After dispatching the Broncos in Brisbane in round one, Penrith took the Sharks to Bathurst and left them smeared on the side of the road. All the Penrith trademarks were on show: the asphyxiating defence, the smart decision-making across the park, the uncanny ability of Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo to organise their attacking shapes on the run, thinking two and three plays ahead.
They’re a marvellous sight when they’re clicking, and the team they dismantled is one of the better ones in the NRL. The questions for Penrith are whether they can maintain consistency and stay lucky with injuries. All other things being equal, they will romp home in 2026. You read it here first.
Spoon of the week
The silver lining in a second home defeat, for Manly’s capacity crowd, is that it hastens the day when Anthony Siebold is no longer coach.
On Sunday, they started as they meant to go on: Luke Brooks losing his geography on the opening kick-off, Jamal Fogarty overegging the dropout and Jason Saab producing a signature defensive misread. Half a minute in, the Knights were utterly dominant.
As if taking pity on their hapless hosts, Newcastle surrendered Kalyn Ponga and Dylan Brown before half-time. It didn’t matter.
Manly’s kicking game and last-tackle plays were notably amateurish, but the coup de grâce was when Reuben Garrick ran 50 metres after taking an intercept. He had Saab in support but took the tackle. For reasons best known to himself, Saab bolted away to the sideline, leaving Garrick to play the ball to no one, who, arguably, would have done a better job than Saab anyway.
Newcastle picked up the ball and celebrated their biggest score at Brookvale since 1998.
“I’m not watching a wooden spoon team here,” Andrew Voss said in commentary on Fox.
He was referring to the Knights. Wrong team. Manly have never collected a wooden spoon in their 79 years. This year is looking ominous. If things go that far, Siebold will be long gone. It might be too much for long-suffering Manly fans to hope for, but a disaster of that magnitude could finally relieve them of the Penn family’s ownership.
Senior management
What Manly are missing came into visibility late in Friday night’s match. The Roosters led Souths by two points and got a penalty. Telling James Tedesco, Connor Watson and Sam Walker what to do, laying out how to finish the game, was Daly Cherry-Evans. He controlled the last minutes of play and iced the win with a neat grubber for Tedesco. It’s taken two rounds, but DCE is grabbing the steering wheel and the Roosters are better for it.
Daly Cherry-Evans impressed in his second game as a Rooster.Credit: Getty Images
Player of the week
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The Warriors are over the ditch and under the radar, and the powerhouse Jackson Ford is ensuring that Mitch Barnett won’t be missed too badly. Melbourne’s Sua Fa’alogo is the most scintillating runner in the NRL, ensuring that Ryan Papenhuyzen won’t be missed too badly. But the most influential player of the weekend was Jarome Luai, who has become the animating spirit of Leichhardt, Benji Marshall redux.
The Tigers will win a lot of fun matches this season. Luai will be at the centre of it all. His contract is loaded dangerously heavily in his favour. If he left, no player in the NRL would be missed so badly.
