The Penrith Panthers have gone four points clear on top of the NRL ladder with a 32-12 victory over the Sydney Roosters at the SCG.
The match was the definition of the arm-wrestle for the first half an hour before the Panthers turned on their magic and showed why they are the dominant force of the competition. Isaah Yeo showed why he is leading the Dally M's when he created the Panthers opening try when he drew in defenders and then found Scott Sorensen to go through the gap before finding Jarome Luai to score.
Luai added a second try in quick speed when the Panthers shifted left on the last tackle and put Luai into space to score. The Panthers third try of the half was arguably one of the cheekiest plays you will see this season when the men in pink looked certain to go for field goal, Api Koroisau saw a gap and went from dummy half when the Roosters defence charged off the line to score.
The Roosters dominated the opening 20 minutes of the second half but it was a 95m effort that changed things when Stephen Crichton outjumped Daniel Tupou and had the momentum to race away to score.
James Tedesco had gone close a couple of times and then got his try with a good effort where he had to juggle a ball despite being pulled back by a Panthers defender.
Things became an instant disaster for the Roosters when James Fisher-Harris charged over from close range at the same time as being collected high by Jared Warera-Hargreaves as he scored. The Roosters big man wasn't happy with the eight point try being awarded and after an expletive laden rant to Gerard Sutton he was given his marching orders. Cleary kicked both goals from in front and extended the lead out to 26.
The Roosters got a consolation try at the end when Paul Momirovski was able to get into space after some poor defensive work by the Panthers. Sam Walker closed the gap for the Roosters to a 32-12 defeat.
Next week, the Roosters have another tough task up against the Sharks whilst the Panthers have top of the table clash again when they take on the North Queensland Cowboys.