Ivan Cleary’s Panthers surge with 33.6 points and 12.6 conceded
ivan cleary’s Penrith Panthers have turned 2026 into a one-sided run, scoring 68 unanswered points against Wests Tigers on Sunday and losing only one game so far. Ben Gardiner said the title favorite’s edge comes from a cleaner off-season, sharper combinations and a skill level that has put them six premiership points clear at the top of the ladder.
Ben Gardiner on Penrith’s off-season
“I think it all goes back to the off-season and what they were able to do in the off-season,” Gardiner said. He pointed to the year before, when “there was a number of guys that had major surgery, and there was injuries and stuff like that,” before saying that in the most recent off-season “everyone was available to train which was a great thing for them.”
That availability fed straight into the way Penrith handled the parts of the game that had caused problems in 2025. “Some of the areas around combinations that (they) struggled with (in) 2025, they've hit the ground running with that,” he said, adding that the “skill level is ridiculous” across the whole side rather than just the key spine positions.
Nathan Cleary and the Tigers
The clearest snapshot came against Wests Tigers, where Penrith’s play-the-ball speed was 3.34 seconds, fastest in the round. Gardiner said Nathan Cleary “looked like he had all the time in the world,” while the Tigers wore down as the game went on.
“The longer the game went, the more fatigued the Tigers got (and) the less pressure that they put on him,” he said. He also added: “And if you wait for them (to come), you're in big trouble.”
That was not just about one match. Across their first 13 games, Penrith scored 33.6 points a game and conceded 12.6, a spread that explains why they sit six premiership points clear and are being framed as the side to beat for the Provan-Summons Trophy in October.
The pressure now shifts to everyone chasing them. Penrith have already shown they can pile on points, lock opponents out and sustain it over 80 minutes; the next teams in their path have to find a way to slow the ball, unsettle their combinations and force them into the kind of grind they have barely seen in 2026.
