Boom Penrith playmakers Te Maire Martin and Nathan Cleary continued their evolution to lead Penrith to a 40-0 shellacking of the Newcastle Knights on Friday night.
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Penrith sublime in Knights thrashing
The Penrith Panthers have thrashed the Newcastle Knights 40-nil in a typically entertaining display.
It was hardly a litmus test but any question marks over Penrith's ability to live up to expectation were erased in the demolition of the Knights at Pepper Stadium.
They started the year as joint title favourites alongside the Melbourne Storm, and next Saturday night they'll test their premiership credentials when they travel south of the border to take on the undefeated Storm in a blockbuster showdown at AAMI Park.
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There has been great debate about the young halves to come out of the Wests Tigers system in recent weeks, but it was the one that got away – Martin – who appears to be delivering on potential.
Martin, who scored a try in his side's second win of the year, combined brilliantly with his halves partner – who grabbed a four-pointer of his own – to orchestrate the Panthers' biggest win against the Knights.
"Yeah he's building well," coach Anthony Griffin said.
"The hardest thing for a young half when he first comes in is defensive workload because oppositions run a lot of traffic at them. Nathan is still going through that. And they get a lot of confidence when they know they've got the game covered defensively.
"It doesn't come before then. I would've said that to Nathan when he came in and that's just the brutality at this level for them to be able to defend and he's getting a lot better at it."
Penrith have always had the attack and flair that was the envy of rival clubs, however their defence has improved out of sight since the opening round loss to the Dragons and proved it by holding a team scoreless at home for the first time in 18 years.
For the second time in three games, the Panthers held their opponents tryless and have now conceded just three tries in their past three outings.
"They're just working really hard for each other," Griffin said.
"We've got our moments, like everyone where we put ourselves under pressure there a few times with some of the options we took there in attack but we're just showing up for each other in defence. I thought last week against the Roosters we defended really well."
It was everything you have come to expect from the Panthers, but with a sprinkle of discipline that has often been missing.
When they were adventurous, they were controlled.
When they were tough, they didn't overstep the mark.
And when the big play was on – they didn't always take it.
Granted, this was against a football team that won just a single game in 2016, but there were enough signs to leave their coach more than satisfied with the way his team has bounced back after a round one humiliation at the hands of the Dragons.
This wasn't the same football team that ran out in Kogarah on the opening weekend of the season.
The lethargic, uncommitted side that was rolled by the Dragons in round one hasn't been sighted since, transforming their game to resemble the team many expected would be challenging for the title.
Cleary and Martin are maturing with each game and are proving far more consistent than some of the other young halves in the competition on more lucrative deals.
Even without two of their best players in Bryce Cartwright and Josh Mansour, the Panthers made a much-improved Knights outfit look second rate in front of 10,567 at Pepper Stadium.
Cartwright, who suffered an ankle injury in the round two win against Penrith, was originally diagnosed with bone bruising however there are fears he may have suffered a hairline fracture that could keep him sidelined for up to a month.
"He's a week to week thing," Griffin said.
"We thought he might've been right this week. So he's getting better every day, we'll just wait and see for next week."
A flick pass from Dean Whare provided Dallin Watene-Zelezniak the chance to open the account for Penrith in the early minutes and give his side a 6-0 advantage.
Debutant Corey Harawira-Naera began his first NRL game in style by slicing through some soft defence for Penrith's second try, which was compounded by another Panthers four-pointer to Martin a couple of minutes later.
Harawira-Naera turned provider for Penrith's fourth try of the opening half, bursting into open space and finding Tyrone Peachey to give the home side a 22-point buffer at the break.
A penalty goal to Cleary saw the Panthers take their lead to four converted tries, before Whare, Cleary and Peter Wallace added their names to the scoreboard.
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