Cleary says ‘ladder doesn’t matter’ as Panthers sink to last

Panthers coach Ivan Cleary is not concerned that his team are sitting dead last on the 2025 NRL ladder after losing to the Manly Sea Eagles 26-10 on Saturday at CommBank Stadium.

The loss was Penrith’s sixth this season, leaving the four-time defending champions on just four points after eight rounds.

But Cleary is confident that the ladder does not matter until later in the year and believes his team are playing better than their position indicates.

“The ladder doesn’t really matter until July or August or something, but I guess it’s a talking point,” he said after his side’s loss on Saturday.

“When you only win two games, you’re going to be down there somewhere.

“I don’t think you can question the character of our team.

“Thought it was on show all the way through the game; we just didn’t play well enough, and that’s kind of been the story of the season.

“We thought we’d played a lot better last week, but we’re still trying to find what sort of team we are and our combinations and all that.

“Tonight was just, you have got to play well to win NRL games, especially when the opposition played well and we didn’t play well enough.”

The Panthers entered their Round 8 clash against the Sea Eagles as $1.55 favourites to win at BetOnline, despite their rocky form so far in 2025.

They quickly found themselves 14-0 down, however, as Reuben Garrick and Tommy Talau ran in tries inside the first quarter, with a successful penalty kick added soon after.

Penrith fought back well to give themselves a chance at 14-10 early in the second half, but were unable to maintain momentum as the Sea Eagles struck twice in quick succession to snuff out hopes of a comeback.

“We just didn’t play well enough,” Cleary said.

“First half just too many errors and on the back of things like 8-1 penalty count or penalties and six agains, so that’s just far too much possession against us.

“I thought we finished the first half quite well with 12 men and we were chipping away at the score and looked like we were ahead at one stage and then we went another three sets where we couldn’t complete.

“Then the second half became a bit of a shambles, so just starting and stopping and people getting binned and all that.

“We just couldn’t get it done tonight.”

Even with the Panthers sitting bottom of the table, NRL betting sites are reluctant to write the club off.

BetOnline have Penrith paying $15 to win the Premiership in 2025—significantly longer than their pre-season odds, but still the fifth line of betting overall.

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