2020 Penrith Panthers season

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.

2020 Penrith Panthers season
NRL Rank1
2020 recordWins: 18; draws: 1; losses: 1
Points scoredFor: 537; against: 238
Team information
CEOBrian Fletcher
CoachIvan Cleary
Captain
StadiumPanthers Stadium – 22,500
Carrington Park – 13,000 (Cancelled)
Avg. attendance3,164
High attendance10,160
Top scorers
TriesStephen Crichton (17)
GoalsNathan Cleary (86)
PointsNathan Cleary (208)
< 2019 List of seasons 2021 >

Squad
Penrith Panthers 2020 Squad
Top 30 Squad - 2020 Season Development Players Coaching 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
Date Trial Opponent Venue Score Tries Goals
Saturday, 22 February 1 Wests Tigers Panthers Stadium 32 - 4 Naden, May, Hetherington, Crichton, Hopgood Cartwright (4/5)
Saturday, 29 February 2 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
Date Round Opponent Venue Score Tries Goals Attendance
Saturday, 14 March 1 Sydney Roosters Panthers Stadium 20 - 14 Naden, Crichton, Kikau Cleary (4/4) 10,160
Friday, 20 March 2 St George Illawarra Dragons Netstrata Jubilee Stadium 28 - 32 Koroisau, Cleary, Naden, Kikau, Crichton Cleary (5/5) 0
Sunday, 31 May 3 Newcastle Knights Campbelltown Stadium 14 - 14 Kikau, Capewell Crichton (3/3) 0
Friday, 5 June 4 New Zealand Warriors Campbelltown Stadium 26 - 0 Burton (2), Luai, Mansour, Burns Chricton (3/5) 0
Friday, 12 June 5 Parramatta Eels Bankwest Stadium 16 - 10 To'o, Mansour Cleary (1/2) 507
Friday, 19 June 6 Melbourne Storm Campbelltown Stadium 21 - 14 Crichton, To'o, Kikau Cleary (4/4, 1 FG) 115
Thursday, 25 June 7 South Sydney Rabbitohs Netstrata Jubilee Stadium 20 - 12 Naden, Crichton, Edwards, Cleary Cleary (1/4) 106
Saturday, 4 July 8 Wests Tigers Bankwest Stadium 12 - 19 Crichton (2), Edwards Cleary (3/3, 1 FG) 3,960
Saturday, 11 July 9 Cronulla Sharks Netstrata Jubilee Stadium 24 - 56 Naden, Martin, Crichton (2), Staines (4), Burns Cleary (7/9), Crichton (1/2) 3,277
Sunday, 19 July 10 North Queensland Cowboys Panthers Stadium 22 - 10 Luai, Naden, Crichton, Cleary Cleary (3/5) 2,891
Sunday, 26 July 11 Gold Coast Titans Cbus Super Stadium 14 - 22 Mansour, Crichton, Yeo, Watene-Zelezniak Cleary (3/4) 5,095
Saturday, 1 August 12 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Lottoland 12 - 42 Staines (2), Yeo, Crichton, Cleary, Naden, Koroisau Cleary (7/8) 2,729
Saturday, 8 August 13 Canberra Raiders Panthers Stadium 28 - 12 Kikau, Martin, Crichton, Naden Cleary (6/6) 3,468
Friday, 14 August 14 New Zealand Warriors Central Coast Stadium 12 - 18 Naden, Koroisau, Edwards Cleary (3/4) 2,737
Friday, 21 August 15 Cronulla Sharks Panthers Stadium 38 - 12 Kikau, Mansour (2), Naden, Crichton, Martin, Luai Cleary (5/7) 3,206
Saturday, 29 August 16 Wests Tigers Panthers Stadium 30 - 6 Luai, Martin, To'o, Crichton, Mansour Cleary (5/6) 3,699
Thursday, 3 September 17 Brisbane Broncos Suncorp Stadium 12 - 25 Mansour, Capewell, Luai, To'o Cleary (4/5, 1 FG) 5,626
Friday, 11 September 18 Parramatta Eels Panthers Stadium 20 - 2 Mansour, Martin, Jarome Luai Cleary (4/4) 3,955
Friday, 18 September 19 North Queensland Cowboys Queensland Country Bank Stadium 12 - 32 To'o, Crichton, Mansour, Luai, Kikau, Naden Cleary (4/6) 7,247
Saturday, 26 September 20 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
  • NA = Not announced

Finals
Date Round Opponent Venue Score Tries Goals Attendance
Friday, 2 OctoberQualifying Final Sydney RoostersPanthers Stadium29 - 28Mansour, Cleary (3), CrichtonCleary (4/6, 1 FG)7,209
Saturday, 17 OctoberPreliminary Final South Sydney RabbitohsANZ Stadium20 - 16To'o, May, EdwardsCleary (4/4)30,116
Sunday, 25 OctoberGrand Final Melbourne StormANZ Stadium20 - 26To'o, Crichton, Mansour, ClearyCleary (2/3)37,303
Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw   Bye

Ladder
2020 NRL season
Pos Team Pld W D L B PF PA PD Pts
1 Penrith Panthers 2018110537238+29937
2 Melbourne Storm (P) 2016040534276+25832
3 Parramatta Eels 2015050392288+10430
4 Sydney Roosters 2014060552322+23028
5 Canberra Raiders 2014060445317+12828
6 South Sydney Rabbitohs 2012080521352+16924
7 Newcastle Knights 2011180421374+4723
8 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 20100100480480020
9 Gold Coast Titans 2090110346463−11718
10 New Zealand Warriors 2080120343458−11516
11 Wests Tigers 2070130440505−6514
12 St. George Illawarra Dragons 2070130378452−7414
13 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 2070130375509−13414
14 North Queensland Cowboys 2050150368520−15210
15 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 2030170282504−2226
16 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. Player Team Call-up Ref.
HB Nathan Cleary New South Wales 2020 State of Origin
[5]
FE Jarome Luai
LK Isaah Yeo
CE Stephen Crichton
SR Kurt Capewell Queensland 2020 State of Origin

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.
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