Penrith fullback Matt Moylan continued his magnificent maiden NRL season on Saturday night, outgunning NSW No.1 Josh Dugan to lift the Panthers to a 25-10 home win over St George Illawarra.
Moylan scored his side’s only try of the first half, provided much of their attacking spark and also made a couple of telling tackles at Centrebet Stadium.
Dugan was understandably below his best after being hammered by Queensland in State of Origin II on Wednesday night.
The 23-year-old’s hopes of bolstering his bid to retain the NSW fullback spot ahead of Jarryd Hayne weren’t helped by a second-half high shot from Penrith prop Tim Grant that left him dazed.
Jack de Belin scored his first NRL try when he broke the deadlock in the eighth minute after a couple of early handling errors from the hosts, and the Dragons had all the initial momentum.
It was Moylan who helped turn the tide with his creativity, bringing the Panthers into the game with a couple of deft passes and jinking runs.
The 22-year-old was rewarded with a try in the 24th minute when he latched onto a kick from halfback Luke Walsh, beat Dugan to the ball and burrowed under Nathan Fien, who failed to knock it dead.
Walsh gave Penrith a 7-6 halftime lead with the final play of the opening stanza, his second attempt at a field goal.
The home side started the second half brightly, with Clint Newton forcing a goal-line drop-out with an impressive tackle on Dugan.
Five-eighth Issac John then put Penrith further ahead, with try-scorer Brad Tighe and Matt Robinson both in a position to touch down after his pinpoint grubber.
Dragons No.6 Chase Stanley crossed in the 65th minute to give his side hope of reeling Penrith in, but Dugan missed the conversion to leave them behind 13-6.
After some resolute defending, the Panthers scored two tries in the final four minutes as James Roberts and James Segeyaro applied the icing in front of 6271 fans.
Walsh slotted all four of his conversions.
Mose Masoe and captain Kevin Kingston, two men who will leave the Panthers at the end of the season, were influential for the hosts.
Dragons prop Dan Hunt suffered a right knee injury.
“I think the ligaments are OK,” Dragons coach Steve Price said of Hunt.
“He’ll have scans in the week and hopefully it’s not too serious.”
Price lamented his side’s lack of polish.
“We put ourselves in positions to win the game … our execution at crucial times of the game really hurt us,” he said.
“There were far too many turnovers in crucial parts of the game and it’s not good enough at this level.”
The victory lifts the Panthers into the top eight and coach Ivan Cleary was happy with how his side fought out the game.
“They got the jump on us early, we made a few fundamental mistakes early but we ground our way to get a result,” Cleary said.
“They were on top early, kicking well and not making errors and we struggled to get out of our own end … it was probably the first time this year that we’ve won a game when we were a little bit off.”
Pomoz
Roar Rookie
Albo, a very balanced view, you have a chip on both shoulders about Gus. You might want to get out more and watch the game. The perennial failure Soward has won a premiership and a minor premiership. As for Kite, if a two times premiership winning prop can bring his considerable experience and continue to deliver 100 metres and 25 tackles a game that he does for Manly, then he is a welcome addition regardless of age. As for bringing through juniors, you need to read some of the interviews Gus has given. The clubs entire strategy is built on bringing through juniors. It just takes time because previously it was neglected by the club. Listen to what he has to say about the mismanagement of Moylan, Austin and Sjeika. Take a look at whats happening in u20's and the NSW cup and you can see the conveyor belt starting to fire up. Here is the link to the podcasts of two interviews with Gus that explain a lot of the current strategy. http://panthersweekly.podomatic.com/entry/.
Albo
Guest
Having followed the Panthers since entering the comp in '67, I have got to say I have never seen a less talented Panther team, but also never seen a more committed Panther team than the current first grade squad. The Coach is obviously doing a marvellous job bringing out the very best in this reserve grade quality team ! As such, I have had to revise my wooden spoon certainties tag, I placed on them earlier. Moylan is getting all the wraps, as he is one of the few in that team with a future career in the club. The rest are journeymen fringe players to be bartered as need be. Their two best players on Saturday night by a considerable margin were Mose Masoe and captain Kevin Kingston, and in typical Penrith fashion, neither are wanted by the Panthers next year ! Typically they get rid of the good ones like they did this year with Origin quality players Lewis, Gordon, & Jennings. Now its Kingston who has been their best player for the past two seasons who needs to go, as we now replace such quality players with a new batch of fringe reserve graders from other clubs. Its got me beat. We are not even bringing through any of our own talented juniors to blood for the future, but rather going for likes of the out of form Jamie Soward ( signed for 4 years !), Brent Kite ( aged 54) and a couple more kiwi forwards rejects ? We don't even need more forwards ! Dare I question the mighty wisdom of doyen Phil Gould who was signed up a couple of years ago to sort out the Panthers ? Apart from dumping Lewis, Jenning s & Gordon, last year then re-signs up Luke Walsh for 4 years ( a ridiculous decision for a perennial failure over the past 3 seasons), then this year they then let him go to England next year, and sign up Soward for 4 years ( another perennial faiilure at Easts & St George ?) Does he believe in divine intervention ? That you can turn problem players ( cheaper priced I guess) into the stars that you need to run your team around the park rather than paying the money for a real ball player or developing your own locally at junior levels ?