Penrith, the four-peat champions, sit at the bottom of the NRL ladder. Yep, you read that right.
Of all of the crazy results in the mixed-up, muddled-up, shook-up world that is the NRL this season, the sight of the champions going from the penthouse to the outhouse is the most outrageous.
“The ladder doesn’t really matter until July or August, or something, but I guess it’s a talking point,” said Panthers coach Ivan Cleary.
“When you only win two games, you’re going to be down there somewhere.”
The latest defeat, to a Manly side that snapped a three-game losing streak, came in the most dramatic fashion.
Three players - Manly’s Siosiua Taukeiaho and Penrith pair Scott Sorensen and Paul Alamoti - spent time in the sin bin.
The Sea Eagles opened up a handy lead, watched it whittle away during a horror period after the break in which they had only about 20 per cent of the football, and then regrouped to record just their second win in 11 attempts against the Mountain Men.
“We’re playing against a team that’s won the last four premierships and playing away from home,” said Manly coach Anthony Seibold.
“We sort of had to navigate that little period there and our leaders were great tonight, they were able to do that. I was really proud of the group.”
In perhaps the best Manly news of the night, as they head into a bye off the team song, Tom Trbojevic came through his comeback match unscathed.
The champion fullback, who will shift to five-eighth if the club’s pursuit of Jamal Fogarty proves unsuccessful, showed glimpses of what he is capable of. Like Mitchell Moses showed in his return for Parramatta, this is a man who makes his teammates better.
Tolutau Koula celebrates scoring a try.Credit: Getty Images
Sometimes it was just a decoy run or the organisation of his defence from the back, “Tommy Turbo” doesn’t always need to come up with a big play to make a difference.
His combination on the right, where Haumole Olakau’atu constantly terrorised Casey McLean, proved pivotal.
“Really influential,” Seibold said of Trbojevic. “I thought Turbo and Chez [Daly Cherry-Evans] led our team exceptionally well. It was great to have him back on the park.”
In a match where the momentum swung wildly - the pendulum shifted towards the Panthers when Nathan Cleary kicked a contentious 40-20 - the Sea Eagles were better for longer.
“We’ve got to put bigger periods of good play together,” Ivan Cleary.
“We’ve got to start the game better than we did tonight. When we had momentum tonight, we sort of gave it up, so that’s not going to win you too many games.
“It’s all stuff we know how to do, but too many times this year so far that’s happening. But if I just talk about that tonight, you look back and you’ve just got to play better. It’s not rocket science, to win NRL games, you’ve got to play better for longer.
“And we know how to do that. Unfortunately, this team, to this point, we haven’t done that often enough. That’s our challenge.”
There is still time for Penrith to make the long, hard climb from the bottom. It will need to begin against Brisbane in Magic Round.
