. Royce Simmons brought me through and gave me my first opportunity.
I won a grand final with the club. I will never forget that. For me, though, moving on has been a great change. It has revamped a lot of things I took for granted. My training has changed and I have learnt a lot from a lot of other players at Cronulla. I feel mentally fresh and I thank Cronulla for that. Lewis: The night was a blur, really. All the boys ripped in and had a great game. It was good to come away on the right side of the scoreboard but we have forgotten about that now and it's all about game two.
Bulldog: To be judged best on ground at the highest possible level must be a wonderful feeling. Lewis: To be honest, I haven't even got to watch the game yet. I thank all the boys, the players I was out there alongside. Without them there was no chance I would have won it.
Even out on the field, "Lewie" do this, "Lewie" do that. That made my job a lot easier. I didn't think I did anything special. I just did my job. Bulldog: Preparation for game two has been disrupted through injury and unwanted headlines. Lewis: It hasn't been a good thing but, having said that, all the boys are back in camp today smiling and confident we can all be back in full training by Wednesday.
Bulldog: You've been around the rep scene for a decade now but are you still in awe when you look around at the stars in a NSW side? The way we played the game was different, back in we relied on 'well if you score 20 we'll score 24' whereas the Sharks team, we built our team on working hard for each other. It was two totally different teams but with the same dynamics. Lewis unsurprisingly has plenty of fond memories of the exciting brand of footy the Panthers brought to fans in Preston Campbell was making breaks from nothing, Rhys Wesser was scoring metre tries.
Everyone just came together and confidence was flying high. We were so relaxed, didn't train too much, played a bit of soccer at Penrith Park, went to the grand final breakfast and looked across [at the Roosters] and though 'far out these guys look intense'.
I knew after Satts made that tackle [Scott Sattler's memorable try-saving cover tackle on flying winger Todd Byrne] we were never going to lose. Lewis ended up making four trips to England with the Kangaroos; he only played the warm-up games on his first in and was forced home early by a shoulder injury on his last, in the World Cup, but wouldn't trade any of it. A lot of the boys would jump on a plane and go to Prague, Barcelona, Amsterdam. Not just one or two would go, it would be a group of five or six of us.
Lewis had plenty to deal with in , with an operation to remove a cancerous mass in his throat followed by a departure from his beloved Panthers, where he was captain by that time.
You've got cancer, go get surgery, next thing you're in hospital, gets cut out, before you know it you're back on your feet, no one knows about it. I tried to keep it to myself, I didn't want anyone to think I was asking people to feel sorry for me so I tried to keep it as quiet as I could. At the time it doesn't make sense but it does in the future and in I realised the reason I had to leave Penrith was so I could be out there that night [after winning the grand final] with my daughter and my wife.
I'd love to see a Cronulla-Penrith grand final! I still love both clubs. I'd love to see a Cronulla-Penrith grand final.
They were the tough times but it was well worth it for Plenty of Blues fans were baffled by the fact Lewis helped the side to a drought-breaking series win in then was dropped in despite his form improving.
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