Panthers wrap up minor premiership
The Penrith Panthers secured the NRL minor premiership with a comfortable 32-12 win over the North Queensland Cowboys last night.
Victory in Townsville took the Panthers five points clear of the second-placed Melbourne Storm, who play tonight, to clinch the JJ Giltinan shield with a week to spare.
Penrith raced to a 14-0 lead inside as many minutes and were ahead
20-0 at the break in a game they never looked like losing.
Viliame Kikau was a constant threat against his former club. The only concern from the game for Panthers coach Ivan Cleary is that the Fijian international was placed on report for a high tackle on Valentine Holmes.
The 20-point defeat was a disappointing farewell for Gavin Cooper, the 320-game NRL veteran who spent
10 years at North Queensland and was playing his last home game for the club.
The Panthers rested experienced trio James Tamou, Api Koroisau and Zane Tetevano for this match but were still far too strong.
The Cowboys welcomed Jason Taumalolo back from injury but he was unable to make his usual impact.
Penrith had won the minor premiership just twice before in their
53-year history — in 1991 and 2003 — and went on to win the grand final both times.
Few would bet against the Panthers repeating that feat this season after recording a 14th straight win last night.
Another against wooden spoon contenders Canterbury next Saturday would give them the NRL’s best regular-season record in 60 years.
● The Brisbane Broncos are one game away from the first wooden spoon in their history after losing to the Parramatta Eels 26-12 last night. The Broncos held out the Eels for 20 minutes but were down 20-6 at halftime and never looked like snapping what is now a 10-game losing run.