This is the NFL-style trick play the Panthers have unwrapped for the finals

The best teams – and coaches – have memories like elephants. If they see something that might work against an opponent, they store it away for when it matters the most, like a big finals match or even a decider.

In 2021, before this remarkable NRL dynasty really took off, the Panthers were plotting how to beat the Storm in a preliminary final played at Suncorp Stadium. The Panthers were massive outsiders that day.

Months earlier, they’d seen Melbourne winger Josh Addo-Carr exposed by an early cross-field kick from dummy-half as he crept infield. So, minutes into the game, Nathan Cleary rushed to hooker with his team less than a metre from the Storm line and everyone thought, “What’s going on here?”

The result was an instant 30-metre kick into the corner, where Stephen Crichton casually caught the ball and scored the opening try as Addo-Carr wandered away from the sideline. It was pure genius.

The Panthers went on to win 10-6 in a classic, claiming the first of three successive titles the following week.

The next year they openly spoke about how Eels fullback Clint Gutherson was liable to spending long periods of time defending in the line. For the grand final, Cleary told his teammates to be ready for an early kick to expose Gutherson, and Scott Sorensen scored one of the easiest grand final tries of the modern era.

So, what’s in store this year? And will the Storm be undone again by a trick shot in Sunday night’s grand final?

In the two finals matches they’ve played so far, the Panthers have unfurled a unique play that has Cleary moving like an NFL quarterback outside the pocket rather than an NRL halfback, or even a wide receiver backpedalling from the line of scrimmage.

“It’s a new one I haven’t seen before, and I suspect they’re just trying to mix it up,” league Immortal Andrew Johns says.

So, how does it work?

The basis of the play is to bring the two widest men on the Panthers’ right side, centre Izack Tago and winger Brian To’o, closer to the middle of the field while feigning for a long shift of the ball to the right sideline.

The Panthers’ initial formation is that of a “slingshot”, where the outside men start in a narrow line-up but create width by running diagonally towards the corner post as the play unfolds.

The Panthers used the play just five minutes into their first-half demolition of the Roosters in week one of the finals.

It starts with Cleary standing at first receiver, then passing the ball wider to fullback Dylan Edwards. So far, all is normal. But look what happens next – Cleary runs aggressively backwards and to the left rather than following the ball as he normally would. Edwards subsequently looks to his outside, but shovels a pass back on his inside, where Tago and To’o have slipped underneath to attack the middle forwards of the opposition.

It’s not a tactic unfamiliar to the Panthers, who like to tire out their opponents by constantly having ball runners on angles back towards the middle. This play has To’o so far out of his normal right-wing position that he ends up receiving the pass from his centre partner and is finally tackled in line with the left post.

“What they’re doing is making the opposition middles make so many tackles,” Johns says. “On the third or fourth set, they just attack. But they want to make the middles get their tackle counts up. I’ve seen [left winger Sunia] Turuva around the middle, but not two outside backs like that.”

What happens afterwards?

While they didn’t score on the play, the Panthers did the next best thing: land the first try of the match moments later.

After drifting into the middle third for the trick shot, Penrith – who were helped out by a set restart – took only 40 seconds and four plays to find To’o, now back on his right wing, to score out wide having tired, and compressed, the Roosters defence.

“It’s definitely something different,” To’o says of his unusual positioning in the middle of the field. “I’m just trying to get myself in the frame. It’s nothing really special, just trying to support the brother next to me. As long as it gets somewhere in the middle.”

Before full-time in the Roosters win, the Panthers had tried the move again.

This time, Tago took the carry instead of passing to To’o, who was supporting on his inside. After attracting multiple defenders, including Roosters fullback James Tedesco, the Panthers scored on the next play when Cleary kicked early for Luke Garner with Tedesco caught on the other side of the ruck.

If it works, keep going

Two weeks later, the Panthers used the same play against the Sharks in the grand final qualifier, and again they yielded similar results.

It starts with a play-the-ball on the left side of the field with the same suspects: Cleary passes to Edwards who feigns to keep the ball moving to the right side before dropping Tago underneath with To’o creeping back to the middle as support.

This time, Tago goes himself instead of passing inside to his winger. But after generating a fast ruck, and with Moses Leota taking another quick carry through the middle, the Panthers have tightened Cronulla’s defence before Cleary finds Paul Alamoti on the next play to score.

“We’re just playing around with new things from an old play,” Tago said. “I guess [it’s working]. I’m just trying to get a fast play-the-ball and like any carry in that part of the field, a fast play-the-ball impacts the set, and that can be a few plays later. That’s my job.”

But can it work one more time in the grand final?

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