NRL 2021: Nathan Cleary stars as Penrith Panthers chase down South Sydney Rabbitohs

After their opponents outmuscled them in the opening exchanges, the Panthers managed to snatch the win from the Rabbitohs on Friday.

Cleary’s fingerprints were all over Penrith’s second half showing. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Nathan Cleary tormented an ill-disciplined Rabbitohs with a shower of towering torpedoes to give the Panthers a mental edge over their likely first-up semi-final opponents

Cleary’s kicking game and cool head were the difference in Penrith’s 25-12 win with Isaah Yeo leading a physical return of serve after the Rabbitohs dominated early.

The race to the 2021 NRL Telstra Finals Series is on and every game matters. Watch Live & Ad-Break Free on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free >

The blockbuster clash proved beyond doubt that the Rabbitohs are a vastly improved side from the one the Panthers towelled up 56-12 in round 11, but if Souths are to be a finals force they must fix up their discipline. The penalty count was 11-2 in Penrith’s favour.

“We are the number one ranked team this year for least penalties against us so it is not something we do, but we did tonight,” Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett said.

“We had a bad night with it and have to live with it.

“There were lots of good things we did. It was a lot better than Dubbo, so we have come that far. There’s just a couple of things for us to fix up.”

Bennett said before the game that he didn’t have anything up his sleeve for the blockbuster clash. He didn’t need to, because the trump cards were already in his hand.

The four aces spine of Latrell Mitchell, Cody Walker, Adam Reynolds and Damien Cook all turned it on early to give the Rabbitohs a 12-0 lead.

Cook was dynamite through the middle, Walker set up Dane Gagai for the opening try, Mitchell got on the end of a corking Keaon Koloamatangi flick and Reynolds’ kicking game was imperious.

Souths then opened the door for Penrith with poor discipline and Paul Momirovski conjured up two stunning in-field kicks for tries to Cleary and Stephen Crichton and reduce the margin to two points at the break.

Playing out of position after Dylan Edwards was forced from the field, Stephen Crichton (L) and Paul Momirovski (R) were two of the Panthers’ best. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Cleary rules

Cleary, who has not lost a game of football this year, turned the screws after half-time with his kicking game – in general play and with two penalty goals – and when Mansour dropped a towering Cleary bomb the Panthers nailed their chance with Naden going over. Cleary iced it with a cool field goal. Mitchell and Mansour will be having nightmares about Cleary’s high kicks, which they let bounce too often. When the game was there to be won it was Cleary and not Walker who stepped up.

“That is what (Nathan) does and why he is so important to the team,” Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said.

“We got a lot of results out of his kicks in that second half particularly. You always try and test the opposition back three and once (Mansour) looked a bit shaky we kept going there.”

Panthers primed

Last year the Panthers got on a roll and won 17 games in a row but peaked one game too early. This season they plateaued after the Origin period when injuries also hit hard, but now they have recalibrated with Cleary back on deck and can launch a short and sharp assault on the premiership. With X-factor Tevita Pangai impressing on his debut and James Fisher-Harris to come back next week it is only up from here for Penrith.

“The main objective tonight was to continue on an upward trajectory and we definitely did that against a good team,” Cleary said.

“There is definitely improvement in us. From a character point of view, it was really good tonight.”

Cleary said Dylan Edwards, who failed an HIA in the first half, was “pretty good” after the game.

A lopsided penalty count didn’t help the Rabbitohs’ cause. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Adam’s apple

South Sydney need to make the most of the Reynolds era. The little maestro had the ball on a string.

Reynolds cleared Brent Naden by one millimetre and landed it inside the sideline by the same margin with a majestic three iron of a 40/20 kick in the first half that led to a try.

“Probably the best 40/20 kick I have ever seen,” Michael Ennis said in Fox League commentary.

So long as Reynolds is guiding the ship the Rabbitohs faithful will believe a premiership is attainable this year.

Originally published as NRL 2021: Nathan Cleary stars as Penrith Panthers chase down South Sydney Rabbitohs