How Penrith's awful night could come full circle

In order to slay the finals behemoth that is Penrith, Newcastle must put to rest the beast they themselves awoke.. It was in Bathurst last year that the Panthers' dynasty showed one of the few signs of cracking.. Albeit without their State of Origin stars, Penrith trailed 24-0 Newcastle at halftime and the 25-6 defeat ultimately consigned them to the bottom of the ladder after 11 rounds..

"That was awful that game," coach Ivan Cleary said on Saturday.. "That was our turning point last year because it was sort of the day where we just went, 'Right, this is not good enough.. We are what we are and it's not very good'." In a truly miserable season for a Newcastle side that finished with the wooden spoon, Bathurst offered a brief glimpse of what was possible in 2026..

Fletcher Sharpe bust 17 tackles and scored a try, while Dylan Lucas scored a hat-trick and broke through nine would-be tacklers.. Knights players have largely distanced themselves from that match when asked about it this week.. But Penrith have not forgotten..

Casey McLean recalled this week how Dane Gagai gave him a bath, while it is still remembered as a line-in-the-sand moment for the Panthers.. In the 16 months since, Penrith have won 30 of the 40 matches they have played, beginning with a run of nine straight out of that game.. "We had to swallow the pill that we were coming last after that game," McLean recalled.  "The coach had a few rough words and conversations in the sheds afterwards.  "Our training intensity had to lift..

We didn't want to dip our toe in anymore, you've got to go all in.. I think all of us, our training stepped up a little bit." In turn, it became a moment of reckoning for Penrith's younger crew.. "It was a blessing in disguise," prop Liam Henry said.  "There was a lot of stuff that we as a playing group needed to fix up..

It was around our standards at training that we push each other to hold each other accountable." Penrith hammered Newcastle 48-12 later last season, and backed it up with another 44-12 win this year.. But they are well aware they will face a different Knights side on Sunday at Accor Stadium, buzzing with confidence and with the potential to strike from anywhere.. "They've got a young team..

They've got a lot of players on the way up and having their best seasons of their lives," Cleary said.. "You're not going to stop everything and they've got a lot of strike and playing really well," Cleary said.. "The most important thing for us is that we play well and do what we do well..

If we can do that, we've got a way better chance of controlling the what they do." Australian Associated Press.