[Source: NRL]

Nathan Cleary helped the Panthers return to the winner’s circle with an 18-6 triumph against the Warriors in a bruising encounter he described as the toughest of the season.

The Warriors lost winger Ed Kosi, second-rower Jackson Ford and prop Bunty Afoa to injuries during the match and twice had to play with a man in the sin-bin but the game wasn’t decided until Spencer Leniu scored in the 75th minute.

The class of Cleary proved the difference, with the Kangaroos halfback running 129 metres with the ball, having a hand in two of Penrith’s three tries and maintaining pressure on the Warriors defence with his kicking game.

“That was the hardest game of the year, I reckon,” Cleary told Fox Sports. “It is massive respect to the Warriors for what they have been able to build.

“They weren’t going away, they kept showing up and even when we thought they were tired they kept being there. It was bloody tough and I am real happy to win that one.”

The Warriors dominated the opening stages and were rewarded when prop Addin Fonua-Blake crossed in the 10th minute after halfback Shaun Johnson combined with lock Tohu Harris.

The try followed a break by Warriors winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, who was stopped short of the tryline on the previous tackle by Penrith fullback Dylan Edwards and centre Sunia Turuva.

A big hit by Ed Kosi rocked Penrith star Stephen Crichton but the Warriors winger came off second best after injuring his knee and he was effectively a passenger until finally replaced in the 30th minute.

The Panthers targeted the Warriors’ left side, where Kosi was defending, in consecutive sets after centre Adam Pompey spilled a kick near his own line and infringements by Bunty Afoa and Marata Niukore.

The pressure eventually took its toll when Dylan Edwards stepped his way across the tryline in the 20th minute off a Nathan Cleary pass.

The Panthers matched the Warriors in the physicality stakes, with a brutal shot by Crichton jolting the ball loose from Dylan Walker, who returned serve when he and Fonua-Blake combined to perform a heavy tackle on Zac Hosking.

The premiers continued to target Kosi’s edge and they took the lead when Cleary and co-captain Isaah Yeo combined and linked with Edwards, who put star winger Brian To’o over in the corner.

Kosi was soon forced from the field after another heavy tackle by Crichton, forcing a backline reshuffle, but the visitors refused to let up and it took another trysaving tackle by Turuva to stop a runaway Wayde Egan from scoring.

The Panthers led 12-6 at halftime and a 50th minute Cleary penalty goal put them further ahead as the Warriors bravely hung on amid a mounting injury toll and the sinbinning of Jackson Ford and Demitric Sifakulato.

The Warriors did not concede a point while Leniu was in the sinbin for a hip drop tackle on Spencer Leniu, but the Gerringong-born second-rower did not return after being ruled out by the team doctor.

Sifakulato received his marching orders in the 65th minute after singling out Cleary during a melee sparked by a rib-rattling tackle by the Panthers playmaker on Josh Curran.

Watene-Zelezniak reluctantly left the field after being ordered to undergo a HIA by the independent doctor, while Bunty Afoa came from the field late in the match.

Down to 12 men on the field and with just one player on the bench, the Warriors were unable to hold Penrith out and Leniu sealed the win when he crashed over five minutes before fulltime.

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