The Panthers and Storm pass 40 yet again, and the Eels round out a trio of wins for the NRL’s top three on Sunday.
Penrith hammered the Titans 42-12 for their 10th straight win, the Storm put on another clinic against the Dragons in a 44-18 victory, and Parramatta held off a gritty Warriors outfit.
Nathan Cleary masterclass leads Penrith to cruisy win over Titans
Nathan Cleary put on a superb display to finish Magic Round, helping Penrith demolish a lacklustre and undermanned Gold Coast side 48-12 at Lang Park.
With Herman Ese’ese sent off and the Titans reduced to 12 men for the second half, Cleary scored a hat-trick and finished with 28 points for the match.
The Penrith halfback scored the opening two tries and set up three more, before finishing the game by bumping through four Titans to claim his third.
It came as the Panthers dominated the Titans in every facet, warming up for next Sunday’s clash with South Sydney in Dubbo.
The result also made Penrith the first team since Eastern Suburbs in 1996 to win their opening 10 games, and just the seventh in history.
And while Ese’ese became the third man to be sent off this weekend when he charged out of the line and collected Brian To’o’s head, it made little difference.
In fact, the game was best summed up during a brief period in the first half when the Panthers were down a man thanks to having Moses Leota in the sin-bin.
The Titans looked set to benefit and level the scores when Phillip Sami crossed, only for the try to be denied when Beau Fermor ran through and took out Cleary.
Instead, Cleary kicked for touch, followed through to finish a bust and backed up at first receiver to step his way over the line to make it 12-0.
Moments later Cleary turned the ball back inside for a charging Fisher-Harris to run over Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and Tyrone Peachey.
On returning to the field, Leota immediately finished off a wonderful 90-metre effort after a break from fullback Dylan Edwards.
By then the score was 24-0 and the game was over.
Cleary also set up tries for Liam Martin and Charlie Staines, with the latter coming from a lovely harbour-bridge ball to get the winger over untouched.
Electric Storm hammer 12-man Dragons in brutal clash
AAP: Dave Hunt
)A depleted Melbourne Storm passed 40 points for the fourth straight week, but the 44-18 win over St George Illawarra proved costly for both teams.
The Storm’s loss of Cameron Munster, Harry Grant and Brandon Smith for the game was eased by the return of Ryan Papenhuyzen from a shoulder injury, but the superstar fullback’s afternoon only lasted 10 minutes.
He was stretchered off after a high shot from Tyrell Fuimaono, who was sent off the field and is likely to be suspended by the match review committee.
Coach Craig Bellamy said Papenhuyzen appeared in good spirits but was badly concussed and unlikely to play next week, adding that “in the climate we’re playing in” the send-off was deserved.
“You’re always going to get penalised if you hit someone around the head, it’s just that they’re making a bigger point of it and the penalties are more severe,” he said.
“I can understand what the NRL is trying to do … we’ve just got to all jump on board with it and hopefully the growing pains will go away pretty quickly.”
The Dragons also lost fullback Matt Dufty to a shoulder injury, while Storm third-string hooker Tyson Smoothy, only playing because of Grant and Smith’s injuries, suffered a nasty PCL injury in a hip-drop tackle from Tariq Sims.
Sims was not put on report for his effort, but Josh McGuire was, as well as being sent from the field for 10 minutes — one of 17 players either sin-binned or sent off this weekend.
McGuire’s tackle on Josh Addo-Carr came just before the Storm winger scored on the left wing in the 10th minute, in the same left-side shift that saw Papenhuyzen concussed.
Addo-Carr left the field shortly after with an apparent knee injury, while the Dragons were briefly reduced to 11 men with McGuire binned and Fuimaono sent off.
Even so, the Dragons fought hard to stay in the game and only trailed 14-10 at the break thanks to a first-half double for Dragons winger Mikaele Ravalawa.
But the second half was a completely different stoty, with Nicho Hynes and Jahrome Hughes sparking the Storm, who crossed six times in the final 40 minutes, including two more for Addo-Carr, who has scored 12 tries in the past four matches.
Eels coach’s son score decisive try on debut in win over Warriors
AAP: Dave Hunt
)Parramatta exploded out of the blocks with their most damaging start to a game in more than four decades before Jakob Arthur finished the job on debut as the Eels beat the Warriors 34-18.
In an opening 20 minutes that left the Warriors stunned, the Eels crossed four times before the visitors had even completed three sets at Lang Park.
The 24-0 scoreline was the Eels’ biggest lead after a quarter of the game since at least 1980,. according to Fox Sports.
The Warriors rebounded to 28-18 with 17 minutes to go thanks to recruit Reece Walsh, before fellow 18-year-old Arthur stepped up.
With his father Brad in the coach’s box, the five-eighth dummied as he stepped across field and picked a gap to stumble over.
Arthur Sr punched the air in celebration, ending an emotional few days where he juggled being an NRL coach and a proud father.
His son was targeted by the Warriors early but he showed his class, selflessly setting up a try after break when he handed off to Ryan Matterson after a Mitch Moses kick.
He also should have had another assist when he put Blake Ferguson free on the right wing, only for the former Kangaroos flyer to drop it over the line.
The win kept the Eels second on the ladder.
