Jamie Soward played a key role for Penrith in hammering a battered St George Illawarra with another NRL body blow on Saturday night but said afterwards the victory wasn’t any sweeter just because it came against his old club.
Soward made a crucial line break in the lead-up to Josh Mansour’s 54th-minute try that all but sealed the match for the home side but the former Dragons’ playmaker, who was dumped by the club mid-season last year, played down the personal satisfaction he gained from the win.
“I have moved on a long time ago. I am committed to the boys out here,” Soward said.
“I am an emotional player and I’m happy to get the win tonight.
“I don’t really think about that (everything that happened). I’m in a good place; I love coming out to Penrith.
“I am enjoying my footy. I think you can see I am enjoying my footy – that stuff doesn’t worry me.”
With both sides scoring three tries in the Panthers’ 18-14 victory, Soward’s faultless goalkicking – kicking three from three conversions, all from the sideline – was the difference between the teams.
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary was more forthcoming in his praise of Soward.
“There is no doubt when you play your old club, it is there. I guess with Jamie’s case, it was highly publicised, there was a lot of talk about that but, to his credit, I didn’t really see too much difference in how he prepared for the game,” he said.
“But obviously it would have been there. It was an issue, but I thought his performance tonight was pretty solid.
“He came up with a couple of crucial plays and touches in that try for us in the second half that was the difference in the game, as it turned out, and his goalkicking was excellent, too.
“Whatever he has done, he handled it pretty well.”
The win was the Panthers’ fifth in a row, but Dragons coach Paul McGregor admitted it was getting increasingly difficult for his side to quality for the finals.
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