Nathan Cleary feasts as Panthers punish sorry Knights
A disappointing season ended on a high for Penrith as Nathan Cleary celebrated with a stunning points haul to cap off an outstanding individual performance.
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Ivan Cleary joked that he wished son Nathan could have found that type of performance three months ago.
In fairness, Nathan Cleary has not been Penrith’s main problem this year. But he showed again in the 54-10 demolition of a disgraceful Newcastle why he is the key to the Panthers’ future.
While the Knights’ performance would rank up among the worst in the club’s proud history, on the day James Maloney farewelled the foot of the mountains it was his young halves partner who sent Penrith fans home with reason to hope.
What has been a disappointing season for both clubs at least ended on a high for the Panthers with Cleary touching down for four of his team’s nine tries while landing nine goals from as many attempts for a club record 34 points.
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It passed Michael Gordon’s previous mark of 30 points set back in 2010, while his tally also outdid Ivan’s personal record of 28 points scored in a single game.
It was also more individual points than any of the other 15 NRL teams this round.
“I would have been better if it came about three months earlier,” Ivan smiled.
“It is good for him. You know what, he has tried hard all year.
“It has been a year that he would look back on and feel like he can play better.
“But not unlike the rest of the team, it is a necessary part of the journey and a year we will look back on and it will help us in the future.”
TOOL LITTLE TOO LATE
The Panthers went into the season with plenty of pressure on them following Ivan’s return.
But while that ended in a massive fail after missing the top eight, Nathan’s development continues to be one of the shining lights.
The Panthers’ led 18-4 at half-time and just made it look all too easy after the break with the Knights crashing to their biggest defeat of the year.
Newcastle played like the end of the season had already arrived with some really awful defence again exposing their shocking drop in attitude over the back half of the season.
“The defence is where you show your commitment to each other,” stand-in coach Kristian Woolf said.
“Once things became tough we weren’t real committed. It was a disappointing performance.”
But if only the Panthers played with that sort of attacking flamboyance all season who knows how far they could have gone.
At the start of the year many were predicting they had a squad capable of finishing in the grand final yet they went into the last round with the NRL’s third worst attack.
“It was definitely a disappointing year,” Nathan said.
“But I am very proud of the boys. We spoke about it during the week. It could have been a hard game to get up for with nothing to play for. But given the disappointing year we owed it to the fans and the club and obviously Jimmy as well. It was nice to go out on a high.”
In the end the scoreline was a fair reflection of the Panthers’ dominance on the day but again that only highlights what could have been.
“The wash up is we are not happy with the outcome,” Ivan said.
“I will take full responsibility for that. I’m very confident we have a plan going forward.”
NEWCASTLE’S SORRY END
On the week rookie head coach Adam O’Brien was announced as Nathan Brown’s replacement, the Knights produced what was right up in the grand final for their worst performances of recent years.
At the start of the season long-suffering Knights fan would have been thinking this would be the year that ended their finals drought that stretches back to 2013.
But the way their season imploded would raise an argument about what good has really come from the last five years of rebuilding since Wayne Bennett departed.
The Knights scored first in the second half when Herman Ese’ese crashed through to pull the margin back to 18-10 but after that it was all one way as the Panthers went on a wild ride.
The Knights also suffered a double blow after losing Sione Mata’utia (knee) and Kurt Mann (HIA) in the first half.
Newcastle’s only real highlight was when Starford To’a scored a 70-metre intercept try on debut.
PENRITH 54 (N Cleary 4 B Burns 2 W Egan M Leota B To’o tries N Cleary 9 goals) bt NEWCASTLE 10 (H Ese’ese S To’a tries M Lino goal) at Panthers Stadium. Referee: Jon Stone, Adam Gee. Crowd: 12,027