Penrith have welcomed back Nathan Cleary for his first NRL game of the season as they brushed aside South Sydney 26-12 in their grand final rematch.
The Panthers are undefeated to start the season and despite racking up five tries could well have had more in front of 20,521 fans at BlueBet Stadium on Friday.
Without six of the heroes from last year's premiership win, two of the Panthers' rising stars -- winger Taylan May and centre Izack Tago -- stepped up and contributed with a brace and a try apiece.
Liam Martin and Stephen Crichton, who scored the match-winning try in last year's decider, also crossed, with Campbell Graham and Cody Walker responding for Souths.
The defeat leaves the Rabbitohs with just one win from their opening four games under new coach Jason Demetriou.
"I feel like we are team that is chasing points and doing things we shouldn't be doing," said Demetriou, who lost prop Mark Nicholls to a cork and winger Jaxson Paulo to a HIA.
"We've lost three games and all three have been when we've been at 63 per cent completion rate.
"We are just not giving our key players field position to do what they want to do."
Penrith began in ominous fashion as Cleary returned from off-season shoulder surgery.
He showed no signs of rust - except for missing his first three kicks at goal - as he linked with Jarome Luai all night.
Luai sparked the Panthers' fast start as he skipped down the left and set up Tago for the opener before Cleary sent Crichton in untouched on the other flank.
Graham hit back for Souths before May burrowed over in the 19th minute to put Penrith 12-6 up.
The hosts could have been much further ahead were it not for Cleary's uncharacteristically misfiring goalkicking.
Before the break, Souths had a Lachlan Ilias try ruled out for an obstruction penalty and centre Taane Milne and Cameron Murray went narrowly close to levelling.
But Penrith clung on and then hit back with May in the corner after halftime.
To add insult to injury, Ilias left a boot on the Panthers winger as he touched down which caused referee Ashley Klein to give Penrith a penalty which Cleary converted from right in front.
Walker hit back for Souths but any hope was short lived when Luai put in a perfectly-weighted kick into the in-goal for Martin to pounce on and wrap up victory.
"It's good to have him back," Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said of his son. "It's always hard to come back especially in a game of this magnitude.
"I thought we looked really good in the first half.
"I thought our defence still wasn't where we want it to be, but we scrambled well."
