Panthers see off Eels
Nathan Cleary starred as the Penrith Panthers kicked off the NRL playoffs with a 27-8 win over the Parramatta Eels last night.
Returning after five weeks on the sidelines, Cleary set up three tries as the Panthers moved one game away from a third consecutive final.
Parramatta inflicted two of Penrith’s four regular-season defeats in 2022 and a 7-6 halftime scoreline in favour of the hosts reflected what was expected to be a close contest.
But with the Eels struggling to get out of their half, influential halfback Mitchell Moses was forced off on the hour after suffering a head knock attempting to tackle Viliame Kikau.
Within three minutes of Moses’ exit, Cleary sparked two tries to effectively kill the contest, kicking to set up Dylan Edwards for the first, then making the break and supplying the fifth-tackle pass for James FisherHarris to score the second.
That blew out the score from 13-8 to 25-8 and the Eels never looked like getting back into the match.
Cleary also set up the game’s first try with a towering 15th-minute bomb, with sharp work from props Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota paving the way for Brian To’o to cross. That came when the Panthers were down to 12, after Taylan May was sin-binned for a high shot on Will Penisini.
Parramatta got back into the match courtesy of three Penrith errors near their tryline. After initially struggling to capitalise, Oregon Kaufusi crashed over between the posts off a close-range pass.
Both sides attempted field goals in the three minutes before the break: Moses missed but Cleary succeeded from 30m for 7-6 — a halftime lead the Panthers converted into victory for the 54th straight game.
Last night’s result means Penrith next play in the preliminary finals in two weeks, while Parramatta are in action next Friday against the winner of tonight’s elimination final between the Storm and Raiders.