A stubborn Manly side have made the top-of-the-table Panthers work hard for their two premiership points in the first NRL match of Round 24.
Manly very nearly got themselves on the board within the opening 4 minutes of the game when Josh Schuster intercepted a pass from Nathan Cleary, ran up to halfway before kicking ahead for Brad Parker, but Brian To'o got to the ball first.
Penrith scored in the 7th minute when Stephen Crichton intercepted a pass from Daly Cherry-Evans and then raced 70 metres to score untouched. Cleary converted from almost in front.
11 minutes later, Cherry-Evans put in a great kick which forced Dylan Edwards back into his own in-goal, where he was trapped. At the tail-end of the repeat set for Manly, Toafofoa Sipley stormed onto a crash ball close to the Panthers line and he eventually managed to get himself across the line to score. Reuben Garrick converted to level the scores after 20 minutes.
Manly took the lead shortly after when Cherry-Evans, close to the line, drew the defender before firing a hard ball to Garrick, who managed to hang onto it, twisted and then fell over the line, dunking the ball over his head for a try. Garrick converted his own try and after 29 minutes, Manly lead 12-6.
Manly's defence was absolutely amazing for the following 12 minutes, while their attack was not afraid to shift the ball wide and early, often making good metres through Jason Saab. But in the final minute of the half Penrith finally found a way through which resulted in Crichton bagging his second try for the half, as he strolled over in the left corner. Cleary converted from the sideline to level the scores at 12 all at the break.
The opening 90 seconds of the second half saw Manly lose two players - Ben Trbojevic and Brad Parker - due to head knocks which caused some major reshuffling in their backline. Then in the 45th minute, Cleary kicked long downfield to Garrick, who immediately kicked the ball back downfield. Dylan Edwards was turned around, but he cleaned up, then spotted space down the left wing and set sail down that side and then passed to Crichton, who immediately passed back inside to Sunia Turuva, who stepped one defender and then found himself in clear space, then raced 50 metres to score under the posts. Cleary converted.
In the 48th minute, Moses Leota very nearly scored after following a Cleary kick into the Manly in-goal, but the Bunker found that he bounced the ball just shy of grounding it.
Nathan Cleary kicked a penalty goal in the 52nd minute to give Penrith a 20-12 lead.
The Panthers extended their lead even further in the 63rd minute when Zac Hosking on the right side, performed a great catch and pass to put Brian To'o in for a try. Cleary narrowly failed to convert from the sideline.
The game closed out with both sides being very solid defensively, denying each other from even getting close to extending their scores. Penrith holding on for a solid 24-12 win.