Cleary takes Panthers points record in Roosters mauling
George Clarke |
Reigning premiers Penrith have woken from their NRL slumber to hammer the Sydney Roosters 40-12 with Nathan Cleary becoming the club’s’ record pointscorer.
The Panthers have been way below their best to start 2025 and, at 1-5 coming into Saturday night’s contest at Allianz Stadium, many were left wondering if their time in the sun was about to come to a sudden halt.
But in front of a 20,373-strong crowd, fullback Dylan Edwards, who outpointed NSW State of Origin rival James Tedesco, and Cleary helped the Panthers’ chalk up a win that keeps the flame of their premiership defence flickering.
This was the boa constrictor team of four-straight premierships, the Panthers slowly suffocating the Roosters before killing them off in the final 20 minutes.
“I’m pretty happy, quite relieved as well – it’s been a long time,” said coach Ivan Cleary.
“Our work in the first half where we were able to hang in there, come up with some points, that gave us confidence.
“Then the second half we started well and we got into our rhythm which we haven’t really had since Las Vegas.”
Halfback Cleary did his part by kicking six conversions and a penalty goal as he surpassed Ryan Girdler’s (1572 points) club record haul.
“I knew that record was coming up, but I was probably feeling sorry for myself over the last few weeks,” said Ivan Cleary.
“It’s an amazing record. Ryan Girdler was an outstanding player for our club, and that’s a lot of points too, it’s very cool and he should be proud of it.”
Penrith No. 7 Cleary is just 27.
If he can keep himself fit, then can he envisage overtaking Cameron Smith (2786 points) and becoming the greatest scorer in the history of Australian rugby league by the time he retires?
“That’s pretty far away,” the playmaker cautioned.
“Those are little things that you can tick off along the way but the more important journey was getting the win tonight, getting back on track and feeling like ourselves again.”
But things could have well gone the other way after the Roosters struck just four minutes in when Daniel Tupou crossed off a Mark Nawaqanitawase pass.
The Roosters were pushing to add a second in quick succession and again Nawaqanitawase was the attacking outlet.
His offload was hacked forward towards the in-goal by Tedesco who collided with Edwards as he raced after the ball.
Tedesco fell to the ground and appealed for Edwards to face punishment but the bunker deemed the Panthers fullback’s contact was incidental.
After a Naufahu Whyte high shot on the ensuing set, Penrith quickly found themselves up the other end where Cleary and Edwards combined twice to send Paul Alamoti over.
Cleary converted both Alamoti tries to surpass Girdler’s points tally to give Penrith a 12-6 halftime lead.
Cleary kicked a penalty goal soon into halftime and then the Panthers really began to turn the screws.
Isaiah Papali’i, Blaize Talagi, Edwards, who went in off a delightful Scott Sorensen offload, and Casey McLean all crossed to inflict more misery on the Roosters in the final 30 minutes.
Penrith’s sole slip-up came when Edwards spilled a ball coming out of his own end and Rob Toia struck off a well-worked Roosters scrum play.
The Roosters slumped to 2-5 and have now been outscored 120-38 in their three home games at Allianz Stadium this season.
Coach Trent Robinson blasted a Mitch Kenny hip-drop tackle that went unpunished and has sidelined utility forward Nat Butcher with a medial ligament injury.
He was also surprised Edwards did not spend time in the bin for his collision with Tedesco.
“We got beaten over the course of the whole game but they’re big moments,” Robinson said.
AAP
