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The Panthers’ winning streak has extended to seven after a 24-14 victory over Manly, but they were made to work for every inch of it at Brookvale Oval by a Sea Eagles side intent on making life difficult for the Premiers.
From the opening set, Manly seemed intent on throwing everything they had at Penrith, with extravagant shifts, trick plays and early kicks.
With their season on the line, Anthony Seibold had clearly instructed his team to play like there was no tomorrow, and they certainly did. With almost an entire middle injured, they opted to almost totally avoid the centre of the field.
Tries from Tof Sipley and Reuben Garrick got them ahead in the first half, but the Panthers were always likely to come back, but two Stephen Crichton tries took the sides to the break level.
The first was an intercept, picked off as Daly Cherry-Evans sought to spread in his own half and the second came after referee Gerard Sutton missed a clear knock on in the lead up.
That, plus the two head knocks within a minute for Ben Trbojevic and Brad Parker, removed any chance of the upset.
One incident told the whole story: Garrick kicked directly after receiving a kick, showing the willingness the Sea Eagles had to disrupt the rhythm of the Panthers, but defence allowed Sunia Turuva to return the ball under the posts.
The high risk strategies inevitably fell over in the face of relentless defensive pressure and backline metres, but Seibold was unrepentant after the match.
“We had to go down swinging,” said the coach. “I was proud of the guys. Our defence inside 20 was outstanding tonight. There’s a dubious call or two and we’re going for broke with an intercept and the return serve kick. I asked for effort and having a red hot crack and we did that.
“I said we couldn’t come here and arm wrestle them. We practised returning serve during the week in training. We had to think outside the box.”
Even without Jarome Luai and Mitch Kenny, two late scratchings, they had far too much class. Stephen Crichton, in particular, came to the fore with two tries and a raft of excellent defensive interventions.
The Sea Eagles are now mathematically incapable of making 13 wins, which is likely to be the cut-off for post-season football, but their fans can certainly take heart from the way they stuck it to one of the competition favourites.
Penrith, however, march on. The Minor Premiership is theirs to lose and the only question for Ivan Cleary now is when he starts resting players ahead of the important stuff at the end of the year.
“I was really happy tonight,” said the coach. “It wasn’t our most polished display by a long shot but in terms of what we were trying to do, and stopping a team that was desperate and threw a lot at us, it was a good result.
“We had a week of late changes. Manly spoiled us well and we struggled to get up to speed. They got us off our rhythm a bit. But in the second half, we got the field position, possession and controlled the game.”
Manly’s desire not to dying wondering was admirable. When they’ve looked best this year, it’s been because they have been able to get their pace out wide involved early.
Typically that’s come from winning rucks in the middle, but with so many middles out, they bypassed that part and went straight to spreading the ball. It worked, too.
Penrith certainly aren’t used to having their line speed challenged laterally and took a long time to react.
Even when Cherry-Evans threw an intercept to Crichton for an easy try, the Sea Eagles just kept doing it, creating four line breaks in the first half alone.
Reuben Garrick trying to initiate a kicking duel led to the Panthers running the ball straight back for a try, but you have to admire the commitment to the bit.
Josh Schuster, took an intercept, raced 40m, then kicked to nobody. Garrick, too, kicked early to try and catch Penrith napping, only for it not come off.
Even with seconds to go in the half, the Sea Eagles tried a short drop out from the 20m line that almost got them the ball back, until Gerard Sutton remembered – or was told by the Bunker – what the actual rule was.
It was enthralling stuff while it lasted, and was always going to be for a good time rather than a long time.
As much as Manly were willing to make the pitch wide with the footy, they tried to make it narrow without it. That looked a little kamikaze at times.
Schuster getting well in front of the football worked when he took his intercept, but would have looked very silly had Moses Leota clung on and walked under the posts with the five eighth not even in the frame.
Tolu Koula, Jason Saab and Ray Vaega all seemed intent to flying out and landed one on whoever had the ball at the time, and again, it sort of worked – until Crichton was strolling it at the corner.
It was pure chaos footy, but had the desired effect of knocking the Panthers off their stride.
There might be a blueprint here, both for the future of Manly and of Penrith.
Defensively, teams that can jam the ball-playing lock can force the Panthers inside and limit their effectiveness in attack. In the first half, they were limited to an intercept try and another that, in truth, they were lucky to get given a clear knock on the play before.
In attack, it continued the glimpse into what Manly might be next year with everyone on deck. If they keep trying this shift-first style, they’ll certainly play to their strengths and give teams a lot of trouble in attack.
The way they turned up with a set idea of doing something that the Panthers didn’t expect really rattled the Premiers.
Eventually, as is often the case, they made too many mistakes and gave Penrith too much ball.
Much as Manly lost, it’s hard not to admire them asking more questions than anyone has of the Panthers in a long time.
There were some serious slices of luck for the Panthers tonight. They got an intercept, then the try that should never have been awarded, then their opponents had two head knocks within a minute of the second half starting.
They make their own luck, too. The way that Penrith play is designed to maximise control and minimise chaos, which is one of the reasons why Manly’s max chaos approach troubled them so much.
This Panthers side were a little rattled and conceded two remarkably soft, un-Panthers-like tries in the first half. They rode their luck.
The plan, however, never deviated. The back three continue to bang the ball in, the forwards kept arcing up in defence and the strangle started all over again.
When you have a really strong system and a team that has been drilled to within an inch of their lives, that’s where you go when challenged. You do Plan A even better.
The interesting thing might not be what happened tonight, but what happens in the future.
Brisbane and South Sydney, if they meet the Panthers in the Finals, might look at what Manly did and wonder if they might not do the same, but better.
The way that Souths defeated the Panthers in April was via a willingness to put air under the footy and move the line laterally, and the Broncos have had a huge amount of joy doing that to opposing teams all year. Both are better teams than Manly.
The Warriors, too, can certainly throw a trick shot with the best of them, and will have absolutely nothing to lose, just as the Sea Eagles didn’t tonight. The freedom that comes with lack of expectation is powerful.
Plenty have tried to match the Panthers and failed. Maybe Manly showed an alternative path. They certainly asked a different question, and made Penrith have to think hard for an answer.