2020 Penrith Panthers season

Last updated
2020 Penrith Panthers season
NRL Rank1
2020 recordWins: 18; draws: 1; losses: 1
Points scoredFor: 537; against: 238
Team information
CEOBrian Fletcher
Coach Ivan Cleary
Captain
Stadium Panthers Stadium – 22,500
Carrington Park – 13,000 (Cancelled)
Avg. attendance3,164
High attendance10,160
Top scorers
Tries Stephen Crichton (17)
Goals Nathan Cleary (86)
Points Nathan Cleary (208)
  2019 List of seasons 2021  

The 2020 Penrith Panthers season is the 54th season in the club's history. Coached by Ivan Cleary and captained by James Tamou, the Panthers are competing in the National Rugby League's 2020 Telstra Premiership. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the NRL was played without fans in round 2. Shortly after the competition was suspended from 24 March until 28 May when round 3 commenced under a new draw. Crowds were allowed to return from round 5 in very small groups, whilst larger crowds were allowed from round 8. Teams were also allowed to return to their own home grounds from round 8. On the 14th of August after winning against the New Zealand Warriors, Penrith broke the club record for their longest ever winning streak with their run of 9 straight wins, continuing to 14 straight wins on the 19th of September against the North Queensland Cowboys. After Penriths 32 - 12 victory over the Cowboys in round 19, the club were crowned minor premiers of the 2020 NRL season for a third time in the clubs history. After winning by 1 point against the Sydney Roosters in the first week of the 2020 NRL Finals Series Penrith made the Preliminary final for the first time in 6 years, extending their winning streak to 16 straight. In the Preliminary final Penrith went on to win 20 - 16 against the South Sydney Rabbitohs and made their first grand final in 17 years. Penrith also extended their winning streak to 17 which is the equal highest winning streak in the NRL era alongside the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs. In the grand final the Panthers played the second place Melbourne Storm but came off second best. After being down 26 - 0 after 50 minutes they managed to score 20 unanswered points, finishing the match fast but falling short in the end, losing 20 - 26.

Contents

Squad

Penrith Panthers 2020 Squad
Top 30 Squad - 2020 SeasonDevelopment PlayersCoaching Staff

Head coach

Assistant coaches


Legend:
  • (c) Captain(s)
  • (vc) Vice-captain(s)

Updated: 14 August 2020
Source(s): Panthers Team Profiles

Player transfers

A † denotes that the transfer occurred during the 2019 season.

Fixtures

Pre-season

DateTrialOpponentVenueScoreTriesGoals
Saturday, 22 February1 Wests Tigers colours.svg Wests Tigers Panthers Stadium 32 - 4 Naden, May, Hetherington, Crichton, Hopgood Cartwright (4/5)
Saturday, 29 February2 Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta Eels Bega recreation ground 22 - 22 Cleary, Mansour, Brian To'o, Naden, Hands Cleary (2/3), Cartwright (1/1)
Legend:   Win  Loss  Draw

Regular season

DateRoundOpponentVenueScoreTriesGoalsAttendance
Saturday, 14 March1 Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Sydney Roosters Panthers Stadium 20 - 14 Naden, Crichton, Kikau Cleary (4/4)10,160
Friday, 20 March2 St. George colours.svg St George Illawarra Dragons Netstrata Jubilee Stadium 28 - 32 Koroisau, Cleary, Naden, Kikau, Crichton Cleary (5/5)0
Sunday, 31 May3 Newcastle colours.svg Newcastle Knights Campbelltown Stadium 14 - 14 Kikau, Capewell Crichton (3/3)0
Friday, 5 June4 Auckland colours.svg New Zealand Warriors Campbelltown Stadium 26 - 0 Burton (2), Luai, Mansour, Burns Chricton (3/5)0
Friday, 12 June5 Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta Eels Bankwest Stadium 16 - 10 To'o, Mansour Cleary (1/2)507
Friday, 19 June6 Melbourne colours.svg Melbourne Storm Campbelltown Stadium 21 - 14 Crichton, To'o, Kikau Cleary (4/4, 1 FG)115
Thursday, 25 June7 South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney Rabbitohs Netstrata Jubilee Stadium 20 - 12 Naden, Crichton, Edwards, Cleary Cleary (1/4)106
Saturday, 4 July8 Wests Tigers colours.svg Wests Tigers Bankwest Stadium 12 - 19 Crichton (2), Edwards Cleary (3/3, 1 FG)3,960
Saturday, 11 July9 Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla Sharks Netstrata Jubilee Stadium 24 - 56 Naden, Martin, Crichton (2), Staines (4), Burns Cleary (7/9), Crichton (1/2)3,277
Sunday, 19 July10 North Queensland colours.svg North Queensland Cowboys Panthers Stadium 22 - 10 Luai, Naden, Crichton, Cleary Cleary (3/5)2,891
Sunday, 26 July11 Gold Coast Titans colours.svg Gold Coast Titans Cbus Super Stadium 14 - 22 Mansour, Crichton, Yeo, Watene-Zelezniak Cleary (3/4)5,095
Saturday, 1 August12 Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Lottoland 12 - 42 Staines (2), Yeo, Crichton, Cleary, Naden, Koroisau Cleary (7/8)2,729
Saturday, 8 August13 Canberra colours.svg Canberra Raiders Panthers Stadium 28 - 12 Kikau, Martin, Crichton, Naden Cleary (6/6)3,468
Friday, 14 August14 Auckland colours.svg New Zealand Warriors Central Coast Stadium 12 - 18 Naden, Koroisau, Edwards Cleary (3/4)2,737
Friday, 21 August15 Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla Sharks Panthers Stadium 38 - 12 Kikau, Mansour (2), Naden, Crichton, Martin, Luai Cleary (5/7)3,206
Saturday, 29 August16 Wests Tigers colours.svg Wests Tigers Panthers Stadium 30 - 6 Luai, Martin, To'o, Crichton, Mansour Cleary (5/6)3,699
Thursday, 3 September17 Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane Broncos Suncorp Stadium 12 - 25 Mansour, Capewell, Luai, To'o Cleary (4/5, 1 FG)5,626
Friday, 11 September18 Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta Eels Panthers Stadium 20 - 2 Mansour, Martin, Jarome Luai Cleary (4/4)3,955
Friday, 18 September19 North Queensland colours.svg North Queensland Cowboys Queensland Country Bank Stadium 12 - 32 To'o, Crichton, Mansour, Luai, Kikau, Naden Cleary (4/6)7,247
Saturday, 26 September20 Canterbury colours.svg Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs ANZ Stadium 0 - 42 To'o, Capewell (2), Naden (2), Mansour, Burton, Tamou Cleary (5/8)6,755
Legend:   Win  Loss  Draw  Bye

