IZACK TAGO OPENS UP ABOUT HIS RISE IN THE NRL AND PENRITH’S QUEST FOR A PREMIERSHIP THREE-PEAT SEE PAGE 35
MASKED PANTHER SEE PAGE 33
PETER LANG SEE PAGE 39
WARREN SMITH SEE PAGE 40
The most crucial moment of Penrith’s win against Newcastle last Saturday night was not Nathan Cleary’s clutch field goal in Golden Point.
The winning moment actually happened some 26 minutes earlier, when Penrith were eight points behind and had a huge chance to attack Newcastle’s line after being awarded a penalty.
Any other day, taking the tap would be the obvious choice. But coach Ivan Cleary, sensing the game needed a reset, sent the message down to take the two points on offer through a penalty goal. The call put Penrith back within a converted try and ended up being crucial in the context of the game.
It was as obvious to Cleary as it was to anyone at home that his side was not playing to their usual standard against the Knights. When
sending the message down to take the two, he knew that not only would Penrith perhaps not score the two required tries to take the lead, but they could concede another and go even further behind.
What happened after that is now in the history books: The Jarome Luai hair pull, the Jaeman Salmon try, Tyson Gamble’s long range one-pointer, and Nathan Cleary’s pair of field goals that confirmed his status as the player you want with the ball when the game is on the line.
Plenty have said Newcastle were the better side on the night and deserved to win. But after their fourth one point game of the year (including the World Club Challenge), the Panthers deserved something to go their way. And that first Golden Point set was something only elite sides can produce.
As much as Ivan Cleary would have expected better from his team, he’ll take something from the fact that they can still play that poorly and somehow win, such is their desire to stay in the grind.
He’ll be just as happy though to put that game behind him and hope for a better showing against South Sydney at Accor Stadium.
Talking about things going your way, the Rabbitohs would surely think the tide will soon turn after losing 10 of their last 11 games against the Panthers, including the 2021 Grand Final.
Penrith won all three encounters last year –including the corresponding match at Accor Stadium where Latrell Mitchell was doing push-ups on the half-way line after a Rabbitohs try, before the Panthers ran his side down.
More importantly, the Panthers took out last September’s Preliminary Final in a match that
put them into the Grand Final and on a path to their second consecutive Premiership.
Despite having the wood over the Bunnies, there is no question this is a danger game for the Panthers. Souths have had a seven day turnaround, and the likes of Cody Walker and Mitchell are in dangerous form.
But the loss of Keaon Koloamatangi makes their pack a lot less confronting than it may have been heading into this one. And as much as Penrith are still missing James Fisher-Harris and now Liam Martin again, those filling the holes have more than done the job in recent weeks.
I think Penrith will get the chocolates here, as long as the performance last week was not a sign of things to come. It’ll still be a tight one, but Penrith should roll home late.
Tip: Panthers by 6.
Seasons as a Pantherette? One.
Favourite food? Sushi.
Favourite TV show? ‘Modern Family’.
Favourite Panthers player? Brian To’o.
Must-follow social media account?
@maddiemalkoun.
Go to pump up song? ‘Miss You’, Oliver Tree and Robin Schulz.
What do you love about being a Pantherette? I love being a part of such
a hard working team that has so many talented girls who have a strong passion for dancing!
If you were stranded on a desert island, who are you bringing with you and why?
Most likely my best friend Charlize as she has random common sense that would be useful to us, as I would most likely just panic or accept fate.
! Royce hits the road: Panthers legend Royce Simmons is currently in the midst of his second major fundraising walk. The walk kicked off on Tuesday with 1991 Grand Final teammate Brad Fittler in Dubbo to help get the event underway. A number of other NRL legends have already walked alongside Simmons this week including Nigel Plum, Garry Jack and Terry Lamb. Simmons will finish Royce's Big Walk on Saturday, April 29 when he walks into Carrington Park for Penrith's clash against the Wests Tigers in Bathurst. For more details and to donate to dementia research, visit www. roycesbigwalk.com.au.
