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The Panthers’ status as the NRL kings of the jungle is under threat after the written-off Roosters registered one of the biggest boilovers in recent history with a 38-32 triumph at CommBank Stadium.
Penrith were well off the pace and star fullback Dylan Edwards limped off midway through the second half with a groin injury to make a bad night even worse.
But as clunky as they were, the Roosters deserve all the credit with skipper James Tedesco leading from the front as he continually tormented the Penrith defence in creating three tries.
In Auckland, the Warriors saw the first dividend from their huge investment in James Fisher-Harris with the former Panthers prop manhandling Manly to set up their 36-16 upset triumph.
It was a horror night for the Sea Eagles with skipper Daly Cherry-Evans suffering a back injury in the closing stages and star fullback Tom Trbojevic also failing to finish the match due to a left hamstring strain.
After four straight premierships and an NRL line-up’s worth of star players leaving due to the salary cap squeeze, Penrith are finally starting to look vulnerable.
The simple fact is that you can’t keep replacing top guns with new faces forever and not suffer some sort of drop-off.
On a night when James Fisher-Harris was carving up the Sea Eagles for the Warriors, his old Panthers teammates would have loved to have had him at CommBank Stadium.
Jarome Luai and Sunia Turuva will play at the same venue in Round 2 but that will be on Sunday for the Wests Tigers.
Jack Cole is a promising young five-eighth, Casey McLean is a top prospect on the wing but he made a couple of crucial fumbles from high kicks and Lindsay Smith is not in Fisher-Harris’ class as a starting prop.
They were uncharacteristically flat against the Roosters and with Edwards succumbing to a groin injury in the second half, they will start in the rare position as underdogs when they travel to Melbourne next Thursday to face a rested and red-hot Storm side coming off a bye.
“We just weren’t anywhere near good enough,” coach Ivan Cleary bemoaned.
“I guess it’s why we all love sport so much, it’s the classic upset.”
Izack Tago is tackled. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
They have been written off by anyone who saw their abject annihilation at the hands of Brisbane in Round 1 but it is not time to stick a fork in the Roosters just yet.
Trent Robinson’s new-look team lost Lindsay Collins on the eve of the match due to illness and with Spencer Leniu, Victor Radley and Nat Butcher also unavailable, they faced an almighty challenge against the full-strength premiers.
Once news of their Test prop’s illness leaked out on Thursday afternoon, the bookmakers blew out the Roosters’ odds for this game to $10.50 underdogs, a 16-year first for the glamour club from Sydney’s east.
But even though they conceded a soft try early, the Tricolours took the fight to the Panthers with hooker Connor Watson bobbing up everywhere, James Tedesco turning back the clock at fullback and former Wallabies winger Mark Nawaqanitawase a revelation at left centre.
Nawaqanitawase scored the Roosters’ first try with a strong run and set up a couple of others with slick passing, much to the delight of his veteran wing comrade Daniel Tupou.
They had not beaten the Panthers since 2019 but they have broken the drought in the most unexpected fashion for what was possibly their best win since they lifted the trophy that year.
“I feel like it’s my proudest win,” he said.
“No-one gave us a shot … that’s what media does and people do, they’re quick to judge. It’s on us as leaders to instil that belief in these young boys. We showed that belief tonight.
“We’ve set ourselves up with a performance like that. We have to keep building on that and keep getting better to produce more wins like that.”
When the Panthers drew first blood after Paul Alamoti sidestepped Siua Wong in just the second minute, it seemed only a matter of time before there was an avalanche of points.
And there was – but it wasn’t just the premiers devouring the easybeat Roosters.
Nawaqanitawase took advantage of McLean’s clumsy bomb defusal and Watson barged over to give the Roosters a 12-6 lead.
Brian To’o managed to grubber and regather in the space of about three square metres to evade Tupou and touch down in the corner – “that was incredible” said Andrew Johns on Nine as he marvelled at the winger’s sublime skill.
Tupou gained revenge when he touched down after a Tedesco run-around before Liam Henry marked a Nathan Cleary kick to tie the scores up at 18 apiece at the break.
