Nathan Cleary in ominous form for Panthers ahead of NRL finals

The Penrith Panthers defeated the Newcastle Knights 22-14 at BlueBet Stadium on Sunday, with star pivot Nathan Cleary once again making the difference for the home side.

Despite the Panthers sitting in second place on the NRL ladder and the Knights well behind in 12th place, it was a tight contest in round 22.

The visitors opened the scoring through Daniel Saifiti after just six minutes, but Penrith immediately hit back when Casey McLean crossed over in the left corner.

Izack Tago added a second for the Panthers, while Cleary slotted a penalty goal at make it 14-6 at half-time.

However, Newcastle responded midway through the second half to lock the scores at 14-14 when Tyson Frizell dotted down.

With the match in the balance, Cleary stepped up.

Cleary produces solo effort to seal Panthers win

Much like his winning try against Brisbane in last year’s NRL Grand Final, Cleary took the match into his own hands in the dying minutes.

The playmaker has only been back to full health for less than a month, but he beat three defenders to score under the posts when his side needed it most.

Throw in a conversion and a penalty inside the last 10 minutes, and Cleary is looking like he is back to his very best with the NRL finals around the corner.

“That’s what you want from your playmakers,” Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said after the match.

“We struggled to get much momentum at all today, but we stuck at it and moved the ball when we could.

“Often when that happens, you’ll find an error from someone somewhere, so it was a hard-fought victory.

“Obviously a big play by Nathan at that moment.”

Panthers after continuity heading into NRL finals

The Penrith coach also shared that with so many injury disruptions across the 2024 season, he is looking forward to the side developing some rhythm over the next month.

“I’ve had enough guys missing for long enough and have had the same team very rarely,” Cleary said.

“We’re actually looking at getting some continuity with our team and then see what happens over the next three, four weeks.

“The top two is the main thing.

“Minor premierships I think are an underrated achievement.”

Sunday’s result takes Penrith within one win of joining the Melbourne Storm at the top of the table.

Despite being in second place, the Panthers have the shortest odds to win the title this year.

The three-time defending champions are at $2.62 with Bet365, ahead of the Storm and the Sydney Roosters at $4 apiece.

NRL bookmakers have also improved Penrith’s odds to win the minor premiership.

This comes off the back of the Storm falling to the Dragons earlier in the round.

The Panthers are now paying $1.72 to top the table at the end of the regular season, while Melbourne are at $2.10 and the Roosters an unlikely $41.

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