! Team List Tuesday moves: With two games being played on Tuesday for ANZAC Day, team lists for Round 9 won't be released in the usual manner next week. Team List Tuesday will become Team List Wednesday, with team lists to be released at 11am on Wednesday, April 26.
! NRL backs hair pull penalty: The overthe-top response to the penalty against Tyson Frizell for pulling Jarome Luai’s hair, accident or otherwise, has been ridiculous. Somehow, Luai has even been blamed for the situation in some corners. On Monday, NRL Head of Football Graham Annesley backed the decision by Peter Gough to penalise Frizell. “The referee has been quite heavily criticised for this decision but I just don’t know what else the referee could have done,” he said. “I get the argument, the hair is long… but we can’t have a rule that says if you have long hair, it’s OK to pull the hair. If the referee doesn’t act on that then there’s complaints about the referee not acting on a player getting his hair pulled.”
have come to terms on a longer deal. Expect it to be announced in the next few weeks.
! Spotted: Want some free WiFi at McDonald Jones Stadium? I couldn't help but notice the media WiFi password was in clear view on a printed out A4 piece of paper whenever the camera panned to Panthers coach Ivan Cleary in the box last Saturday.
! Spotted: Panthers co-captain Nathan Cleary doing a spot of juggling in the sheds ahead of Penrith's game against Newcastle last Saturday.
! Spotted: Jarome Luai and his lushing locks proving popular in Newcastle, with the five-eighth snapping selfies with Penrith fans.
command big dollars elsewhere. But with both having a strong desire to stay in Penrith and potentially even accepting less than what they could get on the open market, Penrith remain pretty confident that they can re-sign both.
! Touching photo: This is the photo that brought a huge smile to the NRL community last weekend. Courageous Panthers fan Emma, who is battling serious illness, was thrilled to get a photo with the Panthers in Newcastle last Saturday. Co-captain Nathan Cleary also signed some merchandise for the inspiring youngster.
! Martin set to extend: The Panthers have a clear intent to wrap up as many key players as possible until the end of the 2027 season. Next in line is Liam Martin, who signed a one year extension late last year but now appears to
! Coach goes early: It’s a requirement for NRL coaches to hold a media conference in the lead-up to a game each week, but the timing of that opportunity is up to the club. Interestingly, Ivan Cleary opted to hold his press conference ahead of the Souths game on Monday at 9am. This year, Cleary has often tried to schedule media events outside of team training times – taking things a little more behind closed doors this season.
! Luai, Edwards debate pointless: The suggestion that Penrith may have to choose between keeping Jarome Luai or Dylan Edwards was news to the Panthers. This is a media story with no real substance; both players are keen to stay and are in Penrith's long-term plans. It's not news to the club that both are off-contract at the end of next year and could
Zealand, he’d always have a footy in his hand, kicking it around the house or backyard.
Captain Clutch, the Ice Man, Prince of Penrith – whatever you want to call him, Nathan Cleary is made for the big moments.
When the game is on the line, there’s probably no one in the competition you’d want wearing your team’s jersey than the cool, calm and collected 25-year-old.
Already this season, Nathan has been involved in several big moments for the Panthers. Whether it was the clutch sideline conversion in the World Club Challenge to send the game to extra time; the incredible two-point field against the Eels with just seconds left on the clock; or the back-to-back field goals against the Knights last weekend to give Penrith the come from behind win – the NSW Origin star has been a part of some mighty huge moments already in 2023.
“What he’s doing at the moment, he’s got to a stage in his career where he’s not scared of the big moments,”
Nathan’s father and Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said this week.
“I’m very proud of him but also impressed, honestly.”
Ivan, who has coached the Clive Churchill Medallist to two NRL Premierships in recent years, said he’s seen a change in his son over the past year or so, which is proving impactful both on and off the field.
