Rugby league is a funny game.
There’s a laundry list of different statistics and analysis to support why the Penrith Panthers have all the makings of an irrefutable premiership side in 2026. Stonewall defence, clinical in execution, a star halfback in arguably career-best form. The list goes on.
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And yet, there’s an argument to say the most ominous noise to come from foot of the mountains so far this year is that of silence.
Penrith have begun 2026 with a familiar dominance, echoing the start of the 2021 campaign that anchored a run of four consecutive NRL titles: a 4-0 record and far and away the best points differential of the competition’s 17 sides. Just 30 points leaked.
Not that coach Ivan Cleary is counting.
“I can’t remember,” Cleary said of the likeness between 2021 and 2026. “All the games are different and everything is different”.
For Cleary, the true litmus test for Penrith comes in the form of Melbourne on Friday night. Although the Storm aren’t off to a blinding start this season – with 2-2 results so far, following their surprising loss to North Queensland on Saturday – Cleary says the side always rises to the challenge when Penrith is involved.
“It’s been 20 years of it for me, they’ve had our number a bit lately. I just love playing them,” Cleary said after the Panthers’ demolition of Parramatta last weekend.
“Regardless of how the result goes you always know where you stand after playing the Storm. I feel like we’re in a good position to test ourselves against them and I’m definitely looking forward to it.”
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Cleary was playing 4D chess following his side’s dominant display against the Eels: happy to impart his opinions looking ahead to the Melbourne clash and equally obliging when asked how his side could be better against Parramatta. But Cleary was artful in the way he avoided highlighting the things that were actually working well for Penrith – especially in terms of tangible, granular details.
“It’s definitely a good start. We’ve been quite deliberate about a few things – the things we believe in and some slight changes to our play as well,” was the extent of Cleary’s response. “There’s a bit of natural evolution, the chemistry is good in the team and we’ve been fortunate to keep a relatively similar team on the field each week.”
The natural evolution includes the development of younger players within the Penrith squad, plus an undersized bench in response to the game’s increased fatigue levels.
There’s also the mindset of a renewed Penrith side. Cleary’s ambiguity speaks to the ‘chip on the shoulder’ mentality that has reportedly guided Penrith through the off-season and first four rounds.
Cleary’s generals are reading from the same song sheet. This week, the team’s defensive coach, Peter Wallace – a former halfback who amassed 101 games for the mountain men – declined approaches from foxsports.com.au to chat about why Penrith’s defence has been humming so well this season, following an uncharacteristic lapse in 2025.
The reason was relatively simple: Penrith don’t want to give a skerrick of information away to rival teams.
“There’s nothing he’d want to say about it,” a Penrith spokesperson said on Wallace’s behalf.
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All this from a side that looks so relaxed while the cameras are down.
For 15 minutes before last weekend’s match, Nathan Cleary walked barefooted around the side’s new makeshift home ground, Commbank Stadium, twirling a Steeden on his pointer finger moments before the crowds rolled in. Other key members of the squad shared a laugh and rollicked around on the turf with ball in hand.
For club great and Fox League commentator Greg Alexander, this year’s Penrith side looks revitalised and settled. It marks a big reset year after bowing out of last year’s preliminary final against Brisbane.
“After the four years they’d had, the Las Vegas trip to start 2025 – and the fact that they’d won and played well – it might have been something in their subconscious,” Alexander suggested.
“Plus the change of home ground (while a renovation is done at Penrith Stadium). You could probably look at a range of factors and say ‘that’s probably why they started the season not in great touch’.
“What they didn’t do through the start of last year when they went through those losses, was defend their errors – which is very un-Penrith like.”
Renewed defence has undoubtedly been the key to the Panthers’ unbeaten start to 2026. While defensive scramble has been one area of improvement, another is the left-edge combination of Blaize Talagi and Casey McLean, according to Fox League’s Cooper Cronk.
“There’s not a lot of change,” he said.
“Their system is still the same, their movements are still the same but there’s one thing that they have improved in and it’s their left side defence. I thought at different stages last year when they were under pressure, and particularly in that prelim final, Brisbane scored maybe one or two tries up against their left edge defence.
“They’ve improved that well. I think their left edge has improved individually and collectively but everything else is pretty much the same.”
Fellow Fox League host Braith Anasta agreed, saying the development of younger players has helped fill the void of the established names who have left Penrith in reason seasons. Those younger names are now so strong they are bolstering the continuity within the side, he said.
“It’s only early in the season but they’re streets ahead of everyone and the systems they have are incredible. The defence, speed of the line, wrestle, set pieces – it’s crazy,” Anasta told foxsports.com.au.
“You put it down to having that core group for a long time, which is the secret of their success. And then you have the young guys who are coming through and really flourished to really feel the void of the ones they’ve lost.”
For Cleary, once again it will be the Storm that provides the best gauge on whether Penrith’s improved defence, and renewed mindset are legitimate – particularly with the looming threat of electric fullback Sua Fa’alogo in attack.
“We’ll do our homework on the way they play. We’re pretty well versed on their key players through their spine, which is just unbelievable. Now they’ve got their young fella at the back, who’s just very hard to handle,” Cleary said.
“We’ll just have to concentrate on the things that we value and generally do each week.”
In Cleary’s eyes, all pressure and focus this week is back on Melbourne, a side staring at their first three-game losing streak since 2022.
In flipping the script, Cleary once again silences the noise. Rugby league is a funny game.
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