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 Notes Apisai Koroisau Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 2022 [1] Kurt Capewell Cronulla Sharks 2021 [2] Zane Tetevano Sydney Roosters 2022

Losses Player Signed To Until End of Notes Reagan Campbell-Gillard Parramatta Eels 2024 [3] Wayde Egan New Zealand Warriors 2022 [4] 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					Semi-finals						Preliminary finals					Grand Final
	2 Oct, Panthers Stadium
	1	Penrith	29
	4	Sydney	28			9 Oct, Sydney Cricket Ground
						Sydney		18
	3 Oct, GIO Stadium Canberra					Canberra		22				17 Oct, ANZ Stadium
	5	Canberra	32									Penrith		20
	8	Cronulla-Sutherland	20									South Sydney		16			25 Oct, ANZ Stadium
																	Penrith		20
	4 Oct, ANZ Stadium											16 Oct, Suncorp Stadium					Melbourne		26
	6	South Sydney	46									Melbourne		30
	7	Newcastle	20			10 Oct, Bankwest Stadium						Canberra		10
						Parramatta		24
	3 Oct, Suncorp Stadium					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 season v t e
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	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