“Even in the last 12 months, he’s really matured off the field and just as a man, and I think that’s showing on the field as well,” Ivan admitted.
“He’s really embracing the big moments and putting
himself out there every time to take those shots because when you miss or fail, it’s a pretty big deal.”
Nathan missed two shots at field goal the other night in Newcastle, but he didn’t shy away from having another crack to eventually get his team over the line.
The 2022 World Cup winner said experience and not being afraid to fail is what helps him most when the game is on the line.
“I don’t think kicking actual field goals gets easier with each one, but your mentality around it gets easier,” Nathan explained.
“I think in the past, after that first missed attempt, I would’ve shied away from it and been a bit nervous about missing again, but I didn’t feel those nerves and I wanted another shot to redeem myself.
“I guess that mentality comes from practise and having confidence and experience in games, and kicking field goals in games.”
Visit a Panthers training session during the week and you’ll always find Cleary practising field goals and sideline conversions. He’s always the last one left on the training paddock and his dedication is what makes him so reliable on game day.
“He practises an awful lot, all sort of kicks and situations,” Ivan told Extra Time
“He definitely puts the work in. What is the saying? The harder you work, the lucky you get?”
Nathan said ever since he was a little boy growing up in New
“Kicking is something that I enjoy doing, it doesn’t feel like a chore to me,” he told Extra Time
“Ever since I was able to walk, I’ve always enjoyed kicking the footy around, so I think it’s important not to lose that as you grow older, and the stakes get higher in an NRL environment. You still have to enjoy what you’re doing and have fun with it.”
Nathan’s already kicked four field goals in six games this season and, with the way the NRL competition is playing out this year, he’s in line to slot over a few more before October rolls around.
During last Saturday’s 16-15 thriller over the Knights, Nathan equalled a long-standing Panthers record with 14 field goals for his career.
He tied Penrith legend Greg Alexander and fullback Neil Baker, with the latter slotting over an unbelievable 14 field goals for Penrith during his two-year stint back in 1988 and 1989.
Nathan was unaware he was just one field goal away from breaking the all-time record for field goals by a Panther when informed by Extra Time on Tuesday afternoon.
“No, I didn’t know that,” Nathan smiled in response.
“I need to get another one to try and go past Brandy. I’ll see if I can do that this week.”
“It was pretty cool being around that group of professionals and seeing a different side some of the boys from here too, taking up more leadership roles,” he said.
We may only be a quarter of the way through the season, but Panthers centre Izack Tago has already taken his game to another level.
Following his World Cup stint with Samoa towards the end of last year, the 21-year-old has used that incredible experience to not only his but Penrith’s benefit during the opening rounds of 2023 season.
With the Panthers flying high once again to start the year, Tago has also been in fine form as he inches closer and closer to his 50th NRL game.
Speaking with Extra Time, the St Marys junior said he feels completely comfortable out on the footy field, not that he ever wasn’t.
“I was never uncomfortable when I first came into grade, I guess it’s like an experience thing,” Tago said.
“Now this feels normal.”
After his six-game debut season in 2021, Tago played nearly every match last year, including Penrith’s incredible Grand Final victory over Parramatta.
Following that, he was chosen in Samoa’s World Cup team and played with the surprise packets for two games before suffering an unfortunate injury and being ruled out for the remainder of the tournament. Tago said his time over in England was something that he’ll never forget.
“I also enjoyed the cultural side of things as well.
“It was massive for not only our culture, but how they bring it into the game and play with so much pride and passion.”
When Tago returned to Panthers pre-season training in the new year, his mission was to build on his outstanding sophomore season in which he scored 13 tries and lost just three games.
In his first half a dozen games this year, Tago is running, on average, more metres than in 2021 (169m per game) and his missed tackle rate has reduced.
“I feel like I’ve picked up where I left off last year,” Tago said.
“I’m trying to build on it and just be consistent… trying not to take the game for granted and do as good as I can.”
