NRL 2021: Panthers v Titans, Nathan Cleary leads Panthers to NRL record

The Panthers’ run of wins is so good that one long-held NRL accomplishment is now in their keeping and another is close. Can anyone stop Nathan Cleary and his teammates?

Nathan Cleary on his way to a hattrick (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

A Nathan Cleary masterclass steered Penrith to a record 10th straight win as a scrappy Gold Coast squad were taught a lesson in rugby league perfection.

The best was kept until last in this year’s Magic Round as the Panthers ran riot over the Titans in a 48 to 12 blowout to close out the final match of the weekend at Suncorp Stadium.

In front of more than 43,000 fans, the Penrith captain scored a hat trick and set up three other tries to cement themselves as one of the most dominant sides in the NRL era.

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The Titans were without their try-scoring machine David Fifita – sidelined for two weeks through suspension – but still found it nearly impossible to crack the Penrith defence.

If not for a late surge in the final 15 minutes of the match, with tries to Beau Fermor and AJ Brimson, the Titans were staring down the barrel of a demoralising scoreless defeat.

They weren’t helped by a brain snap by Titans forward Herman Ese’ese who failed to read the mood of the last three days, with an astonishingly reckless careless high tackle which cost the Gold Coast a chance at defeating the ladder leaders.

Nathan Cleary on his way to a hattrick (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

10 OUT OF 10

The Panthers have become the first side in the NRL era to go 10-0 to start the year, with the 1996 Roosters side the last to accomplish that feat.

Led by their skipper Cleary, the ladder leaders were relentless in attack as they piled on the points against a defensively poor Titans side.

It also handed Penrith their 12th consecutive away game win – the longest streak in the NRL era.

The win was made all the more impressive when even with one man in the bin, the Panthers still managed to pick the Titans apart.

Penrith forward Moses Leota became the 14th player of the weekend to be sin binned when he was given a 10 minute spell in the 15th minute for a careless high tackle on Jamal Fogarty.

But the Panthers managed to somehow hold possession for about nine minutes of that 10 minute sin bin and scored two tries.

Despite the 36-point win, Penrith coach Ivan Cleary said there was still room for improvement.

“There’s a few things to work on out of that game,” Cleary said.

“They scored two tries.

“There were too many players that had pretty much knocked off, not deliberately obviously.

“There’s a carnival going on out there this weekend and I think that was the first time we pretty much got a little bit distracted.

“There were a few little bits that we can definitely work on and we’ll need to for next week.”

Panthers celebrate hard during their drubbing of Gold Coast (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

NO DEFENCE

It was initially willing but the Gold Coast defence eventually became exasperated as they buckled and broke under the relentless waves of Penrith’s attack.

At halftime, the Titans had 23 missed tackles to the Panthers’ seven and the damage was more than evident on the scoreboard, with Penrith leading 30 to nil at the break.

By fulltime, that stretched out to 35 missed tackles to 14 with almost every player in the Titans starting 13 missing at least one tackle.

If the Titans are to become true premiership contenders, they have to fix up their leaky defence.

They’ve now conceded 188 points in their last five games — with 28 points the least amount scored by an opposition.

They weren’t helped when forward Ese’ese was sent off in the 38th minute for a careless high tackle shot on Brian To’o, leaving the Titans with just 12 men on the field.

“I was disappointed in what he tried, yeah,” Titans coach Justin Holbrook said.

“We were the last game.

“We had all the time in the world to get our own house in order and it’s just a completely reckless decision on his behalf and we paid the price for it.

“He definitely didn’t mean it and to me, it wasn’t direct contact with the head, but it was high and it was definitely reckless.

“We had all weekend to look at it and we spoke about it as a team. I don’t think he’d have an answer either but it definitely hurt us.”

TURF HOLDS UP

Props to the Suncorp Stadium ground staff this weekend.

After more than 640 minutes of football, the hallowed turf held up surprisingly well to produce some incredible games of football.

Originally published as NRL 2021: Panthers v Titans, Nathan Cleary leads Panthers to NRL record