Blockbuster Panthers show against Cronulla Sharks rates a perfect 10

Nobody will dare look away from Penrith as the mountain men racked up a tenth straight victory with a belting of Cronulla on Friday night.

Panthers backrower Liam Martin was a handful for the Cronulla defence at Panthers Stadium, making two line breaks including this 30-metre run for the tryline. Picture: Brett Costello

If it was any other show you might get bored of it after 10 weeks of repeats, but nobody will dare look away from Penrith after the mountain men racked up a tenth straight victory courtesy of a 38-12 belting of Cronulla on Friday night.

A star turn from halves Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai and a tremendous display from backrower Liam Martin were the highlights as the Panthers moved three points clear at the top of the ladder and proved, once again, they are heavyweights in the race for the 2020 premiership.

The finals are some time away, and many a potential championship team has been crowned too early, but there is something about the Panthers this season — an indescribable confidence that seeps through everything they do.

Kayo is your ticket to the 2020 NRL Telstra Premiership. Every game of every round Live & On-Demand with no-ad breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >

They’re the best team around right now, and there’s still room to grow.

Top four rivals Sydney Roosters and Melbourne are battling an injury crisis while Parramatta’s form in recent weeks has been on unsteady ground.

Cronulla were dealt a serious blow when in-form halfback Shaun Johnson was ruled out hours before the match with a groin injury.

His replacement, Braydon Trindall, is a player of promise who did some nice things in attack, but Penrith’s fearsome left side trio of Viliame Kikau, Stephen Crichton and Josh Mansour would have been unlike anything he’s seen before.

Penrith’s Stephen Crichton wins the battle in the air to score a try against Cronulla at Panthers Stadium. Picture: Brett Costello

The Panthers ran in three tries in the first stanza down that side — first Kikau isolated the smaller Trindall close to the line, then Luai found Mansour with a delicious cut out pass and just before halftime Crichton flew high to claim a Nathan Cleary kick.

Throw in a try to Brent Naden down the right and the lead at half-time was 22-6 – which given Penrith’s resolute defence, meant the match was all but gone.

Not so long ago, Matt Moylan was the heir to Penrith’s glorious future, a local boy who rose through the ranks to captain the club and, presumably, lead them to the promised land.

Those days feel far away now, but it’s only three years since Moylan joined Cronulla and he almost always aims up against his former club but this time he had a devil of a time dealing with Martin.

The pride of Temora was seemingly playing with a single purpose — picking out Moylan every time he ran the ball.

Martin was superb, busting past Moylan for two line breaks that lead to tries, one to Naden in the first half and one to Martin himself just after halftime.

He also threw in a one-on-one steal on Moylan for good measure — it was a hell of a way to celebrate after Martin inked a two-year contract extension with the Panthers during the week.

Cronulla are not a bad team by any means. They’d won eight of their last 11 to sit in seventh spot. Their only real blemish this season came via a 56-24 thrashing a few weeks ago to Penrith.

There’s power in the Panther forwards James Tamou and James Fisher-Harris, who were both superb again, while Luai continues to improve alongside a rampant Cleary. This is a team hungry for success and the match showed the difference between a finals challenger and title contender.

The Daily Telegraph