Penrith have woken from their NRL slumber to hammer the Sydney Roosters 40-12 with Nathan Cleary becoming the club’s record point scorer.
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.
Cleary did so by kicking six conversions and a penalty goal as he surpassed Ryan Girdler’s (1572 points) club record haul.
The 27-year-old halfback may well fancy his chances of overtaking Cameron Smith (2786 points) and becoming the greatest scorer in the history of Australian rugby league by the time he retires.
Nathan Cleary has kicked his way to being the Panthers’ all-time leading point scorer.
Nathan Cleary has kicked his way to being the Panthers’ all-time leading point scorer.
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.
