Nathan Cleary was sound without being sensational in his anticipated return to the NRL.
Cleary set up a try and played a key role in the lead-up to another as the Panthers easily accounted for Wests Tigers last night.
Flying winger: Penrith's Tyrone Phillips scores a spectacular try against the Tigers on Thursday night.
Photo: AAP
Most of the crowd at Panthers Stadium were excited to see Cleary return from a knee injury having been sidelined since round three, and against a Tigers team coached by none other than his old man, Ivan.
There was also plenty of Origin debate surrounding Cleary and his halves partner James Maloney, as well as Tigers No.7 Luke Brooks.
But the player who did himself the most favours was probably centre Tyrone Peachey, who scored a try off Clearys 25th-minute grubber and was his usual busy self around the ball. Peachey has been touted as a decent utility option for NSW.
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Cleary went to pass before he dropped the ball on to his right boot and snuck it in behind Benji Marshall for Peachey to score.
The young playmaker then threw a bullet-like cut-out pass for centre Dean Whare, who shook off a few defenders and raced down field. Cleary had the hide to keep up with Whare before he got his hands on the ball the next play, then found Maloney, who launched a looping pass for Tyrone Phillips to score. Penrith kicked out to lead 12-2 in what would be the last try of the night.
Nathan Cleary gets the ball away.
Photo: AAP
The Cleary-Maloney combination was praised as beautiful to watch on the Channel Nine commentary by Andrew Johns not long after Phillips try.
Cleary, 20, will have one final audition for Origin One in next Saturday nights top-of-the-table clash against St George Illawarra.
After NSW coach Brad Fittler gave Parramattas Mitchell Moses a huge and strange push for the Blues No.7 jersey on the news a night earlier, Cleary and Maloney were clearly not affected.
From a Penrith perspective, they continued their winning ways and are a team who will push deep into September.
The score could have been much worse for the Tigers had the Panthers not botched or been denied tries on three separate occasions in the second half. Christian Crichton dropped the ball cold over the line, Phillips cost himself a double when his foot went into touch, while Kikau was denied because of an obstruction in the lead-up.
The Tigers would have been deeply disappointed with this one, especially after the energy they showed to down the Cowboys at a heaving Fortress Leichhardt seven nights earlier.
They could not hang on to the ball and never looked like posting points, even when they enjoyed a string of penalties midway through the first half. Earlier in the night, Panthers boss Phil Gould stood in the middle of the ground and announced Josh Mansour had inked a new three-year deal.
PENRITH 16 (T Peachey T Phillips tries J Maloney 4 goals) bt WESTS TIGERS 2 (E Marsters goal) at Panthers Stadium. Referees: Ben Cummins, Jon Stone. Crowd: 15,081.
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Christian covers rugby league for The Sydney Morning Herald.
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