The Penrith Globetrotters made the Canterbury Generals look like a bunch of amateurs as the premiers showed that they are primed to overcome the weight of history in pursuit of their fifth straight title.
In what can only be described as a humiliating first half for the Bulldogs at Accor Stadium on Sunday, the Panthers raced in six tries to obliterate their western Sydney rivals.
There was no turning back for the Dogs after being down 36-8 at the break and the Panthers cruised to a 46-26 cakewalk to set up a preliminary final showdown at Suncorp Stadium next Sunday against the Broncos.
Nathan Cleary had a field day as the Panthers ran rings around their opponents as they attempt to become the first team in premiership history to win the title after a 1-5 start to the season.
Coach Ivan Cleary’s only concerns could be a rib injury to Liam Martin and a hip problem for centre Casey McLean, which forced them off late, and back-up hooker Brad Schneider facing a ban for a dangerous tackle on Sitili Tupouniua.
He said post game that the two injured players seemed to be OK.
1. Cleary carves Dogs to shreds
The Panthers didn’t just defeat the Dogs, they demoralised them.
“I think this has been the best 40 minutes we’ve seen all year,” Andrew Johns said as the premiers puffed their chests out on the way to the sheds at half-time with a 28-point buffer.
The Penrith brains trust of Cleary, Cleary and Yeo sounds like a law firm but they could definitely launch a strategic planning business because their game plan was perfect.
They targeted Canterbury’s makeshift left edge in defence and as the Dogs unravelled, they exposed them through the middle and found even more space on either side of the field to silence the crowd of 56,872 dominated by the shellshocked blue and white faithful.
Batman Cleary and his “boy wonder” Blaize Talagi continually took the right option in attack to create overlaps for centres Izack Tago and Casey McLean to exploit with monotonous regularity.
2. Records made to be broken
No team in the 117-year history of the premiership has lifted the trophy after losing five of their first six games.
These Panthers don’t care about history, they just keep creating it.
They have no weaknesses, no one unavailable and no fear when they head to Brisbane to tackle a Broncos side that will be without suspended lock Patrick Carrigan.
It wasn’t just their 1-5 start to the year, they were pretty average for the next six weeks to sit last after Round 12
Often when teams drag themselves up from the bottom of the ladder to make a belated run at the playoffs, they run out of steam by the time the finals roll around.
But the Panthers look hungry and fresh even though several stars were involved in Origin and many of their key players have been dogged by injuries.
If they can conjure up two more wins to become just the third team since the competition’s birth in 1908 to win five titles on the trot, they will deserve their own chapter in the history books.
3. From top spot to finals failures
The NRL ladder at the mid-point of the season had the Bulldogs on top with a 10-2 record and Penrith languishing in 13th.
Canterbury spent another fortnight on top before they lost their way.
They finish their season with a 1-5 run, the opposite of Penrith’s year, and their only victory in that stretch was over the NSW Cup Panthers when Ivan Cleary rested his top squad in the penultimate round.
The mid-season arrival of Lachie Galvin and the resulting halves shake-up has been cited as the catalyst for Canterbury’s campaign crumbling but it’s been much more than that.
Reed Mahoney was shifted out of hooker, injuries and suspensions led to more line-up turnover and the Dogs didn’t seem to have a Plan B with their attack.
Paul Alamoti reaches out to score. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
They were committed but unimaginative throughout the second half of the year and that was again on show on Sunday against the Panthers.
There was a lot of one out running and very little shape in attack.
Apart from one bust for their only try in the first half, they went over the sideline with one attacking sweep and rushed passes to gift the Panthers possession. And oh, how they were made to pay.
Like the Raiders before them, Canterbury went from the top four to second-round goners after back-to-back losses.
Nathan Cleary celebrates scoring a try. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
4. Purr-fection from Panthers
After an early Canterbury penalty goal, the Panthers they engaged in a hot potato flurry of passes to allow winger Brian To’o to accelerate to the cornerpost for a 6-2 lead by the 10-minute mark.
They made it 12-2 a short time later with similarly slick passing with Paul Alamoti bursting through tackles from his former team to touch down on the right edge.
The Dogs but back when Jacob Preston stood up opposite number Scott Sorensen to stem the bleeding via a runaway Lachie Galvin try.
Cleary spun the ball wide after Lindsay Smith and Isaiah Papali’i popped offloads and backed up Alamoti to make it 18-8.
Blaize Talagi knocked the blazes out of Burton with a crunching tackle and then combined with Casey McLean to extend the margin to 16.
When Liam Henry latched onto a Mitch Kenny grubber, the premiers were out to a 30-8 lead and the result was as good as a foregone conclusion with 45 minutes still on the clock.
If there was a scintilla of doubt it was removed on the stroke of halftime when the Panthers offloaded at will again before To’o toed the ball infield for Papali’i pouncing for a 36-8.
Summing up their match, Bronson Xerri made a break in the 54th minute and Canterbury looked like scoring but To’o intercepted the last pass and Alamoti grabbed his second try to turn the procession of Dogs fans heading for the exits into a stampede.
They pegged back the deficit via tries to Preston and Xerri but Alamoti’s hat-trick sealer in the 70th minute put the Dogs back in their place.
5. Late switches fall flat
Ciraldo reinstated Mahoney to start at hooker after he had been relegated to the bench recently then out of the line-up altogether.
In yet another shake-up to the team’s spine, Bailey Hayward was sent back to the bench with new halves duo Toby Sexton and Galvin taking over the chief playmaking duties due to Burton being needed at centre after skipper Stephen Crichton was unable to suit up due to his ankle injury.
Burton and rookie winger Jethro Rinakama were targeted early in defence with the Panthers slicing through for a line break the first time they put them under pressure and a try the second time.
Sexton and Galvin were virtually non existent throughout the match and Crichton struggled to hide his anguish as he watched on helplessly from the grandstand.
Ciraldo has several months to come up with a better structure for 2026 because the Galvin-Burton halves combination struggled to click this season with neither player a natural first receiver.
They have Knights prop Leo Thompson on the way next year to beef up their pack while Mahoney and Sexton are out the door after being told they were no longer required.
But to fix their attacking woes, Ciraldo has to look from within his roster.
It could be time to give Crichton a crack at fullback to see whether he can give them extra firepower to alleviate the burden on Burton and Galvin.
The Kick: Dylan dodges bin for Kikau clash
Neither side was happy when Dylan Edwards was penalised for pushing Viliame Kikau off the ball.
Canterbury thought Edwards should have been banished for 10 minutes for a professional foul while the Panthers used a captain’s challenge because they thought their fullback did nothing wrong.
Kikau was chasing a bouncing ball after charging down Cleary’s opening clearing kick of the match and Edwards definitely got his paws on his former teammate before he had a chance to claim possession.
“He could have been sin-binned given they were the only two players in the backfield,” former NSW coach Brad Fittler said on Nine commentary.
Penrith put up their captain’s challenge in just the second minute after referee Ashley Klein penalised Edwards but the Bunker ruled the professional foul option out of the equation because the ball had bounced away from Kikau.
“We’re ruling out a professional foul and penalty try because there is the element that they’ve overrun the ball. However, Dylan has tackled him without the ball,” Bunker official Chris Butler said.
Just because the ball bounced away from Kikau doesn’t make Edwards’ tackle less of a professional foul.
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