Penrith Panthers

BlueBet Stadium: The premiers quickly shut down talk they might struggle without superstar Nathan Cleary while also shutting down Tom Trbojevic.

“You can’t do that when you’re not getting to the end of your sets. Brad Fittler, the Blues coach also working on the Nine coverage, did not say a word. O’Sullivan was told before the club’s second trial he would be starting in round one. “He loves the game, loves learning ... he played like he was prepared. I thought he was outstanding right throughout the 80 minutes. Even Andrew Johns conceded during the Nine commentary he thought Penrith would “really struggle” without Cleary.

Penrith have erased any fears of a premiership hangover, putting the cleaners through Manly 28-6 in a dominant NRL season opener.

Their few chances in Penrith's half mainly came off the back of penalties, with their forwards battling to get into the game and Penrith controlling the ruck. The second-rower had a hand in another try early in the second half, running it on the last tackle and offloading back for Jarome Luai to score. Kikau, one of those players to sign elsewhere for next year, was instrumental from the start, setting up Penrith's first try when he offloaded and Tago found space to score.

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Manly was somehwta lucky to score a try at all, which game on the stroke of half time. Tom Trbojevic was limited to 127 run metres, while opposing fullback Dylan Edwards ran for a whopping 317. Penrith was also controversially disallowed two early tries, so the score could have been more of a blowout.

'Can't keep pointing the finger at Tom': Des defends Turbo after Manly found out in opener.

“What he did last year was absolutely incredible, individually. “They just know how good he is and they’re just not giving him an opportunity and he’s going to have to look at ways to be able to find his way into the contest when they’re under pressure and at the moment, Penrith just giving him no opportunity. “Tommy couldn’t have played any better last year, he played out of his skin, it’s the other guys that have to lift,” Tallis said. “It just hasn’t been Turbo’s night. But sides just know how important he is and they’re going to put a target on him and Izack Tago there, the young 19-year-old, just came in like a missile and cut him in half. “He’ll have a good hard look at this tape during the week, Tom, because this is going to be the season (teams target him),” Ennis said.