NRL elimination final: Penrith Panthers beat New Zealand Warriors 27-12
PHIL Gould said Penrith could not win a premiership under axed coach Anthony Griffin. Well, Gould may have undervalued the presence of James Maloney, who produced another matchwinning effort to guide the Panthers into week two of the finals.
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THE answer to the Panthers coaching woes might rest with the man wearing the No.6. Interim Penrith coach Cameron Ciraldo labelled James Maloney as “like an extra coach” after Maloney produced another matchwinning effort to guide Penrith to week two of the finals.
Phil Gould said Penrith could not win a premiership under the tutelage of axed coach Anthony Griffin.
Well, Gould may have undervalued the presence of Maloney. The Panthers boss was given some vindication for the shock axing of Anthony Griffin with the Penrith’s makeshift coaching staff pulling together to guide the side to a 27-12 elimination final win against the Warriors at ANZ Stadium.
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Ciraldo walked away with a finals victory having entered the game as the least experienced coach to ever coach a finals game after just four matches.
Maloney scored a try, kicked a field goal while his general play kicking turned swung the match for the Panthers.
“He is valuable,” Ciraldo said. “His experience out there, he knows what to do at each moment. It’s like having a coach out there. He has shown leadership qualities.
“I felt (change in Maloney) a couple of weeks ago. You felt his intensity go up. He really rallies the troops. He is born for this time of year.
“We’re lucky we’ve got him on our side.”
The Warriors hopes were cruelled when skipper Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was carried from the field with a knee ligament injury with 13 minutes remaining in the first half.
The Warriors had raced to 12-2 lead after 16 minutes before Maloney helped turn the game in front of 17168 people.
The poor start had Ciraldo thinking “here we go again”.
“I thought we were doing some good thing at the start,” Ciraldo said. “I wasn’t too concerned. Two tries (we conceded) we can fix. You give teams like that a start it’s hard to crawl back. We turned it around pretty quickly and pretty well.”
Maloney’s 40/20 attempt — which forced Tuivasa-Sheck to eventually knock the ball into touch — which sparked a Penrith side who was well down on the opening exchanges.
The Warriors scored the opening two tries through Issac Luke and David Fusitu’a but they would concede the next 25.
The Panthers scoring spree started with Maloney’s 40/20 effort before an early tackle kick by Nathan Cleary gifted Tyrone Peachey a try.
Maloney scored the next after Dallin Watene-Zelezniak sliced through flimsy Warriors defence in the middle of the field to give the Panthers a two-point lead after 26 minutes.
Peachey had his second two minutes later with Penrith leading by six at halftime.
Penrith repelled three consecutive penalties to start the second half which was something the Warriors were unable to match down their end of the field.
The Panthers had five straight sets attacking the Warriors line and the pressure eventually took its toll when winger Christian Crichton scored.
A Maloney field goal increased the lead to an unbeatable 13 points while Cleary added two more through a penalty goal.
Ciraldo said his side had the ability to go on a premiership run.
“We have to get through next week first,” Ciraldo said. “: It will be a tough tame. It will take a big effort. We need to be better. We don’t think too far ahead
“I feel like if we can win next week hopefully we can win the next after. We have a big job to do next week.”
Full-time: PENRITH 27 (T Peachey 2 C Crichton J Maloney tries N Cleary 5 goals J Maloney field goal) bt NZ WARRIORS 12 (D Fusitua I Luke tries S Johnson 2 goals) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: Matt Cecchin, Henry Perenara. Crowd: 17,168.
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