Off-contract at the end of 2025, Tago said it was his mission coming into this season to pick up his running game and help his forward pack out.
“It’s always been a strong point for us – our back five metres – so I wanted to have a focus of getting a bit more ball,” he admitted.
“I knew I could make more metres, I just needed a few more extra carries to get them.
“That’s definitely a point I’ve been trying to focus on this year.”
POSITION: HOOKER | NRL DEBUT: V EELS, MAY 2019
WEIGHT: 90KG |
HEIGHT: 183CM |
DOB: 15/01/98 |
INSURANCE & PRIVATE WORK ALL WORK GUARANTEED
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The Panthers seem to have a blueprint on how they will remain a top four side and even maybe win a couple more premierships over the next five years.
Much like the classic western movie ‘The Magnificent Seven’ in which seven gunslingers are hired to protect a small village from a group of marauding bandits, Penrith are determined to sign their own ‘magnificent seven’ to protect the NRL Premiership from a group of marauding teams all wanting to take them down.
They’ve made a good start too, with five of the seven already signed until 2027.
First, you need a great halfback, Nathan Cleary – check! You also need two tough, no-nonsense props, James Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota – check! Add to the list a quality ball-playing lock, Isaah Yeo – check! Not forgetting a superstar winger, who makes more yardage than most forwards and can score a try – Brian To’o – check!
That’s it, five from seven ‘guns’ already signed until 2027.
Now, only two more to go!
Every Premiership winning side has an outstanding fullback –Dylan Edwards, already a Panther and one the club wants to keep beyond his current contract which expires at the end of 2024. They’re
confident of keeping him until at least 2027.
Finally, if you’ve got a great halfback, you need a super-talented five-eighth, one which complements your halfback, not copies him. Enter Jarome Luai, who has already made three first grade Grand Finals with Cleary, winning back-to-back Premierships with him as well.
Like Edwards, Luai does not come off contract until 2024. He wants to stay long-term and the club doesn’t
want to let him go. With the salary cap going up each year, plenty of players already shed over the last three seasons and two more to depart at the end of the year. The money will be there.
I’m confident Luai will re-sign for the long ride ahead.
Not a bad spine to base a team around. Seven ‘generational players’. Seven super ‘gun’-slingers who are all entering the prime of their careers, not the end of it.
Sure, a premiership-winning
hooker would be nice but eight into seven, just won’t go.
No, the ‘Magnificent Seven’ are taking shape. You can see their silhouettes outlined on the horizon. Seven wonderful players ready to lead their chargers into any battle.
Unafraid of anyone, unafraid of any challenge or any team which they come up against. And that’s how the west… and future NRL Premierships… will be won!
DAY MASS 2023
Where: Mary, Mother of Mercy Chapel
Presided by: Bishop Emeritus Terry Brady
Liverpool Cemetery
When: Saturday 13th May, 2023 at 10.30am
Where: The Reflection Chapel
Presided by: Fr Anthony Fregolent CS
Kemps Creek Memorial Park
When: Saturday 13th May, 2023 at 10.30am
Where: The Pavilion
Presided by: Fr Dominik Karnas CSMA
We hope you can join us for our special Mother’s Day Mass Hospitality provided after mass RSVP By 5th May 2023 visit www.catholiccemeteries.com.au/events/ WW48696
Penrith’s Magnificent Seven. Digitally altered image.
with Peter Lang
If you stick around long enough in rugby league you’ll know that at some point, on almost every topic, you’ll be making a trip Back to the Future.
Sometimes, like Marty McFly, you’ll be going waaay back, and on other occasions it might be just a quick skip back into the recent past.
This week we’re filling up the flux capacitor in the DeLorean and returning to a date of your choosing, because the topic that has reared its head again is an area of the game that is debated on an annual basis: sin bins, and how long they should last for.
