Penrith coach Ivan Cleary admitted his side were not at their best as the Panthers came from behind to beat the Gold Coast Titans 18-4 on Friday night.
The Panthers are bang on course to win another NRL grand final in 2022 and made it eight wins on the spin this season with the victory over the Titans.
Hard-fought win
The Panthers were made to work for the points though as the Titans were leading 4-0 at halftime thanks to a try scored by Greg Marzhew in the 38th minute.
However inspired by star halfback Nathan Cleary the Panthers came roaring back after the break to take the win. Cleary set up two tries and scored one himself as the Panthers got the job done at Cbus Super Stadium.
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Coach Ivan Cleary was not completely happy with the performance but praised his players for grinding out the win.
"It was a win for our culture tonight. We definitely weren't at our best. Just a heap of yardage errors which we haven't been doing,” he told reporters after the game.
“Any game where you make so many yardage errors you're going to be in trouble but our defence held firm and if you do that you can win games. We take pleasure in winning any way we can. That's our jobs, to win games."
Fifita worry for Titans
Meanwhile the Gold Coast have been left sweating over the fitness of superstar David Fifita who was forced to limp out of the action in the 64th minute with a knee injury.
"I think it is medial. It happened late in the first half. He might have hurt it further in the second," Titans coach Justin Holbrook said after the game.
