Nathan Cleary has announced his return to the NRL in style, icing a golden-point field goal to guide Penrith to a 28-26 win over the Dolphins.
Playing his first game since tearing a hamstring in May, Cleary proved his worth, twice rescuing the Panthers with the game on the line.
The halfback kicked a long-range 75th minute penalty to send the match to golden point before stepping up to slot a two-point field goal from 45 metres out in the 81st minute.
“It’s pretty handy having him, it was a huge play at the end,” said Penrith coach Ivan Cleary.
The Panthers rested all five of their State of Origin players and were way below their best in front of 20,955 at BlueBet Stadium on Sunday.
But, as he did during last year’s grand final, halfback Cleary found a way by helping his side claw back a 14-point deficit.
“Physically I felt really good, it was probably a bit frantic at stages,” said the Penrith No. 7.
“Particularly in defence but that's something to work on.
“I knew I was not going to come back and to be honest when I’ve come back from lay-offs I have been pretty scratchy.”
Penrith keep abreast of Melbourne with the victory, trailing the ladder-leading Storm by four points with six full rounds of the regular season remaining.
On the flipside, Wayne Bennett’s team will be made to rue a massive missed opportunity after opening up that three-score buffer with 25 minutes left.
Few teams go to Penrith and trouble the Panthers as much as the Dolphins did but Bennett’s men undid all their own hard work in the dying stages.
Josh Kerr was penalised for a professional foul which gave Cleary the chance to tie the game up.
And gun halfback Isaiya Katoa had the chance to win it, but inexplicably kicked crossfield rather than taking a shot at a field goal late in regular time.
“We should have kicked the field goal two minutes before that when we had them down the other end of the field,” Bennett said.
“He (Katoa) has got a lot of things on his mind, we had broken the line, we had 12 men and we had just gone 60 metres all of that happening pretty quickly.
“I’m not blaming him at all, that was a moment in the game.”
Cleary got off to a perfect return when he set up Sunia Turuva, kicked a goal in off the posts and saved a certain Dolphins try inside the opening 10 minutes.
But the Dolphins fought back, a double from Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and a well-taken try from Katoa helping them to an 18-12 lead at halftime.
Paul Alamoti, who had scored Penrith’s other first-half try, did not return in the second stanza due to a suspected broken arm.
A Jack Bostock try and a 55th-minute Jamayne Isaako penalty gave them a commanding 26-12 lead.
But rather than fade, Penrith rose to the occasion scoring through prop Moses Leota and fill-in fullback Daine Laurie.
Cleary did the rest, kicking the penalty to send the game to golden point and then sending the home crowd into a frenzy with a sweetly-struck two-point field goal.
