Legendary halfback Andrew Johns has suggested Nathan Cleary will be under the pump this week with yet another change to the spine with Blaize Talagi finally given a chance in the No.6 jersey. Coach Ivan Cleary has been facing pressure to why young recruit Talagi has only payed 73 minutes of footy so far in 2025 with the Panthers starting 1-4.
Fans have been left stunned at the performances of the reigning champions who tasted defeat yet again at the hands of the Cowboys last week. Jack Cole has partnered Cleary this year in the halves, despite the expectation Talagi was brought over from the Eels to take the five-eighth role.
Last week, Cleary admitted Talagi was still adapting to the Panthers system and in time he would show his class. But Roosters legend Brad Fittler was still confused to why he hadn’t been given a run anywhere along the backline considering the Panthers have been dealing with injuries.
“I haven’t really understood why they haven’t played him. Obviously, they are better than anyone at picking players and picking their team. When you look at him at Parramatta, he played in every position,” Fittler said on Freddy and the Eighth show. “He played wing, centre, five-eighth. He is a footy player.”
Talagi was forced to fill-in in the halves when Cleary was concussed against Melbourne in Round 3, and performed well alongside Cole in his 73 minute performance. But coach Cleary went with Trent Toelau as his starting halfback against Souths the following week
And Johns admitted he feels Penrith have set a standard where no one walks into a jersey at the club. “He’s a talent. You’ve got to applaud Penrith that you know you have to earn your jersey,” Johns added. After the loss to the Cowboys, NRL legend Johns suggested Cleary might need to scale back his game to accomodate the inexperience of the team around him.
And Johns posed the same question to Cleary and the Panthers with the coach naming a new look spine this week to take on the Dolphins. “I spoke about Nathan having to dumb down his play because of the inexperience. Well this week, now he has got Blaize at five-eighth and he has got Luke Sommerton at dummy-half, so we are going to see how he plays with them.”
Speaking earlier in the week, Johns claimed Cleary reads the game differently due to his skill and experience and needs to guide the younger players on the field. “The challenge for Nathan is the younger players don’t see the game like him,” Johns said on Channel 9’s coverage.
“He’s still seeing the game like when he’s had all the superstars in those key positions. He has to come back (to their level) for a while until these younger players get used to the speed of the game, handling pressure, playing under fatigue. Because they’re not up to his fitness level or his mental strength … they don’t see the game like him. So he’s got to pull it back.”
Penrith face must-win game against Dolphins
The Panthers face a critical game on Thursday night with no team in the competitions 117-year history having recovered from a 1-5 start to win the title. Most of the burden will fall on Cleary this week against the Dolphins on Thursday with only 15 per cent of teams having ever recovered to make NRL finals footy if they go 1-5.
However, the inclusion of Dylan Edwards is a massive gain for the Panthers. Edwards injured his groin earlier in the season and has missed the last three games. The NSW fullback’s industrial performances are pivotal to Penrith’s style and considering they are also missing Brian To’o his inclusion is massive. While the Panthers have denied it is panic stations, Cleary admitted the team are missing their rhythm to start the season having seen James Fisher-Harris, Jarome Luai and Sunia Turuva leave the club.
“We’re in unchartered waters, to some extent,” said coach Cleary. “Six years ago we were (in this position) but a lot of these players haven’t been there. It is sort of new for me too, to come from where we’ve been.
“But we’ve worked really hard over a long period of time to develop a winning culture at the Panthers. Winning cultures, they drill down on stuff that you can control