Yes, there’s been plenty of them in 2023 – 44 to be precise – and the argument from those wanting either fewer of them or a shorter duration off the field for the sinners, is that too many games are being decided by a referee marching a player for a range of offences.
And as night follows day the cries have gone up that we should re-introduce the five minute sin bin for indiscretions that fall on the lighter end of the scale.
It’s not an original idea and it’s been floated at some point in most seasons since the NRL removed the option of sending players to the sin bin for either five minutes or 10 minutes almost 20 years ago.
The problem is that the experts, fans, coaches or club officials want-
ing to see the five minute option brought back in have either a short memory or haven’t made enough trips around the sun to know why we did away with two alternatives when it came to using the sin bin.
If you think the current application of the rules is causing controversy, just wait and see what happens if the NRL once again decides to give referees the ability to send players to the sin bin for five minutes OR 10 minutes.
Quite frankly, when referees had that option it was chaotic. Arguments raged pretty much every time a sin binning occurred, with the rugby league-watching public divided down the middle as to
whether a player should be given a five or 10 minute breather to contemplate what he’d just done.
Trust me, you don’t need a DeLorean to know that it would take only a couple of rounds of football before the phrase ‘where’s the consistency’ would be the most-used term at post-game media conferences.
And besides, it’s not as though having a player sin-binned means a team automatically goes on to lose a game, or that the sin-binning has an effect in deciding the result.
When Hudson Young was correctly sin-binned for a professional foul in the final 60 seconds of the game between the Raiders
and Dragons last Sunday it didn’t change the outcome of the game, but his sin-binning adds to the increased tally that critics are now using for saying there’s too many instances where 13 plays 12. There have been 35 tries scored in 44 sin bin situations over the opening seven rounds.
It’s less than one try per dismissal.
And out of those 44 sin bins, the team that has been reduced to 12 players has either held their opponents scoreless or outscored the team with 13 men on 16 occasions. When you consider all of that, it should only take you about five minutes to know you should have kept the DeLorean in the garage.
The Penrith Panthers have roared back into form in the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup, thumping the Newcastle Knights 48-16 at McDonald Jones Stadium.
The Panthers started strongly, scoring through Jack Cogger within the opening 10 minutes.
An error gave Newcastle a chance to counter-attack, with Ryan Sutton beating a scattered defence to score.
Jack Cole scored the Panthers’ second try in the 24th minute, before Isaiah Iongi set up Jesse McLean eight minutes later.
They added two tries in the final three minutes of the half, first when Eddie Blacker crashed over near the posts. Daeon Amituanai then beat six defenders to score and move 28-4 ahead.
The Panthers picked up from where they left off after half-time, with a simple right-side shift leading to a try for Thomas Jenkins.
The Knights threatened a comeback with back-to-back tries midway through the half, however another Panthers surge in the final 10 minutes blew the margin out as McLean and Jenkins completed doubles either side of a John Faiumu try.
Earlier in the day, a dominant first half saw the Panthers beat the Knights 28-24 in Jersey Flegg, despite the late send off of Zac Lipowicz following a high tackle.
The Panthers made a perfect start, with Adam Runchel scoring after just three minutes.
Chris Vea’ila got the Knights on the board in the 11th minute, however the Panthers immediately hit back through Luke Philp.
@LachlanJeffery
Back-to-back tries to Harrison Hassett and Lipowicz pushed the Panthers lead out to 22-4, before Philp added a penalty goal just before half-time.
A penalty against Lipowicz immediately after the resumption gifted the Knights field position, leading to a try to Declan Pettet.
Quick-fire tries to Vea’ila and Noah Nailagoliva cut the margin to 24-20, before Cody Lawson scored to give them some breathing space with 10 minutes remaining.
Lipowicz’s send off led to a try to Freeman Forsythe, however the Panthers did enough to hang on and win 28-24.
In Round 8, NSW Cup will play as the curtainraiser to Thursday night’s Rabbitohs v Panthers match, while Jersey Flegg travel to Redfern to
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