The premiers kept a fast-finishing Sharks side at bay to finish the NRL’s second Las Vegas venture, which featured dominant wins from Canberra, the Jillaroos and Super League champions Wigan.
The premiers kept a fast-finishing Sharks side at bay to finish the NRL’s second Las Vegas venture, which featured dominant wins from Canberra, the Jillaroos and Super League champions Wigan.
Clunky from both sides so far. Penrith’s first attacking raid ends in a Lindsay Smith offload that flops out the back and ends up with Cronulla.
McLean is confirmed as a Category 1 HIA, so the Panthers are down to 16. Luke Garner was always listed to start in the centres with Paul Alamoti on the wing given Brian To’o’s injury. Daine Laurie onto the flank for McLean in a straight swap, he did play a bit of wing last year.
Panthers 0 Sharks 4
Casey McLean’s game looks to be over after three minutes. He’s caught awkwardly in the ruck and his head goes very heavily into Will Kennedy’s thigh. McLean’s wobbly and the trainers get him off straight away.
That looks to be category one – which would mean he’s out of the game. Daine Laurie is in off the bench and after another fumble, which is cancelled out by Penrith being offside at the scrum, Cronulla go over.
Luke Garner is caught out of position at centre, Nicho Hynes exploits him and Jesse Ramien strolls through. First points to the Sharks. Braydon Trindall can’t convert from out wide.
Panthers 0 Sharks 4
Penrith take their time getting onto Allegiant Stadium, they’ve left Cronulla hanging out there for a few minutes. Classic gag, but now we’re under way in the last of the Vegas fair. The Panthers kick us off and both teams are 1-17, per below.
Cronulla’s first set features a risky, ill-advised offload by star signing Addin Fonua-Blake. It’s only just mopped up on his tryline and Penrith help themselves to prime attacking territory straight away afterwards.
Panthers: 1. Dylan Edwards 2. Casey McLean 3. Izack Tago 4. Luke Garner 5. Paul Alamoti 6. Jack Cole 7. Nathan Cleary 8. Moses Leota 9. Mitch Kenny 10. Lindsay Smith 11. Scott Sorensen 12. Liam Martin 13. Isaah Yeo Bench: 14. Daine Laurie 15. Isaiah Papali’i 16. Matt Eisenhuth 17. Luron Patea. 18th man: 18. Brad Schneider
Sharks: 1. William Kennedy 2. Samuel Stonestreet 3. Jesse Ramien 4. Kayal Iro 5. Ronaldo Mulitalo 6. Braydon Trindall 7. Nicho Hynes 8. Addin Fonua-Blake 9. Blayke Brailey 10. Oregon Kaufusi 11. Briton Nikora 12. Teig Wilton 13. Cameron McInnes Bench: 14. Daniel Atkinson 15. Siosifa Talakai 16. Braden Hamlin-Uele 17. Thomas Hazelton. 18th man: 18. Tuku Hau Tapuha
The Sharks are a genuine premiership threat in 2025 and I think they can knock off Penrith to start the year on a roll. The last couple of years, I just couldn’t see them winning, but Addin Fonua-Blake is just a machine and his signing could well be the difference in them taking the next step.
The key for Cronulla is what Nicho Hynes can do with the platform his forwards lay for him and whether the playmaking dynamic he struck at the end of last year with Braydon Trindall is the right one.
All eyes will be on Nicho and whether he can dominate on the big stage. This is a great opportunity for him to really stand up and if he can match it with Nathan Cleary, watch out, he’ll be starting the season with his confidence sky-high.
Penrith will be a force again of course, the trial last week against Manly where they won easily with a second-grade team showed just how far their depth goes and it was incredible to watch them play with the same structure and style that has won four straight premierships.
The only concern for me in this game is the fitness of Nathan Cleary, Dylan Edwards and Liam Martin after their various surgeries and off-season injuries.
Brian To’o’s absence has me leaning towards the Sharks given the Panthers don’t have James Fisher-Harris any more, and Brian’s go-forward effectively gives them an extra front-rower. I think Penrith will struggle for yardage and I think Cronulla can surprise them in a low-scoring, physical arm wrestle.
Joey’s tip: Sharks by two
First try-scorer: Will Kennedy
Man of the match: Braydon Trindall
You can take rugby league across the world, but Australia are still the best in the business.
It looked like the Jillaroos were running a training session inside Allegiant Stadium on Saturday, as they thrashed England 90-4 – two points shy of the Jillaroos’ biggest victory – in a historic moment for women’s sport.
The first-ever women’s sporting match inside the $2 billion venue in Las Vegas didn’t disappoint if you were an Australian fan, with a first-half hat-trick for Tamika Upton, along with hat-tricks for Julia Robinson and Jess Sergis.
But even new-to-the-game American fans could see the match was over at half-time, and an 86-point victory potentially isn’t the best advertisement for the women’s game – a part of rugby league the NRL sees as a gateway into the American market.
England’s poor performance was compounded by the loss of forward Vicky Whitfield after the first hit-up in the second half, as she clashed heads with Australian prop Sarah Togatuki and had to be taken from the field on a stretcher, before being sent to hospital for precautionary scans.
Togatuki had already been taken from the field earlier in the match for a head injury assessment, but also left the match following the clash.
Even the Australians were cheering when English halfback Georgia Roche scored her team’s one and only try with 38 seconds left in the match.
The scoreline had been 38-0 when the teams went to the sheds at half-time, the same as the full-time score when the Jillaroos last played England at the 2017 World Cup, and if the eight years between meetings has proven anything it’s that the women’s game in Australia is miles ahead of their northern hemisphere rivals.
It was a clinical performance from the Jillaroos for coach Jess Skinner’s first hit-out at the helm.
What was a good advertisement for rugby league was the brutality of the Australian forward pack, with the likes of Yasmin Clydsdale, Olivia Kernick and Simaima Tafua slamming through the English defence.
Mix that with players like Upton, Tiana Penitani and Isabelle Kelly pushing up in support, and the points were flowing in an exhibition of how skilled the NRLW has become.But this wasn’t an exhibition match, this was a Test match, and Australia weren’t tested at all.
It didn’t matter when Sergis had her try taken away for pushing an English defender because the Jillaroos quickly brought up 60 points in the second half, then 70, then 80.
Sergis finished with three tries anyway, despite only entering the game off the bench in the 39th minute.
When Jakiya Whitfeld scored in the 51st minute, it looked like Australia would put 100 on England.
But the English were able to scramble in the final moments of the match, and Roche helped the team reclaim some dignity with their only try just second shy of the full-time siren.
Seven minutes between Australian tries – any chance they could have a go? That’s the longest stretch of the second half without a Jillaroos try, Jess Sergis puts an end to that though.
She’s over the line thanks to a break from Tamika Upton, Sergis looms in support and just too strong for the cover defence to keep her out. Robinson fumbles the kick-off though and England, they get a chance to get on the board.
It ends with a grubber rolling over the dead ball line and a seven-tackle set for Australia. The Jillaroos march down the other end, Tarryn Aiken pops Sergis through a hole and she’s got a hat-trick, easy as you like.
Keilie Joseph is backing up a minute later for her own four-pointer but the loudest cheer of the match goes to English No.7 Georgia Roche – she dummies, steps and wrestles her way through the defence for a last-second try. Tamika Upton filthy the try has been conceded. And that’s all she wrote. Seventeen tries to one.
Australia 90 England 4