Finals

Qualifying and elimination finalsSemi-finalsPreliminary finalsGrand Final
2 Oct, Panthers Stadium
1 Penrith Panthers square flag icon with 2020 colours.svg Penrith 29
4 Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Sydney 289 Oct, Sydney Cricket Ground
Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Sydney 18
3 Oct, GIO Stadium Canberra Canberra colours.svg Canberra 2217 Oct, ANZ Stadium
5 Canberra colours.svg Canberra 32 Penrith Panthers square flag icon with 2020 colours.svg Penrith 20
8 Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla-Sutherland 20 South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney 1625 Oct, ANZ Stadium
Penrith Panthers square flag icon with 2020 colours.svg Penrith 20
4 Oct, ANZ Stadium 16 Oct, Suncorp Stadium Melbourne colours.svg Melbourne 26
6 South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney 46 Melbourne colours.svg Melbourne 30
7 Newcastle colours.svg Newcastle 2010 Oct, Bankwest Stadium Canberra colours.svg Canberra 10
Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta 24
3 Oct, Suncorp Stadium South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney 38
2 Melbourne colours.svg Melbourne 36
3 Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta 24
DateRoundOpponentVenueScoreTriesGoalsAttendance
Friday, 2 OctoberQualifying Final Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Sydney Roosters Panthers Stadium 29 - 28 Mansour, Cleary (3), Crichton Cleary (4/6, 1 FG)7,209
Saturday, 17 OctoberPreliminary Final South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney Rabbitohs ANZ Stadium 20 - 16 To'o, May, Edwards Cleary (4/4)30,116
Sunday, 25 OctoberGrand Final Melbourne colours.svg Melbourne Storm ANZ Stadium 20 - 26 To'o, Crichton, Mansour, Cleary Cleary (2/3)37,303
Legend:   Win  Loss  Draw  Bye

Ladder

PosTeamPldWDLBPFPAPDPts
1 Penrith Panthers square flag icon with 2020 colours.svg Penrith Panthers 2018110537238+29937
2 Melbourne colours.svg Melbourne Storm (P)2016040534276+25832
3 Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta Eels 2015050392288+10430
4 Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Sydney Roosters 2014060552322+23028
5 Canberra colours.svg Canberra Raiders 2014060445317+12828
6 South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney Rabbitohs 2012080521352+16924
7 Newcastle colours.svg Newcastle Knights 2011180421374+4723
8 Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 20100100480480020
9 Gold Coast Titans colours.svg Gold Coast Titans 2090110346463−11718
10 Auckland colours.svg New Zealand Warriors 2080120343458−11516
11 Wests Tigers colours.svg Wests Tigers 2070130440505−6514
12 St. George colours.svg St. George Illawarra Dragons 2070130378452−7414
13 Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 2070130375509−13414
14 North Queensland colours.svg North Queensland Cowboys 2050150368520−15210
15 Canterbury colours.svg Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 2030170282504−2226
16 Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane Broncos 2030170268624−3566

Other teams

In addition to competing in the National Rugby League, the Panthers are also fielding semi-professional teams in the 2020 Jersey Flegg Cup (for players aged under 20) and the New South Wales Rugby League's 2020 Canterbury Cup (NSW Cup). Due to COVID-19 however these competitions were abandoned for the 2020 season.

Representative honours

Domestic

Pos.PlayerTeamCall-upRef.
HB Nathan Cleary New South Wales colours.svg New South Wales 2020 State of Origin
[5]
FE Jarome Luai
LK Isaah Yeo
CE Stephen Crichton
SR Kurt Capewell Queensland colours.svg Queensland 2020 State of Origin

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References

  1. "Koroisau signs with Panthers on three year deal". 30 August 2019.
  2. "Panthers signs Kurt Capewell". 25 November 2019.
  3. "Campbell-Gillard joins Eels after gaining release from Panthers". 14 September 2019.
  4. "Panthers hooker Egan agrees terms". 23 October 2019.
  5. "2020 Origin squads: NSW, Queensland announce several new faces". 26 October 2020.