Watson backed up a Tedesco break to put the Tricolours up before Edwards won the race to a Cleary grubber to again make it all square.
Tupou continued the back-and-forth scoring when Nawaqanitawase fed him close to the stripe and when Sandon Smith streaked away for a long-range try, a Roosters upset seemed a possibility.
It then became a reality when Tedesco again provided the magic touch to put Dominic Young over in the corner for a 38-24 lead with just 10 minutes to go.
A penalty goal after a harsh sin bin call for high contact against rookie forward Salesi Foketi and a try to McLean ate into the deficit but the Roosters hung on by the skin of their teeth after a To’o dive for the corner on the siren was just denied by Tupou’s desperation tackle.
The Warriors lucked out when they snared Fisher-Harris from Penrith when the Kiwi international requested an early release due to family reasons and his presence in the middle of the ruck was immense against Manly.
JFH racked up 40 tackles and his 18 hit-ups yielded 130 metres and with fellow starting middles Mitchell Barnett and Erin Clark backing him up with bullocking runs of their own, the Warriors were able to establish the ascendancy.
And that was all their halves needed with Luke Metcalf and Chanel Harris-Tavita reversing a disappointing first outing together in Las Vegas in the loss to Canberra.
Metcalf scored the final try after setting up two others while Harris-Tavita also crossed the stripe to justify the faith that coach Andrew Webster has shown to pick him ahead of Te Maire Martin.
They bounced back from a slow start to run in three tries on the trot for an 18-6 half-time lead and even when Manly winger Jason Saab pegged the deficit back with a dubious putdown early in the second stanza, hooker Wayde Egan notched a well-deserved try to give the hosts a 14-point lead.
After a Cherry-Evans try from an athletic Reuben Garrick bat-back as he flew over the dead-ball line, the match was in the balance with the home side holding an eight-point lead.
But they used the captain’s challenge wisely to turn one knock-on call into an offside penalty and a Roger Tuviasa-Sheck fumble into a Josh Aloiai high shot.
Tuivasa-Sheck and Metcalf sealed the win by scoring late with one fairweather Warriors fan holding up a sign saying “there’s something missing – SJ” as their new halfback celebrated his try.
If he can keep playing to this level, he will do Shaun Johnson proud in his old No.7 jersey.
“It was really unfair around criticism considering we didn’t tackle well or run the ball well last week,” Warriors coach Andrew Webster said. “So we didn’t give him opportunities, but tonight he was really good off the back of a platform.
“You could see him really building confidence and getting into the game tonight. I thought he handled the mental occasion of this week really well.”
After thrashing the Cowboys in Round 1, Manly were being spoken of as potential premiership dark horses.
They’re back in the starting barriers now after the inconsistency that plagued them last year was again on show.
They waltzed in the opening try of the match when Trbojevic backed up a long-range Saab break and the ease with which they scored was probably the worst thing that could happen to them.
The Sea Eagles then proceeded to put in a half-hearted effort to watch their 6-0 advantage turn into a 12-point deficit by the break.
“We were nowhere near our best, that was disappointing,” coach Anthony Seibold said.
They actually matched the Warriors with five line breaks each but it was telling that the Sea Eagles only managed 16 tackle breaks while the home side more than doubled that tally with 40.
Sometimes in rugby league the old adage of the team that runs harder almost always comes up trumps.
The CommBank Stadium playing surface had the slipperiness of a match played in wet weather but it was a dry night in western Sydney.
Chunks of turf regularly came up as studs stuck in the surface with several players falling over due to the motley track.
“There needs to be an inquiry into this surface,” Phil Gould said on Nine commentary.
“There were big marks out on the playing surface even before we kicked off.”
With the premiers unable to play at Penrith this year with their home ground being revamped, the Parramatta stadium will be used more than usual so it’s a big concern to see the surface looking this shabby in Round 2 of the NRL season.
The Eels host Wests Tigers at the venue on Sunday so the groundstaff have less than 48 hours to replace the many divots after this match to get the surface up to scratch.