# 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.

## Squad
### Player transfers

A † denotes that the transfer occurred during the 2019 season.
Gains :
| Player | Signed From | Until End of |
| Apisai Koroisau | Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | 2022 |
| Kurt Capewell | Cronulla Sharks | 2021 |
| Zane Tetevano | Sydney Roosters | 2022 |
Losses :
| Player | Signed To | Until End of |
| Reagan Campbell-Gillard | Parramatta Eels | 2024 |
| Wayde Egan | New Zealand Warriors | 2022 |
| Tyrell Fuimaono | St. George Illawarra Dragons | |
| Tim Grant | Contract Terminated | |
| Sam McKendry | Retired | |
| James Maloney | Catalans Dragons | |
| Hame Sele | South Sydney Rabbitohs | |
| Frank Winterstein | Toulouse Olympique | |
| Sione Katoa | Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs | |
| Nick Lui Toso | Northern Pride (Queensland Cup) | |
| Paea Pua | Mount Pritchard Mounties (NSW Cup) | |

## 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

| Qualifying and elimination finals | Qualifying and elimination finals | Qualifying and elimination finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Preliminary finals | Preliminary finals | Preliminary finals | Grand final | Grand final | Grand final |
| 2 Oct, Panthers Stadium | 2 Oct, Panthers Stadium | 2 Oct, Panthers Stadium | | | | | | | | | |
| 1 | Penrith | 29 | | | | | | | | | |
| 4 | Sydney | 28 | 9 Oct, Sydney Cricket Ground | 9 Oct, Sydney Cricket Ground | 9 Oct, Sydney Cricket Ground | | | | |
| | | | Sydney | Sydney | 18 | | | | |
| 3 Oct, GIO Stadium Canberra | 3 Oct, GIO Stadium Canberra | 3 Oct, GIO Stadium Canberra | Canberra | Canberra | 22 | 17 Oct, ANZ Stadium | 17 Oct, ANZ Stadium | 17 Oct, ANZ Stadium | | | |
| 5 | Canberra | 32 | | | | Penrith | Penrith | 20 | |
| 8 | Cronulla-Sutherland | 20 | | | | South Sydney | South Sydney | 16 | 25 Oct, ANZ Stadium | 25 Oct, ANZ Stadium | 25 Oct, ANZ Stadium |
| | | | | | | | | | Penrith | Penrith | 20 |
| 4 Oct, ANZ Stadium | 4 Oct, ANZ Stadium | 4 Oct, ANZ Stadium | | | | 16 Oct, Suncorp Stadium | 16 Oct, Suncorp Stadium | 16 Oct, Suncorp Stadium | Melbourne | Melbourne | 26 |
| 6 | South Sydney | 46 | | | | Melbourne | Melbourne | 30 | | |
| 7 | Newcastle | 20 | 10 Oct, Bankwest Stadium | 10 Oct, Bankwest Stadium | 10 Oct, Bankwest Stadium | Canberra | Canberra | 10 | | |
| | | | Parramatta | Parramatta | 24 | | | | | | |
| 3 Oct, Suncorp Stadium | 3 Oct, Suncorp Stadium | 3 Oct, Suncorp Stadium | South Sydney | South Sydney | 38 | | | | | |
| 2 | Melbourne | 36 | | | | | | | | | |
| 3 | Parramatta | 24 | | | | | | | | |
| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Score | Tries | Goals | Attendance |
| Friday, 2 October | Qualifying Final | Sydney Roosters | Panthers Stadium | 29 - 28 | Mansour, Cleary (3), Crichton | Cleary (4/6, 1 FG) | 7,209 |
| Saturday, 17 October | Preliminary Final | South Sydney Rabbitohs | ANZ Stadium | 20 - 16 | To'o, May, Edwards | Cleary (4/4) | 30,116 |
| Sunday, 25 October | Grand Final | Melbourne Storm | ANZ Stadium | 20 - 26 | To'o, Crichton, Mansour, Cleary | Cleary (2/3) | 37,303 |
| Legend: Win Loss Draw Bye ||||||||

## Ladder

2020 NRL seasonvte :
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | B | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
| 1 | Penrith Panthers | 20 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 537 | 238 | +299 | 37 |
| 2 | Melbourne Storm (P) | 20 | 16 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 534 | 276 | +258 | 32 |
| 3 | Parramatta Eels | 20 | 15 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 392 | 288 | +104 | 30 |
| 4 | Sydney Roosters | 20 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 552 | 322 | +230 | 28 |
| 5 | Canberra Raiders | 20 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 445 | 317 | +128 | 28 |
| 6 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 20 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 521 | 352 | +169 | 24 |
| 7 | Newcastle Knights | 20 | 11 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 421 | 374 | +47 | 23 |
| 8 | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 20 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 480 | 480 | 0 | 20 |
| 9 | Gold Coast Titans | 20 | 9 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 346 | 463 | −117 | 18 |
| 10 | New Zealand Warriors | 20 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 343 | 458 | −115 | 16 |
| 11 | Wests Tigers | 20 | 7 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 440 | 505 | −65 | 14 |
| 12 | St. George Illawarra Dragons | 20 | 7 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 378 | 452 | −74 | 14 |
| 13 | Manly Warringah Sea Eagles | 20 | 7 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 375 | 509 | −134 | 14 |
| 14 | North Queensland Cowboys | 20 | 5 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 368 | 520 | −152 | 10 |
| 15 | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 20 | 3 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 282 | 504 | −222 | 6 |
| 16 | Brisbane Broncos | 20 | 3 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 268 | 624 | −356 | 6 |

## 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 |
| HB | Nathan Cleary | New South Wales | 2020 State of Origin |
| FE | Jarome Luai | New South Wales | 2020 State of Origin |
| LK | Isaah Yeo | New South Wales | 2020 State of Origin |
| CE | Stephen Crichton | New South Wales | 2020 State of Origin |
| SR | Kurt Capewell | Queensland | 2020 State of Origin |