Maloney a driving force for Penrith
Halfback’s standout performance lifts Panthers to second on ladder
JAMES Maloney has continued his rich vein of form, powering Penrith to a 35-12 NRL win over the Gold Coast yesterday.
In the continued absence of regular halfback Nathan Cleary, Maloney pulled the strings, setting up two crucial second-half tries as the Panthers jumped into second spot on the ladder.
Maloney removed any doubt he deserved to retain his NSW State of Origin jumper, also running for 128m, coming up with two linebreaks and another two linebreak assists before topping off his day with a 72nd-minute field goal.
The only blight on Maloney’s otherwise stellar afternoon at Panthers Stadium was his missed conversion of Corey Harawira-Naera’s first-half try, ending his run of consecutive conversions at 39.
After ending 2017 with 16 in a row for Cronulla, kicking six straight for the Prime Ministers’ XIII and another four for the Kangaroos, he fell two short of the world record jointly held by Englishmen Liam Finn and Jamie Ellis.
The Titans copped a worrying injury toll with Nathan Peats (ribs), Dale Copley (hamstring) and Jai Arrow (back) all failing to see out the game.
The Panthers controversial- ly took a 10-6 lead into halftime when James Tamou barged over despite Arrow and Mitch Rein both being down in back play. And with the game in the balance after the break, it was Maloney who turned the contest.
First he sliced past Ash Taylor – who didn’t look himself after copping a head knock in the first half – before finding a flying Dylan Edwards.
And with former Panther Bryce Cartwright in the sin-bin, Maloney put Edwards through a hole before five-eighth Tyrone Peachey finished off the movement. Harawira-Naera – who was also a standout – got his second before a Christian Crichton miracle put-down in the corner put the icing on the cake as the Panthers went to 5-1 for the season.
Meanwhile, Luke Brooks has turned on the best performance of his NRL career to help the Wests Tigers crunch Manly 38-12 at Lottoland.
In a phenomenal first half, Brooks put on three tries and scored one of his own as the Tigers put on a 26-0 lead to help keep them fourth with a 5-1 record to start the year.
Benji Marshall was also brilliant yesterday, scoring twice, but the star was Brooks as he forced three line dropouts to set up one of the most dominant opening halves in recent memory.