Boasting a string of new players at the club as well as some that are known well, it was the perfect start for the Penrith Panthers in 2013 – as they defeated the Canberra Raiders 32-10 at Centrebet Stadium.
Whilst many thought that the Panthers may have struggled early on, in regards to possession, the Panthers were on top the whole game, in front of a passionate home crowd of 10,882 on a warm Autumn day.
Despite the win, though, Penrith coach Ivan Cleary downplayed the victory, but liked the way his team played.
“It was very good to get a win,” Cleary said.
“We just hung in there … it was quite a team performance in that regard.”
On the flipside the Raiders were hugely disappointing.
The Raiders were their own worse enemy, an aspect that coach David Furner focused on, saying that his side just gave away too much possession to be a force in the game.
“If you cough up that much ball you are going to be doing a lot of tackling,” he said.
“We gave them too many opportunities down our end.
“But I thought those tries at the end didn’t reflect the effort of our defence.”
After just one game, the team camaraderie whilst good, will only improve – and for captain Kevin Kingston, he was just pleased that the side gelled as well as they did.
“There are no egos, they have all worked so hard and that has flowed through the group,” he said.
“Segeyaro and Manu both scored tries, that was a reflection of that.”
3. Luke Walsh
2. Lewis Brown
1. Nigel Plum