Edwards, Cleary too classy as Panthers outlast brave Warriors in ...

The Panthers have beaten the Warriors 18-6 in a fiery clash at Suncorp Stadium as another hip-drop controversy reared its head.

Jackson Ford was binned for the tackle and the Warriors had a second player marched in the second half when Demitric Sifakula was given 10 minutes for running in and throwing his open fist in “a striking action” at Nathan Cleary.

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Penrith were far from their best and the Kiwis playing a quarter of the match with a man down ultimately proved the difference in a scrappy contest.

The Panthers looked set to score the opener but Sunia Turuva couldn’t reel in a Jarome Luai grubber in the fifth minute.

Instead it was the Warriors who crossed first when lock Tohu Harris threw a beautiful short ball for Addin Fonua-Blake to barge over.

“Johnson with the tempo and the ball form Harris and a rampaging Addin Fonua-Blake,” Ennis said.

Edward Kosi smashed Penrith centre Stephen Crichton in a huge tackle but it was the Warriors winger who went off with a knee injury and didn’t return.

Dylan Edwards made a try-saving tackle on Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and then moments later scored after he threw a dummy and stepped off his right foot to cross in the 18th minute. “Nice little show and go and cuts back on the inside Edwards,” Ennis said.

Crichton then got one back on the Warriors when he levelled Dylan Walker which forced a knock on.

“What a shot,” Ennis said.

Edwards then turned provider just before the half-hour mark when the ball went through the hands and he put Brian To’o over in the right corner.

“It is Cleary and Yeo starting to dictate terms in the middle and Edwards is taking advantage out wide,” Ennis said.

The Warriors butchered a try in the 33rd minute when they had numbers left but Shaun Johnson grubberred it dead down the short side.

“That’s brain snap from Shaun Johnson,” Ennis said. Warriors second rower Jackson Ford was binned in the 50th minute for a hip-drop tackle on Spencer Leniu who came off the field following the incident.

Cleary knocked over the ensuing penalty from 35 metres out to give the Panthers a 14-6 lead. “He is in trouble because he left his feet and came down on the back of Leniu’s legs,” Ennis said.

The Warriors had back-to-back sets attacking the Panthers’ line in the 62nd minute but they couldn’t turn it into points.

Nathan Cleary crunched Josh Curran with a rib-tickler that started a melee in the 65th minute and Sifakula was controversially binned for running in and charging at the Panthers halfback. “It was a superb tackle from the NSW halfback and Curran didn’t like it,” Ennis said.

“An attempt at an old-fashioned jumper punch and as a result he’s been sent to the sin bin,” Warren Smith said. Sifakula had just 30 seconds left in the bin when Leniu scored the match-sealer in the corner in the 75th minute.

“Brain explosion there from the Warriors rookie,” Smith said.

BIG HITS

To come.

TEAMS

Warriors: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 2. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak 3. Marcelo Montoya 4. Adam Pompey 5. Edward Kosi 6. Dylan Walker 7. Shaun Johnson 8. Addin Fonua-Blake 18. Freddy Lussick 10. Bunty Afoa 11. Jackson Ford 12. Marata Niukore 13. Tohu Harris 9. Wayde Egan 15. Josh Curran 16. Demitric Sifakula 17. Tom Ale

Panthers: 1. Dylan Edwards 2. Sunia Turuva 3. Tyrone Peachey 4. Stephen Crichton 5. Brian To’o 6. Jarome Luai 7. Nathan Cleary 8. Moses Leota 9. Mitch Kenny 10. James Fisher-Harris 11. Scott Sorensen 12. Zac Hosking 13. Isaah Yeo 14. Soni Luke 15. Lindsay Smith 17. Jaeman Salmon 21. Spencer Leniu

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