The Penrith Panthers secure their third J.J. Giltinan Shield in four years with a try-scoring masterclass over the North Queensland Cowboys.
The sold-out sign went up outside Bluebet Stadium on Saturday evening when the Penrith Panthers took on the North Queensland Cowboys for their final regular season game of the year. It didn't take long for the Premiership favourites to get on the board with Stephen Crichton going over in the fifth minute. A metre-chewing break from Sunia Turuva helped the Panthers gain great field position before a superb pass from a tripping Jack Cogger saw Crichton add another four-pointer to his tally.
The next 15 minutes saw a lot of end-to-end football with both sides even with possession but the Cowboys' completion dropped to 65%, with a number of errors including an error from Cohen Hess that saw all of the momentum that the Cowboys had been building deflate.
In the 22nd minute of the game, Stephen Crichton showed some incredible aerial skills with an absolutely phenomenal leap to tap the ball back. Jack Cogger was in the right place at the right time and was able to get the ball out to a fast-moving Sunia Turuva to cross for the Panthers' second try in the corner and Cogger's second try assist of the night. The kick was from almost the same place as the first, but this time Nathan Cleary made no mistake to give the Panthers a 10-point lead.
Only a minute later the Cowboys were caught offside and gifted the Panthers fantastic field position. As we've seen many times before, handing the Penrith side field position never ends well and Jack Cogger linked with Liam Martin for his third try assist of the night, this time on the other side of the field.
The crowd only had to wait another 5 minutes before the Penrith Panthers added even more points to their tally. Another error from the Cowboys gave the Panthers the scrum feed inside the Cowboy's territory and it didn't take long for Nathan Cleary to get his first try assist, sending his winger Brian To'o over in the corner. To'o didn't have it easy though, literally carrying three Cowboys across the line with him. Cleary's first attempt at goal from the other side of the field was waved away and the score was 20 - 0 after 34 minutes.
The Mountain Men weren't ready to go into half-time and when Kyle Feldt tackled Sunia Turuva in the air, the Panthers were once again given a full set on their 10-metre line. After his first attempt to get across cross the line was denied by the Cowboys' defence, young hooker, Luke Sommerton, scored his first NRL try in his second game with a superb scoot from dummy half. Cleary didn't miss from almost right in front sending the Penrith side into the sheds with a 26 - 0 lead.
The second half started very differently to the first with the Cowboys scoring two quick tries to bring the score to 26 - 12 after 50 minutes. Their first try came through Griffin Neame and their second from Zac Laybutt. In the lead-up to the second try, almost every player in the team touched the ball - twice - as they went coast-to-coast and back again before Laybutt broke the line and got the ball down. Drinkwater converted both of the tries to help reduce the deficit they were chasing.
It was as if the two sides switched during the break because the Cowboys were throwing everything at the Panthers and the Penrith side seemed to lack the same spark that they had in the opening 40 minutes. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before more poor handling from the Cowboys saw the Panthers get the ball back and throw a lot at the Cowboys' line defence. The defence could only hold on for so long before we saw Sunia Turuva flirt with the sideline before fending off Kyle Feldt for his second try of the game.
The Panthers were almost awarded a penalty try when Reece Robson grabbed at Dylan Edward's jersey while he was attempting to score, but the fact that Kyle Feldt was in close proximity meant that it was only a professional foul and Robson missed 10 out of the last 13 minutes of the game. It didn't take long for the Panthers to take advantage of having an extra man when Nathan Cleary reached out and planted the ball. The referee sent it up as a no try, but the Bunker was happy that the ball both touched the line and wasn't lost, so Cleary was able to add his own try to the growing tally as well as converting it to restore the Panthers' 26-point lead.
The Panthers weren't finished with the points when Crichton intercepted the ball 20 metres out from their line and saw the side run the whole length of the field on a zero tackle. At the end of the Crichton run, it was the lovely hands from Dylan Edwards that sent his winger through as Brian To'o strolled across for his second try of the night. By this point in the game, Sweet Caroline was ringing out across the stadium and the Mexican wave made it through at least 5 rounds! The Panthers crowd were enjoying every minute of what their team was putting on.
When the final buzzer rang, the Panthers had thumped the Cowboys 44 - 12 and were presented with the J.J. Giltinan Shield in front of a huge crowd. The boys from the base of the mountains will host the New Zealand Warriors in week 1 of the NRL Final Series in a game that will no doubt be one not to miss!