- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The rumblings from the foot of the mountains are getting ever more ominous as Penrith produced another clinic, dismantling Cronulla 28-0 at BlueBet Stadium.
This was their fifth consecutive win, and their tenth in 11 games since their surprise loss to the Tigers at the end of April. The only defeat since was with bulk players missing through Origin and even then, it took Golden Point to beat them.
This was one of the most dominant of all the victories, a chanceless century of a performance in which Cronulla were not given even a sniff of a try, let alone a win.
They were forced to play almost the entire game in in their own half, and to defend their line constantly. Cameron McInnes, playing 80 minutes in the middle, broke the NRL record for tackles made with a staggering 84 made.
“That’s Cam, he turns up every day, he’s so consistent,” said Craig Fitzgibbon. “I was in the box, and the analyst made us aware of it.
“We asked if it looked like he was declining energy-wise – he had a couple of slight wobbles – but he looked great so we decided to let him play 80. It was a hell of a good knock.”
Nathan Cleary was imperious, kicking two spectacular 40/20 and laying on two tries with his boot. He’s warming towards the finals, too.
Fitzgibbon might have made the trip to the West with more hope than expectation, having lost Ronaldo Mulitalo before the game and with his side in a rotten run, especially against other contenders.
He then saw Will Kennedy depart in the opening stages with a hamstring injury, forcing a major reshuffle that disrupted the Sharks’ backline and removed one of their best attacking weapons.
Everything would have to have gone right for the Sharks to win here, and while their star fullback leaving with ten minutes gone put paid to that, it’s unlikely that it would have made much difference. Penrith were simply far too good.
“The zero, that’s our first for the year and that’s something every team likes to do,” said Ivan Cleary.
“We got lucky with Kennedy going off and got a little bit frantic – our eyes lit up with the changes on the edges – but there are things in attack we can do a lot better.
“We value defence here. We do a lot of it. We practise it a lot, we talk about it a lot. Tonight, I thought it was really strong.”
Andrew Voss on the Fox League call was doing a running total on McInnes’ tackles from the early stages, and he was right to do so.
The workmanlike forward was a good metaphor for how the Panthers strangled Cronulla from the off, simply tiring them out through repeat efforts.
There were some moments of genius – if we see a better kick this year than Cleary’s 40/20, we’ll have done well – but mostly, it was remorseless, clinical consistency.
The Sharks are perfect victims for this. They love a risk, and the best of their football will inevitably come with mistakes, whereas Penrith endeavour to make as few as possible, knowing that they will overwhelm most opponents through pressure alone. Cronulla simply couldn’t get out.
The defence of the Panthers has improved even beyond where it was last year, and when they attack like this, with next to no mistakes, it’s basically impossible to beat them.
The key difference between Penrith and other defence-first sides is that they don’t play slowly and they have the elite tier talent who can break the game open.
They’re a little conservative and risk-averse with the ball – compared to today’s opponents, or Souths, or Parramatta, for example – but they can be, because they know that when it matters, either the defence will tire and make a mistake or one of their superstars will do something spectacular.
Today was a little like that: Cleary kicked for two try assists, Brian To’o produced a miracle putdown and Jarome Luai danced through the defence.
There wasn’t much to love for Cronulla, who never got going and were never allowed to, so instead, let’s pay tribute to McInnes’ amazing feat.
Counting big things is usually a little over-rated in rugby league, but the physical feat of making 84 tackles in a game against the best team in the comp really speaks for itself.
He beat the previous NRL record, Shaun Fensom’s 74, with ten minutes to play and, in the end, fell one short of Danny Houghton’s 85 for Hull FC against Warrington in the Super League in 2021.
Houghton did get an extra ten minutes to complete his record, as that game went to Golden Point, so there is an argument that on a tackle-per-minute basis, it’s a new high.
It would have to be someone like McInnes who managed it. He’s the pro’s pro, a classic no nonsense footballer who has made the absolute most of his talent to play at the highest level.
Listeners to James Graham’s The Bye Round podcast will know all about this: everyone who has ever played with McInnes, either at the Sharks or the Dragons, comments on how he is the fitted players they’ve ever played with, the hardest trainer and the most dedicated.
Every team would love to have a player like him, a guy who you know is nothing but effort, grit and determination.