Four tries in 12 minutes: The demolition that unfolds when Penrith pull the trigger

It was a tight heavyweight tussle for 15 minutes until the Panthers decided to flex their muscles and knock the Roosters out.

“Everyone can fight until they get punched in the face,” Roosters coach Trent Robinson said, loosely using the famous words of boxer Mike Tyson.

“We got punched in the face, and we didn’t fight back.”

The Panthers, three rounds into the 2026 NRL season, are punching everyone in the face, and they’re punching hard. The Roosters were the latest victims, belted 40-4 at Allianz Stadium on Friday night. The Panthers have now conceded only two tries in their three games – against the Broncos, Sharks and Roosters; or 10 points – with 92 points scored.

Yet Panthers captain Nathan Cleary says his team has room for improvement.

“I think we’re certainly ahead, but completing at 90 per cent actually unlocks a lot of our attacking flare, I’d say,” Cleary said.

“I still think there’s a long way to go, it’s round three, but in terms of this point, definitely compared to last year, we’re streets ahead.”

For the first time since their four-peat between 2021 and 2024, the Panthers haven’t lost someone from their core playing group. Their spine of Dylan Edwards, Blaize Talagi, Cleary and Mitch Kenny remains intact, and they had an undisturbed pre-season, unlike for 2025 when all four players required surgery.

The result? A side that are miles ahead of the rest of the competition and on track for their fifth premiership in six years.

Friday night began with an early Roosters try, before Panthers winger Tom Jenkins scored his first try – of four – for the night.

Jenkins was dropped at the end of last year, but coach Ivan Cleary said the winger had worked his backside off in pre-season to return to the squad.

The old “Milky”, as he’s known, would have kicked stones, Cleary said. The new Milky is the competition’s in-form winger and leads the NRL’s try scoring ladder, with eight so far.

A simple combination, with Kenny and Talagi on the short side, sent Jenkins across to bring Penrith equal with the Roosters in the 15th minute.

Four minutes later, some Brian To’o magic.

With the scores locked at 4-4, To’o produced a double grubber-and-regather to score an electrifying individual try that unlocked the Panthers.

“I might ask him for a few tips on grubbers. They were dead-set perfect,” Nathan Cleary said.

It was a key play at a crucial point of the game, coach Ivan Cleary said.

“That put us ahead after a period that was pretty tight, and then we scored in the next set as well off the kick off,” he said.

“That was a crucial time in the game, and I thought it was a big turning point. You need your best players, that’s why they’re the best players, because they can come up with stuff in tight situations.”

Edwards scored in the next set after Paul Alamoti split the Roosters’ right-hand side, with Cleary and the NSW fullback on the inside for support.

Then, in the 27th minute, another slick backline movement – including a no-look Cleary pass – paved the way for Jenkins to score his second of the night. Cleary’s sideline conversion made it 22-4 and the game was effectively over.

With all their players fit, the combinations that Penrith work on at training are starting to come off.

“It’s a lot of reps, but it’s probably a feel thing as well, and just sort of being able to understand each other’s game,” Cleary said of his combination with Talagi.

“I think we’re doing that quite well to start the year. There’s still a long way to go, and really enjoying sort of Blaize and my partnership getting to flourish.”