Coached by Anthony Griffin and captained by Matt Moylan, the Panthers competed in the National Rugby League's 2017 Telstra Premiership.

With club executives Brian Fletcher and Phil Gould questioning the necessity of the tournament,[28][29] and a number of players unavailable for selection due to recent representative commitments,[30] the Panthers fielded a largely inexperienced squad at the 2017 NRL Auckland Nines on 4–5 February.

Regardless, the team won all 3 of their pool matches, and progressed to the Grand Final, where they were defeated 10–8 by the Sydney Roosters.

[31][32] In addition to competing in the National Rugby League, the Panthers also fielded semi-professional teams in the National Youth Competition's 2017 Holden Cup (Under-20s) and the New South Wales Rugby League's 2017 Intrust Super Premiership (NSW Cup).

The NYC team was coached by Garth Brennan and captained by Wayde Egan, and the NSW Cup team was coached by David Tangata-Toa and captained by Sione Katoa in early rounds and Darren Nicholls in later rounds.