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.
Renegade
Roar Guru
:stoked: :silly: :laughing: :thumbup: :laughing: :stoked: :thumbup: :silly: :thumbup:
steveng
Roar Rookie
Yep, if the Bunnies get beat by the Sharks they have NO chance, that's it for 2023, I give them NO chance! This performance was disgraceful
Renegade
Roar Guru
:laughing: :thumbup: :laughing: :thumbup: :stoked: :happy: :silly:
Albo
Roar Rookie
Yep ! The McInnes stats probably just highlight how poor the rest of the Sharks pack is travelling. Brayley works hard , but they need a new front row and bench with some impact.
Panthers
Roar Rookie
Not sure where the Sharks would put Moylan now? He’s been shown to be a liability in defence again this season, at 5/8. He’s played fullback before & he a too slow to cover defend well or to cover kicks . Another reason Cronulla moved him from fullback. He has a contract for 2024 ,at Cronulla. They will look to offload him to an English club most likely.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Exactly. We were all pretty excited with the coach and the new recruits, but that’s a far different atmosphere on a further distant planet to ‘supercoach…glory..’ label being tossed around the camp. How is that at odds with anything I said or asked of BG ?
Dumbo
Roar Rookie
Redcliffe Fan: Like you, I applaud the effort of Cam McInnes. According to NRL .com, the Sharks made 407 tackles - so he made one in every five. It's a shame his team mates did not put in the same effort.
Dumbo
Roar Rookie
Souvalis: No-one used the words “next supercoach” and “years of glory”. That is not what people on the board do, because they know that to do so would be simply making a rod for their own back, the first time the team has setbacks. For the record, CEO Dino Mezatesta said “This decision was certainly not lightly taken, much discussion and consideration took place at Board and Management level before Craig was approached and now appointed, and we are thrilled he has accepted the position,” Mezzatesta said in a statement. “Craig has served a long and successful apprenticeship under Trent Robinson at the Roosters and alongside Brad Fittler at a State level and we are confident he can emulate that success as a head coach here at the Sharks. “The decision made by the Club was an extremely difficult one however we now back the appointment of Craig, look forward to the future and to him taking the team to the next level in delivering success in 2022 and beyond.” Nothing there about “giving a chance to a promising coach”, or anything like that. There is an implicit view that the club expects (not just hopes for) success. Certainly, every CEO talks up the new coach, but Dino was forthright in his expectation of future success.
steveng
Roar Rookie
No delusions Renegade, just watch next Sat night when the Bunnies play the Sharks, even with the mess that the Bunnies have gone through they will beat the Sharks convincingly like they did before. Once the Bunnies get a few games under their belt you will see as the Sharks, Cows and especially the Raiders are all making up the numbers :laughing: Go You Bunnies
Renegade
Roar Guru
Lol delusions…
Succhi
Roar Rookie
I had McInnes in my NSW team.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Morris is at Souths as an assistant coach until 2023 season ends, and these buggerlugs have been doing VERY WELL UNTIL R12 2023, as Morris must have reverted to the Sharks coaching thing :laughing:
RedcliffeFan
Roar Rookie
Magnificent performance from McInnes. In all their games he stands up and competes - including their horrific defeats. Had they competed the way they did against Penrith against Manly last week, the Warriors at home and a few other games they'd be already certain of their place in the finals. Pity the need to dig in took so long to sink in. Their handling was appalling though of course - something always has to be substandard it seems but some of that was due to the superb Penrith defence. Losing Kennedy was a huge blow - they could not afford the disruption that ensued. Penrith will win another title - no doubt about it. As for Cronulla I'd be surprised if Kennedy plays again this year - a great pity. Tracey and Iro are options - I wonder though if Moylan is worth a shot - they swtiched him to 5/8 partly due to his hamstring issues but it's worth consideration - he wouldn't be an attack magnet on the left edge and it would reunite him with Hynes in attack - I've no doubt Nicho has missed him - together they formed a superb attacking combination - one that Trindall is yet to form with Hynes. It seems a waste that with Kennedy gone an excellent attacker such as Moylan isn't used. Especially now with every competition point vital.
steveng
Roar Rookie
The Sharks are not much of a benchmark, they were not a benchmark last year and they are most definitely not this year also. They are lucky that they only play the Panthers once like the Warriors and the Raiders draw is, as the Raiders got thrashed 53-6 in R5 and will do so again if they played them again and the Warriors wouldn’t be much different as they got beat R10 18-6. Let’s see how the Panthers come up next Friday night as that will be a good sort of a gauge of how the Storm are going, as when the Bunnies play all these teams again and in the fair dinkum part of the finals, it will be 100% different to what has happened in the last 10 disastrous rounds :angry: and when the Bunnies get fully fit and have had a few games as a full side, ok and its fair enough that the Bunnies have been very ordinary for the last 10 rounds with losing 6, winning 3 and having two byes, but we beat the Panthers at their own game and just with pure talent and skill. Should be a great final draw coming up, as and if these teams put it all in it will probably be the closes and best finals and GF ever played in RL ever.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
The media said it ? Hooper? Rothfield ? Well… What key words do I need to Google because I keep coming up with nothing remotely close. Even if they did say it who in their right mind would swallow that ? Morris wasn’t dumped he walked away when told he was being replaced the following year wherein Fitz took them into 2nd on the table come the end of regular season. If you’re going to pile on you’ll need to do better than fictionalize things.
Maxtruck
Roar Rookie
Letting Metcalf go starting to look like a mistake, And Townsend , who at 7 would have really let Hynes play football and not worry about steering the team.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
That was the media spin before he was signed. The Sharks said little or nothing because they were too busy dumping Morris mid season.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Who from Cronulla said anything abt. Fitz the absolute NRL rookie coach (as he was) being the next supercoach and ‘years of glory’ ? You’re making it up.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
I thought Craig Fitzgibbon was brought in because he was the super coach who was going to lead the Sharks to years of glory? This seems to be a team that's barely capable of challenging the better teams, in some cases getting serious floggings (the Storm, Warriors and Panthers have put 126 points on for 22 against), while dishing out beltings to powerhouses like the Dragons, Tigers & Doggies. It makes the mid-season dumping of John Morris in 2021 all the more perplexing because he wasn't doing a whole lot worse than Fitzgibbon is now.
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
Better turn the porch light back on until the Sharks can get a couple more rep level players.