Doubts linger over Penrith’s perceived lack of experience this season but coach Ivan Cleary says he’s confident in the squad following their 24-0 victory over North Queensland.
After last year’s grand final loss to Melbourne, the Panthers have lost mass experience from the side with Josh Mansour, James Tamou, Dean Whare and Zane Tetevano all moving on this season.
It leaves the Panthers without a single player in their 30s in one of the youngest squads in the competition.
Saturday’s victory over the Cowboys was comprehensive, but Cleary said it will take time for the team to show they can go all the way without their more experienced leaders.
“We’d like to think we’re going to be tough to beat, but on the experienced front, we’ll have to find out,” he said.
“I feel like our team is well-connected and they’ve taken responsibility at training from what I’ve seen.
“I’m happy with our squad.
“We’ve got a lot of guys capable of leadership and being able to take responsibility for themselves when they’re out there but I guess time will tell.”
The impressive final scoreline masked what was a scrappy performance from both sides, who made a total of 34 errors for the match.
The Cowboys finished with 18 errors and a completion rate of just 56 per cent, which was not much worse than Penrith’s 65 per cent tally.
For Cleary, holding the Cowboys to nil, including a try-saving effort in the dying minutes, was the big indicator of intent from his side.
“Round 1 is always a long game anyway – from the footy I’ve been watching, it feels like it goes on forever – and we came here looking for a long hard game,” Cleary said.
“I would have taken the points in the first half, I was pretty happy but we weren’t icing our opportunities.
“We were never going to play our best footy tonight.”
“Mentally, we weren’t totally engaged for the last ten minutes, which is a little bit understandable.
“I’d like us to set our sights a little bit higher than that.”
© AAP
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