Panthers hit back at ‘arrogance’ with hilarious try celebration

The Penrith Panthers’ young guns have been slammed for their “arrogance” all week, but was this celebration subdued enough?

The Panthers forgot with the first try.

The Penrith Panthers have responded to accusations of arrogance during the week with a polite handshake after Matt Burton scored in the first half.

The Broncos were taking it to the unbeaten Panthers and led 6-4 until Burton crossed on an overlap in the 25th minute.

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After dropping a sneak peek of the reaction on Instagram, Burton got up and politely shook hands with winger Brian To’o and five eighth Jerome Luai.

It comes after the Panthers were slammed for their “cockiness” and “arrogance” during their round five win over the Raiders.

In last week’s clash, a brief scuffle erupted after Panthers winger Charlie Staines crossed in the corner for Penrith’s fourth try, before a fired-up Stephen Crichton grabbed opponent Joseph Tapine as he waited on the sideline to re-enter the match, which sparked the melee.

Crichton was subsequently charged with contrary conduct by the NRL judiciary and was fined $1300 with an early guilty plea.

The Raiders were fined $10,000 after a trainer got involved.

So the Panthers' young guns have gone the other way, with the muted celebrations.

Jolly good show good man.

Social media was quick to react to the scene as the Panthers made a mockery of the criticism.

Big on the handshake celebration there 😂 #NRLBroncosPanthers#NRL

— Caden Helmers (@cadenhelmers) April 15, 2021

Arrogance is the new disrespek. #NRLBroncosPanthers

— James Smith (@JamesSmith1001) April 15, 2021

So this is a thing now... 🤝 #NRLBroncosPantherspic.twitter.com/CsZBd03XXH

— Veronica Eggleton (@veggleton) April 15, 2021

But after going down 12-10 down to the Broncos at the break, Fox League commentator Warren Smith pondered if the subdued try celebrations could explain the shock scoreline.

“The Panthers, very circumspect with their try celebrations tonight, whether that’s sucked a little bit of the energy out of them,” he said.

It comes after The Daily Telegraph’s Paul Crawley called out the Panthers players on NRL 360 for lacking “class and respect”, citing Friday’s incident as an example.

“There was a cockiness and an arrogance, and against the Raiders on the weekend, I thought it spilt over and it crossed the line of what’s acceptable,” Crawley said on Tuesday evening.”

The Burton try sparks the hilarious response.

It’s a label Panthers coach Ivan Cleary didn’t want a bar of, and said Penrith’s youngsters are just reacting to what they’re copping on the field.

“Our team is young. I don’t think people see the niggle that comes from the opposition towards our team,” Cleary said.

“We’ve been reasonably successful and what comes with that is we get a little bit of niggle toward our boys, especially because we are young.

“I guess at the moment our boys are combating that however they can.

“I’m always on the lookout to make sure we’re behaving the right way … I’m not too worried.”

Then again, the Broncos ambushed the Panthers, taking a 12-10 lead to the halftime break.

But it wasn’t enough to claim the victory with the Panthers drawing level early in the second half and needing Nathan Cleary to stand up to win the game.

Cleary kicked a two-point field goal in the 73rd minute before scoring a try to wrap up the win in the 78th minute.

While the two points went to the Panthers, the Broncos almost pulled off the unthinkable with an incredible performance to take the unbeaten side all the way after being inspired by a pre-match spray from coach Kevin Walters.