Penrith crash to horrendous 30-10 defeat at the hands of the Warriors
The Panthers were booed of the field after a pathetic 30-10 loss to the Warriors with Penrith’s already horrific season hitting a new low.
DE BELIN: ‘I am innocent’
Ivan Cleary conceded Penrith’s confidence had crashed to “rock bottom” after slumping to the club’s worst start to a season in 17 years.
A season that started with so much expectation following Cleary’s return to take over from the sacked Anthony Griffin is officially on life support after the Panthers collapsed to an embarrassing 30-10 loss to the Warriors.
Last night was their sixth straight defeat - also the first time that has happened since 2002 - and no NRL team has ever fought back from losing eight of their opening 10 games to make the play offs.
.
What makes it worse is that this time last year under Griffin, with basically the same squad, the Panthers had won seven of 10 while they went on to lead the comp after 12 rounds.
On a forgettable night at the foot of the mountains angry home fans stood and booed their team from the field at halftime and again at fulltime, while others started filing out of the ground with a quarter of the match still remaining.
The lacklustre performance is sure to put an end to the State of Origin hopes of under fire halves Nathan Cleary and James Maloney.
But the bigger issue facing the Panthers right now is how they can save their season.
Cleary was at a loss to put a finger on what has gone so horribly wrong.
“What could go wrong does go wrong,” he conceded.
“The crucial thing right now is that we actually come together as a team because right now we are not, and that is being shown on the field.
“Confidence is rock bottom. That was obvious tonight.”
PANTHERS FANS FED UP
There is no greater insult in rugby league than home fans standing to boo their own team but last night the Panthers copped it at halftime and again at fulltime.
This is a team most experts considered top four certainties this year but it is hard to see how they can possibly fight back after such an awful start.
They are playing like strangers with and without the ball and some of the basic fundamental errors they produced last night pointed directly to a lack of confidence while the missed tackle count of 29 at halftime was appalling.
The ease in which the Warriors scored their two first half tries was just as concerning.
Issac Luke basically strolled over with a dummy half run for the first while Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was giving the Panthers’ left edge nightmares as he created space for young Patrick Herbert.
It continued in the second half when Kodi Nikorima also strolled through for a solo try when he stepped straight Nathan Cleary and Dylan Edwards like it was a game of touch.
“IT WAS LIKE A CAR CRASH”
If ever there was a moment that summed up the disaster that has been Penrith’s season it occurred when Edwards and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak came crashing together while attempting to catch a Blake Green bomb early in the second half.
It was an ugly moment Michael Ennis summed up perfectly in Fox Sports commentary: “It was like a car crash. You could just see it unfolding.”
BLUES HALVES DEBATE DEAD
Brad Fittler has showed tremendous support to the NSW halves incumbents but surely he can’t possibly pick them now.
As hard as they appear to be trying they just aren’t clicking on the field and Origin is not the place to be trying to play yourself back into form, although Ivan Cleary was not prepared to write off their chances.
“I don’t know, it is hard for me to say,” Cleary said. “They were there last year. They have done the job. The selectors know what they are doing.”
WARRIORS SHOW INTENSIONS
While post-match will focus on what is wrong with the Panthers, the Warriors deserve praise for what was a really solid performance, albeit against an opposition that is totally out of sorts.
The back three of the Warriors were outstanding with Tuivasa-Scheck and Ken Maumolo in particular causing havoc. Overall their energy and intent was far superior to their opposition
NZ WARRIORS 30 (P Herbert I Luke K Nikorima A Paasi tries P Herbert 7 goals) bt PENRITH 10 (V Kikau L Martin tries N Cleary goal) at Panthers Stadium. Referee: Henry Perenara, Jon Stone. Crowd: 10,084
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