By Dan Walsh
Is this it? Is this the day we pinpoint Penrith’s expected, anticipated, “surely they’ll come good” revival as beginning in earnest?
Thumping wins in 2025 – think thrashing Brisbane at Magic Round, or pumping the Roosters a few weeks earlier – have proved a false dawn.
But a gritty, gutsy, Nathan Cleary-sideline-converting, 40-20-nailing triumph over Parramatta when they were, for so much of it, beaten everywhere but the scoreboard?
Who knows? It might be the start of something. It might just be something. Penrith’s 18-10 win wasn’t exactly pretty. But it certainly wasn’t a clash between 15th and 17th on the ladder either.
Not when NSW halves Cleary and Moses kicked for their lives, and the wingers targeted by those aerial assaults answered with pyrotechnics of their own. Nor when from the scrap and grind of a classic western Sydney derby, did Cleary emerge.
Not rugby union bound, as the latest rumours from the 15-man game would have it. But with a clutch 70th-minute 40/20 punt fit for the rival code.
Nathan Cleary takes on the Eels defence.Credit: NRL Images
NSW Origin teammate Dylan Edwards would pick up Cleary’s pass from his ankles a few minutes later, and float it over two defenders for Brian To’o’s match-winner.
Maybe it was something when you consider the stakes were so high, the statistics so startling.
Discounting Melbourne’s 2010 salary cap punishment, only the 1953 Wests Magpies, as a reigning premier, had sat in outright last after 13 rounds of a title defence. Penrith would have joined them with one more upset loss.
Discounting games taken to Bathurst and Suncorp Stadium, the Panthers were still staring down an 0-4 record at their adopted Commbank Stadium home, having been nigh unbeatable for four straight years at their old Penrith Park haunt.
So maybe this win did mean something. For what it avoided as much as it achieved.
Parramatta took up the home sheds on Sunday afternoon, as they do every game per their contract with the venue.
The Eels took up the early running as well, and will rue not being able to convert a dominant first half into more points.
Penrith’s ill-timed errors and penalties gave Parramatta plenty to work with. The Panthers were still out of sorts.
Josh Addo-Carr scores against Penrith.Credit: Getty Images
Blaize Talagi was caught offside in a rehearsed trick play. To’o fumbled coming out of trouble. So did Isaah Yeo. Mitch Kenny would’ve loved half a dozen moments back from the first half alone, not least a five-iron grubber – with Cleary forlornly watching it sail dead-in-goal – when a softer touch with a pitching wedge was needed.
The Eels, meanwhile, coughed up possession with their second touch of the ball. But after keeping the Panthers at bay, their first foray pulled Cleary into defensive error.
A left-edge sweep with prop Junior Paulo spinning and passing before he even hit the line drew Cleary in for Dylan Brown to pilot Sean Russell over.
Early attacking efforts from both sides promised plenty and only just came unstuck with one bounce too many, one extra pass, one errant touch.
Liam Martin playing for Penrith against Parramatta.Credit: Getty Images
When Cleary drifted across a stagnant Eels line, though, an overlap emerged and Casey McLean carved through. With Cleary’s Origin goal kicking yips staying north of the border, it was a 6-4 lead.
It only stayed that way because Penrith’s prize-winning defence was back.
Jack Williams, with eight on his back but wide open space in his heart, twice powered into the backfield from Moses short balls. Twice, the Panthers needed try-saving tackles to stop him in a minute.
Desperate defence by no less than half a dozen Panthers saved them on the right edge. McLean’s goal-line stop on Kelma Tuilagi somehow stopped him the next play on the left.
So 6-4 it stayed. Until Josh Addo-Carr celebrated his one-year extension with the Eels this week by flying over in the corner with an audacious touchdown. Zac Lomax matched it with a sideline conversion that sailed between the uprights even as he was slipping and landing on his backside.
Just as Parramatta’s wingers were sternly examined by Cleary, Tom Jenkins never escaped Moses’ kicking microscope. But he was able to finish off a 57th-minute left-edge shift that gave Penrith back a slender lead.
From there, Cleary, Yeo, Edwards and co took charge. The Panthers duly peeled themselves off the bottom of the ladder. And might have just started something.
NRL is Live and Free on Channel 9 & 9Now
Michael Chammas and Andrew “Joey” Johns dissect the upcoming NRL round, plus the latest footy news, results and analysis. Sign up for the Sin Bin newsletter.
