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AAP
Sport
Melissa Woods

Panthers steam past Sharks in impressive season start

Tom Jenkins bagged another try double as Penrith thumped Cronulla. (PR IMAGE PHOTO)

Penrith have continued their impressive start to the NRL season and their domination of Cronulla, with winger Tom Jenkins extending his try-scoring spree.

Following their opening romp against premiers Brisbane, the Panthers easily outclassed the Sharks with a 26-6 victory at Bathurst's Carrington Park, conceding their only points of 2026 in the 58th minute.

Saturday's win was the Panthers' 10th in their past 11 matches against the Sharks. 

Jenkins backed up his brace against the Broncos with another two tries to leap to the top of the NRL season try-scoring tally.

Penrith coach Ivan Cleary was pleased with his team's display, already eclipsing last year's tough 1-5 win-loss run to open the season.

"I was really happy - I thought we worked for everything we got tonight and were defensively good again," he said.

"Things have started well for us, things we've worked on in pre-season, things we value are showing up, and if that's the case, we'll give ourselves a good chance each week."

Superstar halfback Nathan Cleary swung momentum Penrith's way early with a 40:20 kick in the fifth minute, and one tackle later winger Brian To'o crossed for the first try of the night.

On the back of an impressive completion rate and suffocating defence, the Panthers extended the lead to 18-0 by halftime.

The second try came after a controversial call by referee Ashley Klein, penalising Sharks centre Jesse Ramien for an early tackle after he bumped into Jenkins before he caught the ball.

Blaize Talagi then sent a long ball out to Jenkins, who beat Nicho Hynes en route to the tryline.

cleary
Nathan Cleary was influential as ever for the Panthers. (PR IMAGE PHOTO)

Three minutes after halftime Jenkins was in for his second, with the Panthers building an insurmountable 24-0 lead.

The Sharks lifted and winger Sione Katoa broke their points drought when he scrambled across the line for their sole try, which was converted by Hynes.

They stemmed Penrith's scoring, but with Cleary in superb touch the hosts maintained control for another classy win.

Cronulla coach Craig Fitzgibbon lamented some refereeing decisions that went against his side, but conceded his men didn't play well enough to win.

"It was disappointing, though to be fair Penrith were fantastic - they were last week, and then were again tonight, so as far as round two goes they've asserted their level in the premiership, and we didn't," he said

"I just don't think we played well enough, and we got a lesson in where we're at, and we'll adjust that." 

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