The 2025 NRL season has been a wild ride for Penrith Panthers fans.
Bottom of the ladder after the first twelve rounds, then undefeated in the eleven rounds since, it’s been like two completely different seasons in one season.
Yet amidst it all, a remarkable statistic has emerged, and it spells big trouble for Craig Bellamy and the Melbourne Storm ahead of their Thursday night blockbuster with the Panthers at CommBank Stadium.
As spotted by the eagle-eyed RandomStatsGuy, when Dylan Edwards, Blaize Talagi, Nathan Cleary and Mitch Kenny start, the Panthers win—as in, every time.
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Ivan’s spine is fine—8 wins, 0 losses
To put this stat in even sharper perspective, after 23 rounds the Panthers currently sit fourth on the NRL ladder with a solid overall record of twelve wins and seven losses.
But when they have their first-choice spine?
Penrith’s record surges to eight wins and zero losses—none, nada, zilch.
Yet without all of their star foursome it drops to a decidedly mortal four wins and seven losses.
In bad news for a Storm side missing two of its own key spine members—Jahrome Hughes and Ryan Papenhuyzen—this week’s clash marks the fourth straight week Edwards, Talagi, Cleary and Kenny will run out for the Panthers.
The quartet will be looking to deliver another September-worthy performance following successive wins over the Knights, Titans and Tigers.