26 tries in a single NRL campaign is the new Gold Standard in Penrith, after winger Tom Jenkins crossed the line to rewrite the club's history books during a chaotic Thursday night derby. The 24-18 victory over Parramatta extended Penrith's lead at the top of the ladder to four points, but it arrived through grit rather than polished execution.
The Story at a Glance
Penrith overcame a 12-0 deficit and endured two separate 10-minute periods playing with 12 men to defeat the Parramatta Eels at CommBank Stadium. Parramatta surged out of the blocks with two early tries, capitalizing on a fluid opening quarter, but failed to score a single point while holding a numerical advantage. The win pushes Penrith four points clear of the second-placed Warriors, while Parramatta remain anchored in 15th position.
How the Story Developed
The Eels caught the ladder leaders cold early when Mitchell Moses reeled in a Ronald Volkman kick to open the scoring after just two minutes. Moses then turned provider 10 minutes later, sending Jack Williams over to establish a 12-0 lead for the hosts. Penrith initiated their fightback through a moment of brilliance on the left edge, when Jenkins caught a Nathan Cleary bomb and offloaded to Casey McLean for a stunning put-down in the corner.
Discipline issues threatened to derail Penrith on the stroke of halftime when Jenkins was sinbinned for impeding Brian Kelly on a grubber chase. Despite playing the start of the second half a man down, Penrith equalized shortly after Jenkins returned through a Liam Henry crash-over under the posts, following a line-break that drew frustration from Parramatta over a potential forward pass.
Liam Martin sliced through off a short ball from Freddy Lussick in the 57th minute to give Penrith their first lead of the night at 18-12. Parramatta received a second lifeline when Penrith forward Isaiah Papali'i was sent to the bin for pulling back Moses, but the home side squandered their field position with costly yardage errors and ill-discipline.
The decisive blow landed in the 69th minute when an expansive, multi-pass sequence ended with Blaize Talagi poking a kick through for Jenkins to score. Williams grabbed a late consolation try for Parramatta, but Penrith held firm through the final set to seal the 24-18 outcome.
Key People and Details
Jenkins' 69th-minute strike was his 26th try of the season, breaking the long-standing Penrith single-season record of 25 set by Reece Wesser in 2003. He now sits in pursuit of Dave Brown's iconic all-time record of 38 tries set in 1935. Brian To'o provided the engine in yardage for Penrith, racking up a game-high 214 running metres alongside nine tackle busts.
His all-round game this year has been very consistent and that's why he's getting the tries. Rhys Wesser was a try machine and a bit of a legend in our club so it's pretty cool.
Penrith were forced to reshuffle their backline before kickoff following the late withdrawal of fullback Dylan Edwards due to a head injury suffered the week prior, handing rookie Jaxen Edgar his starting berth. Parramatta suffered a casualty of their own late in the match when dummy-half Tallyn Da Silva left the field for an HIA after taking a Cleary clearing kick directly to the head.
Reaction and Response
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary offered a blunt assessment of his side's performance despite taking the two competition points, acknowledging that the premiers were far from their polished best.
That wasn't our best stuff but that was the first time this year when we've had to sort it out and come back. We got away with a win and there was some good resilience shown... but it's just a game in a season and we'll have to do a lot better than that.
Eels head coach Jason Ryles voiced frustration over self-inflicted mistakes during critical phases, while noting several refereeing decisions that fell against his squad.
We won a lot of parts of the game that generally, at the end of it, are indicators you've won the game. But fight and effort only get you so far.
What to Watch
Penrith now shift their focus to next week's clash against Canberra in Mudgee, where fullback Dylan Edwards is expected to return after clearing concussion protocols. Parramatta will attempt to bounce back against the Wests Tigers as they seek to fix game-awareness lapses and climb out of the bottom three.