'Brave' Panthers have no cause for concern: Ivan Cleary

By: Jasper Bruce Time published 2023-03-24 at 03:32 AM (GMT +11:00)

Penrith have dropped two of their first three games but Panthers' coach Ivan Cleary isn't reaching for the panic button.

Panthers coach IVAN CLEARY speaks to the media during a NRL Finals series press conference at Rugby League Central in Sydney, Australia.
Panthers coach IVAN CLEARY speaks to the media during a NRL Finals series press conference at Rugby League Central in Sydney, Australia. Picture: Renee McKay/Getty Images

Coach Ivan Cleary is remaining calm despite Penrith suffering another tight loss to begin 2023 and believes the premiers are tracking better than their 1-2 record suggests.

The Panthers fell to local rivals Parramatta 17-16 in a high-quality grand final rematch at CommBank Stadium on Thursday, which featured a total of only nine errors between the two sides.

The Eels dominated the territory battle for most of the night, forcing Penrith to muscle up in defence, but they responded by missing only 14 tackles across the 80 minutes.

In the end, only a Mitch Moses field goal in extra time could separate the Western Sydney rivals.

"I feel like we'll get a lot out of that game in terms of improvement," Cleary said.

"If we turn up like that and perform like that every week, I think we're going to win plenty of games."

"It's early days. We're playing well. It was a good game tonight.

"Some of the numbers that came out, the Eels were 95 per cent (completion rate) with the ball. They had 1000 kick metres, which I've never seen before. I'm not sure if that's ever happened before."

The defeat was Penrith's third by a field goal in the space of a month, including the World Club Challenge loss to St Helens.

Cleary would not blame the side's unusual schedule to begin the season for the defeats.

Penrith spent the pre-season working towards the first World Club Challenge since before the COVID-19 pandemic, and then had the bye in round three.

"It's definitely been different, especially having such a big game, the World Club Challenge, to kick it off," he said.

"It's been fine, I've been really happy with the 80 minutes we've been able to put together.

"There's heaps of stuff that we can improve at and we will but all in all, I think it's a pretty brave team doing their best every week."

The Panthers are hopeful they'll have Liam Martin back from his hamstring injury for next week's game against Canberra after he was ruled out on game day.

"It's not a bad injury but it was enough to miss tonight. We're hoping he'll be right for next week," Cleary said.