It’s rare for an NRL season to hinge on a cold May night in Bathurst, but for the Penrith Panthers, their Round 12 loss to the Newcastle Knights may have marked a turning point.
What was once seen as a season teetering on collapse has now transformed into a potential revival, with Penrith rediscovering the defensive DNA that made them four-time premiers.
The Panthers’ dynasty, built on rock-solid defence, saw them concede the fewest points in the NRL every year from 2020 to 2024 under coach Ivan Cleary.
That hallmark of success was absent in the early part of the 2025 season, with the reigning champions conceding 20 or more points in nine of their first 11 games, leaving them shockingly near the bottom of the NRL ladder after 12 rounds.
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The low point came in Bathurst, where, without their State of Origin stars, the Panthers trailed 24-0 at halftime in what co-captain Isaah Yeo and teammates now refer to as their “line-in-the-sand” moment.
It was a performance that had many declaring the end of an era, but Penrith had other ideas.
Since that game, the Panthers have flipped the script, winning six straight matches. In that stretch, they haven’t conceded more than 20 points in a game and have allowed just 68 points total, making them the best defensive record in the NRL over that span.
“You can just feel like we’re more resilient, we’re stopping tries, we’re making it hard for the opposition, whereas that wasn’t really the case for the first half of the season,” the Penrith captain said to Courier Mail.
“I feel like they’d go down on our end in the first set, they’d put on a play, and it wasn’t under pressure, and all of a sudden they’re scoring, and you’re probably sort of kicking yourself going, what’s just happened to everything we spoke about?
“But I feel like we’re trusting the system a bit more, we’re being a bit more proactive, particularly at the start of the games, and when you’re holding your line and being resilient, that affects the other team’s confidence.
“We’ve relied on that for such a long period of time now, and we didn’t have that for the first half of the season. It’s not something you can ever take for granted.
“It happens at training, it happens in your reps, making sure the intensity’s up, so there’s been a real shift in that regard ever since the line-in-the-sand moment being the Bathurst game.”
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While edge forward Scott Sorensen didn’t feature in that Bathurst loss, he was part of the group that led a statement win weeks later when the Panthers, again without their Origin players, beat the Warriors in Auckland, a key result in their resurgence.
“I think we have shared and spoken about the line-in-the-sand moment. And that’s exactly what it was. It was just like, we have standards here,” Sorensen said to Courier Mail.
“We have a level that we want to play at. We have a level that we want to train at. And we’re not doing it at the moment. Let’s fix it. And let’s do it.”
Despite their slow start, only three NRL teams have conceded fewer points than Penrith this season, a stat that reflects just how quickly they’ve returned to form.
“We’ve definitely noticed that particularly other years when we are on top, we look at it a little bit more. This year maybe not as much because we haven’t been up the top there,” Yeo added.
“We understand that if you can put pressure on the team because you’re making them have to change because you are defending so well, that’s a good thing.
“The first half of the season we weren’t doing that. Teams were sort of doing what they wanted and good things were coming off the back of it.
“Whereas at the moment we’re holding our line, and that’s probably making teams have to change on the run. Any time you do that, it gives you confidence.”