‘Scary’: Nathan Cleary move puts NRL on notice as Panthers purr to seven straight

Nathan Cleary has led from the front as the Panthers put the NRL world on notice, but one detail should have rivals shaking in their boots.

Nathan Cleary is back and in a big way.

Everything Cleary touched turned to gold on Saturday as Penrith leapfrogged the Broncos into fifth spot on the NRL ladder with a dominant 36-2 win at home over the Tigers.

The Panthers have now won seven in a row and are in the hunt for the all-important top four place, an incredible feat considering they were languishing in last spot only two months ago.

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But it was seeing their No. 7 back with the kicking tee in hand and without strapping that had Panthers fans believing a fifth straight premiership is a real possibility.

Cleary was at his masterful best in Saturday’s win, setting up three tries while he returned to the goalkicking duties and didn’t miss any of his six attempts.

Nathan Cleary was fit and firing on Saturday. Image: Getty/Kayo

The halfback hasn’t kicked goals for Penrith since the round 14 win over the Tigers due to a groin injury, but being back with the tee suggests that niggling injury is now in a rear-view mirror.

The 27-year-old moved freely as he tore the Tigers to shreds, creating line breaks at will with his acceleration and ball-playing mastery.

“There are a few teams in the NRL getting nervous watching that,” Andrew Voss said in Fox commentary as Cleary rang rings around the hapless Tigers.

While the reigning premiers now set their sights on a top-four finish, rivals should be worried because next week, for the first time in 2025, they will be at full strength.

And their form turnaround has many wondering, they can’t do it again, can they?

“Penrith are travelling better than anyone in the competition other than maybe the Raiders,” Greg Alexander said in Fox commentary.

Voss added: “Rivals should be worried, very worried”.

Tigers back to the drawing board

The Tigers aren’t the first team to have been strangled out of the contest by Penrith, but Benji Marshall will be disappointed with his side’s inability to conjure anything in attack.

Taylan May was held up early, and Starford Toa scooped up a loose ball, but he had no support on a night they failed to register a single line break.

Their only points came from a penalty goal to open the scoring, with halfback Latu Fainu only running once before he was taken off as Sunia Turuva carted it up 25 times from the back.

They don’t have the squad to match it with Penrith’s grinding tactics, which is why fans will be hoping they return to the free-flowing footy that works so well for them.

Last week’s win over the Titans gave them some breathing space in a bid to avoid the wooden spoon, but Gold Coast’s win across the ditch means the Tigers are just two points clear of bottom spot.

– with NewsWire

Originally published as ‘Scary’: Nathan Cleary move puts NRL on notice as Panthers purr to seven straight