Two of the NRL’s leading fullbacks, both Clive Churchill Medal winners, were poised to go to war and ignite Suncorp Stadium with their contrasting styles.
In the end, it was hardly a fight, as Dylan Edwards inspired the Penrith Panthers to a 26-0 triumph over Reece Walsh and the Brisbane Broncos on Friday night.
Edwards was a beacon of consistency – scoring a try and finishing with 230 running metres and six tackle busts.Credit: Getty Images
As Walsh was given few chances to fire – Brisbane kept to just 37 per cent of the territory courtesy of their own ill discipline – Edwards did what he has always done: his job.
Rarely did the New South Wales custodian overplay his hand, nor did his halfback Nathan Cleary, as they simply waited for the Broncos to make mistakes.
In a game in which both teams combined for 30 errors, Edwards was a beacon of consistency – scoring a try and finishing with 230 running metres and six tackle busts.
Down the other end, the rocks and diamonds Walsh could never get into the game. He was kept to just 80 running metres from 12 carries, while his most genuine attacking opportunities were cruelled by mistakes.
First, he offered a short pass for Jordan Riki at close range, the hole in the defence opening wide for the edge forward to charge through. The Kiwi dropped it cold, a crime later repeated by Xavier Willison in the second half off a similar Ezra Mam ball.
Come the second half, and Walsh looked to have unleashed Deine Mariner, only for the winger to be well covered and fail to get to ground as he was dragged helplessly into touch.
Another spread to the left should have unleashed Josiah Karapani, only for Gehamat Shibasaki’s final pass to go out behind his winger.
Try as the mercurial Walsh might, the Broncos never looked cohesive in attack, and his last roll of the dice did no more than give Tom Jenkins an intercept to streak away and score.
Ill-disciplined and punished
Seventeen errors, eight penalties, 36 misses tackles. Each mistake the Broncos made, heads dropped around the park. This was nothing like the side who rode a wave of energy and momentum en route to the 2025 title.
Whether it was coming out of their own end or on the attack, the premiers were rudderless and invited the Panthers through the door.
“We put so much pressure on ourselves. We had too many errors to be able to put ourselves into the game where you’re playing a high-quality team, and you’ve got to build pressure,” Broncos coach Michael Maguire lamented.
“Take away half those errors and put yourself in better field position and the whole game’s different.”
Worse still was the Panthers’ ability to punish them. It took less than five minutes to prove that, as a soft Pat Carrigan dropped ball with the Broncos on the attack ultimately turning into the first point through Casey McLean down the other end.
As the halftime siren sounded, Kotoni Staggs’ decision to sprint out of the line to pressure five-eighth Blaize Talagi’s kick backfired, with the centre falling off the tackle and allowing the young star to place a pinpoint kick to an unmarked Jenkins for the first of the winger’s two tries.
Cool, calm, Cleary
Cleary may have a deep bag of tricks, but rugby league’s leading halfback didn’t need to use any of them.
It was basic No.7 play from the Penrith maestro, but done so to perfection. His pinpoint bombs gave Brisbane’s back three nightmares – two first-half drops from Walsh and Mariner leading directly to tries through Casey McLean and Edwards.
Cleary attempts to break free from the defence during the round one clash between Brisbane Broncos and Penrith Panthers.Credit: Getty Images
It was very nearly a third with 15 minutes remaining, as Mariner spilled another one, only for replays to show McLean had snuck a first touch onto the ball.
This was hardly a Penrith side who were at their clinical best, making 13 errors of their own. That is where they just needed Cleary to execute the basics, and he did that to perfection.
His kicking game pinned Brisbane down their own end. Only Payne Haas surpassing 100 running metres among the Broncos’ forward pack, such was their lack of momentum on the back of Cleary’s methodic approach as the Panthers ran for more than 500 metres than the hosts.
The Broncos needed Adam Reynolds to do the same, but with so little go forward and so much goal line defence required, there was little the retiring general could do.
“We didn’t get into the long game that people talk about where you’re kicking to corners, and when you don’t put yourself into a position because of the pressure you’re putting on yourself, fatigue finds you,” Maguire said.
“We didn’t put the fatigue into them.”
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