The Panthers have survived a huge scare to finish over the top of a wasteful Eels side that failed to score during two stints when their western Sydney rivals were reduced to 12 men.
A shaky month of footy saw Penrith lose three of their past four games to open the door for the chasing pack to snatch the minor premiership, but they’ve temporarily moved four points clear at the top thanks to their 24-18 win at CommBank Stadium.
Another loss was on the cards when they fell behind 12-0 after just 13 minutes, but their championship defence returned in the second half as their big guns stood tall.
Nathan Cleary proved he’s human when he failed to find touch from a penalty, but he also kicked to set up their first try and passed flat for Liam Henry to tie things up.
Liam Martin continued his dominant recent form with a powerful try to put them in front, before Tom Jenkins added to his remarkable season with a four-pointer of his own as the premiership favourites steadied the ship.
They now return to Mudgee next week where they’ll face Canberra after the teams put on an all-time classic 12 months ago, with fullback Dylan Edwards expected to return.
UP THE MILK
The Raiders might have the catch phrase, but the Panthers will have to start using it if Tom ‘Milky’ Jenkins keeps this up.
The winger wasn’t meant to start in round one but now has the club record for most tries in a season after he grabbed his 26th to go past Rhys Wesser’s tally of 25 from 2003.
Jenkins is eyeing off Dave Brown’s record haul of 38 from the 1935 season and still has enough games to make history.
It was his lovely offload that got Penrith on the board on Thursday, before he received a room service bounce off a Blaize Talagi kick to seal it in the second half.
DIRTY DOZEN
The Eels started the contest looking like a top four team but couldn’t maintain the rage in front of their home fans.
Luca Moretti made a break in the second minute and the set ended with Mitch Moses flying high to reel in a Ronald Volkman kick.
Moses then set up Jack Williams to given them a 12-0 lead, but their inability to punish Penrith when they had an extra man on the field was the difference.
The Panthers were reduced to 12 men just before half-time when Jenkins took Brian Kelly out as he chased a kick, while Isaiah Papali’i found himself in the bin midway through the second half when he dragged Moses back after a bust.
Parramatta had the class to make the most of the numerical advantage but they just couldn’t execute their opportunities, with errors and cheap penalties costing them dearly.
The hosts tormented Penrith’s left edge early on but went away from it until the final two minutes when Cleary set up Williams for his second when it was too late.
Originally published as Tom Jenkins creates Panthers history as premiership favourites survive sin bin drama to beat the Eels