By Alex Mitchell
Reigning premiers Penrith have reminded the NRL of their championship credentials, smashing Canberra 53-12 to leave the Raiders’ season in serious early trouble.
Doubles for winger Sunia Turuva and centre Izack Tago along with some Nathan Cleary magic ensured the Panthers were always in command at GIO Stadium, the visitors ultimately blowing the Raiders away with a six-try second-half barrage.
Ricky Stuart’s men are reeling at 1-4 for the season and looked uncompetitive against the league’s best in the absence of key playmakers Jack Wighton and Xavier Savage, collapsing defensively late in the piece as the Panthers scored for fun.
The home side dominated first-half territory but looked one-dimensional on the Panthers’ line, relying on crash balls and struggling to find avenues to the in-goal out wide.
But after looking up for the battle early, their heads dropped in a second-half whitewash that included three tries in the first 13 minutes.
Turuva’s first try was as simple as placing the ball down after Tago gathered a gorgeous Cleary kick and put him through, but his second was a long way from easy.
Stephen Crichton goes over the top celebrating Sunia Turuva’s try against Canberra on Friday night.Credit:NRL Photos
Capping a nine-pass, four-offload final-tackle scramble, Turuva kicked, gathered and grounded his own ball to put the Panthers 12-0 clear.
Canberra finally made their territory count after a cheeky Zac Woolford kick from dummy-half found Elliot Whitehead, moments after Penrith centre Stephen Crichton copped 10 minutes in the sin bin for repeated infringements.
But it was a rare highlight as Penrith hit top gear, Tago finding a six-minute double and Cleary scoring himself, strolling over the line after a Canberra defensive collapse.
Raiders second-rower Hudson Young got them back to 29-12 although Panthers edge Zac Hosking soon returned the favour, with bench hooker Tyrone Peachey crossing in his first game back at the club.
Bench second-rower Jaeman Salmon scored late in his first game in Canberra since Raiders coach Stuart labelled him a “weak-gutted dog” last season.
It was easily the Panthers’ most complete performance of the season, squaring the ledger at 2-2 with both their losses coming by a single point.
Canberra miss suspended Wighton again next week versus Brisbane and there’ll be little respite on the injury front, with none of Savage, winger Nick Cotric or hooker Danny Levi due back.
AAP
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