If you watched this game without any knowledge of the ladder, you’d think it was two top-four teams going at it, not two bottom dwellers. What a battle that was from the local rivals.
Nathan Cleary had it on an absolute string. His kicking game was elite, he had his hands on everything, and he got Penrith over the line in a much-needed win. He must’ve worked on his goal kicking since Wednesday, too. He nailed all his conversions, all from out wide, I might add. his numbers for today were 125 running metres, a line break, 19 tackles without a miss, a 40/20, and a forced drop out. Great game from the best halfback in the game, backing up from Origin.
It was a huge knock from all their Origin players, who were instrumental in the victory, as they are in any Penrith win, to be fair. Brian To’o and Dylan Edwards both ran for over 200m. With Edwards setting up To’o for a try in the corner to seal the game. They’re going to need to keep doing that throughout the entire Origin period, because, unlike previous years, they don’t have the luxury of resting them this time around. It’s going to be a big effort, but they’re champions of the competition, and I think they’ll rise to the challenge and get Penrith through it.
A big win for Penrith in the context of their season, they’ll need to go on a run now and make sure they back it up with another win next week.
Another good performance from Parramatta, as we’ve seen over the past 6–8 weeks, but they just weren’t able to get it done. As a Parra fan, it’s hard to be disappointed watching performances like that after what we saw at the start of the year. Our defence, our attack, and the overall attitude to compete is night and day compared to the beginning of the season. I like what Jason Ryles is building here, we need to keep at it. The future is exciting.
Shout-out to Jack Williams, who’s slowly becoming my favourite player. His past month of footy has been the best of his career. His late footwork is so damaging for defensive lines; his ability to move between the edge and middle effortlessly, as well as being able to play big minutes, is enormous for the makeup of the Parramatta side, giving Ryles the luxury of carrying a lighter bench in case of an injury in the backline. Williams ran for 160m today with 7 tackle busts, a line break, and 44 tackles with only one miss. Huge numbers. Great player and a great signing.
