Penrith Panthers demolish Melbourne Storm to claim the best start in NRL history
You didn’t win the premiership in April but it’s looking pretty good for Penrith so far.
The Panthers are among the heavy favorites to lift the trophy for the fifth time in six years after beating last year’s grand finalists Melbourne 50-10 on Friday night.
Penrith are officially off to their best start to the season in NRL history after claiming their fifth straight win.
Paying $2.60 to win the contest, bookmakers SportsBet and Betr agree these are the lowest odds on a team to lift the trophy at this point in the competition in recent history.
Melbourne were paying around $3 this time after round five last year after beating the Eels, Panthers, Dragons and Sea Eagles.
According to Betr, at the start of the season Penrith were paying $7 to win the competition and that price continued to drop each week. Before Friday night’s victory Penrith were paying $3.25, compared to $3.75 the week before.
Currently at $2.60, it’s unlikely to drop much further even if they continue to win games. Their closest rivals are premierships Brisbane, who pay around $8, according to the bookies.
Coach Ivan Cleary was hesitant to label this current team the best in Penrith history, telling reporters on Friday night: “Things are going well; it’s only early in the year.”
But statistics don’t lie.
Penrith’s score of +150 for and against is the best of any team at this stage of competition in the NRL.
Historically, only Brisbane in 1996 and the rambunctious Eastern Suburbs of 1935 have rivaled them, although the latter suffered a defeat and a bye respectively in the opening rounds of their seasons.
Ivan Cleary’s men also became the first in Premier League history to win the first five games of a season by 20 points or more.
Their attack is performing like no other, with eight different tryscorers contributing to Friday’s tally.
Captain Nathan Cleary said of the team’s wide range of strikers: “It probably shows we have options all over the pitch at the moment.”
“I think everyone is really feeling in the game and getting the ball, and I think that’s the most impressive thing about our offense right now; everyone is alive on every play. It just opens up options and makes it harder to defend.”
With last year’s grand finalists Melbourne and Brisbane among the teams Penrith have already sidelined this season, the Panthers may not lose a single game until the State of Origin season arrives, where they are likely to lose a third of their squad.
The Panthers’ best streak was winning 17 straight games in 2020; that series ended with Melbourne beating them 26-20 in the grand final.
In a warning to the rest of the NRL, Ivan Cleary said his side are “really getting better”.
Penrith also have the best defense in the competition. As NRL coaches say, defense wins games.
On average, Penrith concede just eight points per game. The last time they had such a good start to the season defensively was in 2021, when they conceded an average of five points per game after holding the Cowboys and Bulldogs to zero in the opener of the year.
Nathan Cleary admitted this was the team’s best start to the season since he started playing in 2016.
“I think it was probably early this season,” he said. “Usually the start of every season is pretty sluggish and apart from probably the first two rounds this year it was a bit sluggish offensively, I thought the last three were really good and we’re getting better every week.
“It’s good to see that our defense is still the foundation of what we do and I thought the final game tonight epitomized that. “With the scoreline like that, there were seven, eight, nine players trying to save a try. [up 40 points].”
from AAP
Billie Eder is a sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect with: X or email.
