Penrith’s pursuit of a fourth straight NRL premiership is on track after they booked a preliminary final berth by manhandling the Sydney Roosters on the way to a 30-10 win.
In their farewell game at Panthers Stadium before it undergoes redevelopment, Ivan Cleary’s men ensured the 21,483 packed into the venue went home happy after a one-sided qualifying final victory over the Roosters.
And in a further encouraging sign for the Panthers, halfback Nathan Cleary barely got out of second gear on Friday night on his return from a shoulder injury.
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Penrith’s No.7 was given an early mark, taken off with four minutes to go as the Panthers earned the right to enjoy a week off before their preliminary final at Accor Stadium.
Cleary was all over the Roosters up until the moment he left the field, toying with their defence as he chased his own kick and kicked it again off the ground to set up another chance.
“Cleary channels Mary Fowler,” the NRL wrote.
The Roosters, meanwhile, will be licking their wounds after being battered into submission in the opening half hour.
Trent Robinson’s side were off the pace from the get go and will now face the winner of the Canterbury-Manly elimination final in a sudden death encounter.
The Roosters played with no real direction in attack and their defence lacked any sort of aggression or venom in the first half as the Panthers raced out to a 24-0 half-time lead.
Halves duo Luke Keary and Sandon Smith were regular targets for the Panthers and without Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Victor Radley the Roosters had nobody to hold their gloves up to the home side.
On their very first set, Penrith rolled up field as the Roosters’ defensive line hung back passively to allow Cleary to make easy metres.
He then put a bomb up that was dropped by the usually-dependable Daniel Tupou and Brian To’o scored on the ensuing set.
A Cleary chip kick glanced the upright and was scooped up by Izack Tago for the Panthers’ second, with Jarome Luai and Luke Garner crossing to inflict further damage.
Cleary added a penalty after the introduction of Nafuahu Whyte and Spencer Leniu from the interchange bench had stemmed the Roosters’ bleeding.
The Roosters showed some semblance of a fightback with tries to James Tedesco and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii in the opening 10 minutes of the second half.
But errors continued to haunt Robinson’s side, who haven’t beaten the Panthers in 10-straight games.
Another defensive lapse allowed Dylan Edwards to make a break and soon after Cleary rolled a grubber kick into the in-goal.
Garner was quickest to act, sealing victory and putting the Panthers 80 minutes from another shot at grand final glory.