By Robert Dillon
Nathan Cleary produced a champion’s response to NSW’s State of Origin nightmare by coming off the bench to inspire Penrith to a fifth successive victory, a 32-10 triumph against Parramatta at Commbank Stadium on Sunday.
Shattered after Wednesday night’s series-sealing defeat against Queensland, Cleary insisted on backing up against the Eels but was kept in reserve until the 26th minute.
His class and experience were enough to tip the ledger in Penrith’s favour after an enthusiastic Parramatta team appeared intent on causing an upset during the first half.
Cleary admitted to enduring a few dark days after the Origin III result, which he described as a “self-loathing, embarrassment period”. He said it would have been “selfish” to allow that to impact his performance for Penrith, who rely so heavily on him.
“I think in the past I’ve probably, after a poor Origin performance, just tried to squash it and act like it didn’t happen,” Cleary said.
“This time I actually saw it as an opportunity to analyse it a bit more and try and delve a bit deeper into why I didn’t perform the way I wanted to and why it went the way it did.
Nathan Cleary and the Panthers were too good for Parramatta.Credit: Getty Images
“I came to the conclusion that it’s only going to help me. It’s only going to help me grow as a person and a player.
“Playing today gave me a good opportunity to test my character, too. I think that’s an important thing. It’s about how you move on and how you present to the team.
“You can only kick stones and feel sorry for yourself for so long. I didn’t want to drag that into today’s performance. It is tough, and as I said, I don’t know if you ever fully get over it.”
Cleary’s father and coach Ivan said Nathan had “negotiated pretty hard” to play, but he opted to start him from the bench to manage his workload.
Zac Lomax celebrates a try for Parramatta.Credit: Getty Images
In a hard-fought contest, the four-time premiers proved their title defence is very much alive, barely six weeks after they were in last position.
If rival teams were not already nervous enough, the Panthers got the job done against Parramatta despite resting NSW Origin stars Liam Martin, Dylan Edwards and Brian To’o.
Fellow Blues Isaah Yeo and Cleary both played, but Cleary started from the bench for only the second time in his illustrious career.
With eight regular-season rounds to play, the Panthers are still five points adrift of the top four, but with their next four games against strugglers South Sydney, Wests Tigers, Gold Coast and Newcastle, anything would appear possible.
“We lost five in a row, so we just won five in a row, so it’s taken a long time to get the ledger back,” Ivan said. “We’ll finish where we deserve. We’re still trying to build. We need to play better than what we did today.”
A try after the half-time siren lifted Penrith into the lead for the first time.
Trailing 10-6, the Panthers kept the ball alive and swung it from the right edge to the left, where back-rower Luke Garner scored to give the visitors a 12-10 advantage and a psychological boost as they headed into the sheds.
Fielding a restructured team in which Kiwi international five-eighth Dylan Brown started at hooker for the first time in his career, Parramatta drew first blood after rampaging Fijian back-rower Kitione Kautoga crashed over for the opening try.
Junior Paulo played his 200th match for Parramatta on Sunday.Credit: Getty Images
Penrith responded eight minutes later when winger Thomas Jenkins reached out one-handed and planted the ball for his ninth try of the season.
A penalty goal from Paul Alamoti then locked the scores at 6-6, before Eels centre Bailey Simonsson, in his comeback game from an injury that sidelined him for 10 weeks, flicked a freakish pass and Zac Lomax finished in the corner.
Panthers centre Izack Tago increased his team’s lead 16 minutes into the second half when he weaved between front-rowers Jack Williams and Junior Paulo and stretched out to score one-handed next to the posts.
Cleary scored a try of his own in the 72nd and, with two points in safe keeping, earned a deserved early mark soon afterwards.
Penrith iced the win with a barging Lindsay Smith try from dummy-half two minutes from full-time.
Disappointed Eels coach Jason Ryles indicated he would continue with rookie Joash Papalii at five-eighth, saying: “Our future is now.”
New signing Tallyn Da Silva, the former Wests Tigers hooker, replaced Brown at dummy-half in the 31st minute.
Ryles was non-committal when asked what that meant for Newcastle-bound Brown. “Whilst he’s still here, he’s happy to do whatever is best for the team, which is a good reflection of his character,” Ryles said.
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