Penrith have ground out a solid win over Canterbury in wet conditions with a 16-10 victory at Bluebet Stadium on Friday evening, but will be impacted at least medium-term with Nathan Cleary succumbing to injury.
Billed as a huge grudge match with a host of former Panthers returning home in blue-and-white, there was a war of attrition in the opening 20 minutes, neither side touching the scoreboard.
The deadlock broke at 26 minutes when Luke Garner stormed over despite plenty of defensive attention, Nathan Cleary's conversion giving the hosts a 6-0 lead short of the half-hour mark.
With discipline issues and errors creeping in to Canterbury's performance, things deteriorated further just before halftime when Brian To'o helped Penrith double their lead.
But in the background, a bigger story was developing.
Penrith and NSW halfback Nathan Cleary stumbled up the tunnel, apparently grabbing at his hamstring. It would later be revealed the three-time premiership winner is set to miss a number of weeks after re-injuring that hamstring which has seen him intermittently playing throughout season 2024 so far.
Dylan Edwards stepped up to convert the To'o four pointer, Penrith taking a 12-0 lead to the break.
Intriguingly, the hosts wouldn't cross the line for a try again in the contest, with the Panthers instead nailing two penalty goals over the course of the second forty.
Canterbury wouldn't breach the Penrith defence until the 69th minute when Matt Burton's persistence got the blue-and-white team on the scoresheet, but the scoreline only narrowed to 16-10 right on fulltime when Jacob Kiraz scored to bring the margin tighter and perhaps reward the visitors' persistence and effort.
Penrith will face the Warriors next Sunday at Suncorp Stadium to open Day Three of NRLÂ Magic Round, while Canterbury are opening the whole thing when they play Canberra on Friday evening.