May 23rd, 2019

May 23rd, 2019

Nathan Cleary has pushed his claims for Blues Origin selection in leading the Penrith Panthers to an inspired hard fought 16-10 victory over Parramatta at Bankwest Stadium.

The Penrith halfback, under pressure to retain his place in the NSW squad for the Origin opener on June 5, led the Panthers to their first win in 7 games in a gritty performance that was built on scrambling defence.

After the Panthers went into halftime down 10-8, Cleary gave his side field position when he fell on a mistimed Eels kick to give his team a chance inside Parramatta's half.

Off the back of that, his halves partner Jarome Luai rolled the ball in-goal and Cleary showed desperation to dive on it to give his side a decisive 16-10 lead.

Cleary discusses Panthers win

Speaking on Nine's Golden Point post-match show, Cleary said it was a relief to come up with the win, with the NSW incumbent revealing how he dealt with the pressure leading into the match.

"It's been a frustrating few weeks, we couldn't really pin-point but we stripped it right back. It wasn't pretty tonight but I was really proud to be part of that performance," he said.

"I just try to stay off my phone I had all these people telling me how much I was getting bagged and criticised, so I just tried to stay off my phone and really focus on my job at Penrith."

It is understood that NSW coach Brad Fittler is leaning towards retaining Cleary despite the Panthers' struggles.

Fittler said after the match even though the results were not going Penrith's way, Cleary always made effort plays, which ultimately led to the decisive try which swayed the result the Panthers' way.

"It's all those effort areas and tonight one of them led to a try. In the last six weeks those efforts weren't going anywhere because they weren't playing as a team," Fittler said.

Freddy discusses Panthers performance

The 16,228-strong crowd were served up a low-quality spectacle marred by dropped ball, penalties and school boy errors like getting caught with the ball on the last tackle.

In all there were 28 errors and 16 penalties which prevented the game ever reaching any heights.

And while the standard dropped even further in the second-half, Parramatta were just that much worse, completing just 11 of 20 sets to slump to their third straight loss.

The Eels struck first when Will Smith dabbed in a grubber for Maika Sivo before a penalty stretched out their lead to 8-0.

Joey discusses Blues halves contenders

When Penrith were finally able to build sustained pressure, they reduced the deficit to two through unlikely try-scorer Tim Grant.

While the Panthers were undeniably bad, the win was their first since round four and will ease pressure on coach Ivan Cleary and his side.

Penrith five-eighth Luai will come under scrutiny from the match review committee after clotheslining Mitchell Moses.

Parramatta star Blake Ferguson was put on report for a trip on Waqa Blake, but is likely to escape with a fine.

Ferguson, who was switched to centre, had an uncharacteristic off night, making three handling errors.

-with AAP