Penrith won four NRL titles in a row. This start to a season is better than all of them

Penrith winger Tom Jenkins scored four tries in a 40-4 thrashing of the Sydney Roosters on Friday night that confirms the Panthers’ most dominant start to a season since their NRL dynasty began.

The visitors to Allianz Stadium scored four tries in a 13-minute period for a game-defining 24-4 half-time lead.

Left winger Jenkins surged to the top of the try-scoring table with eight four-pointers for the season, Dylan Edwards bagged a double and Paul Alamoti toyed with the Roosters’ left edge in the Panthers’ third consecutive defeat of a premiership heavyweight.

Penrith have won their three games this season by a combined score of 92-10 – the team’s most one-sided opening three rounds by points differential since Ivan Cleary returned as coach in 2019.

And the Panthers still have room to improve: they missed 47 tackles to the Roosters’ 40 and gave away twice as many six agains.

But there is no question Penrith are well on the way to recapturing their four-time premiership-winning best following a rollercoaster 2025 season.

Penrith’s round-five clash against 2025 runners-up Melbourne shapes as the season’s biggest blockbuster yet.

Friday’s match came with similar anticipation given Reece Robson’s recovery from a thumb injury meant the Roosters unveiled their new all-star first-choice spine.

The Tricolours had first points through Robert Toia but fell off the pace after Edwards swung momentum with a 30-metre break in the 15th minute. The fullback’s surge put the Panthers in position for their first try, scored by Jenkins at close range.

Brian To’o had their second minutes later, poking a grubber kick through the line, regathering the ball and then scoring on the back of a second kick.

Alamoti had a field day marking journeyman centre Junior Pauga and orchestrated Penrith’s third try. He began a 90-metre attacking raid out of the backfield that ended with Edwards scoring the first of his two tries. The second came in the final 10 minutes on the right side.

A no-look pass from Nathan Cleary helped the Panthers shift left for Jenkins’ second try, before the winger went over only four minutes after the break.

Jenkins had a career-best fourth try when the Roosters batted a kick back to Penrith prop Moses Leota, who popped the ball up and ignited his winger’s 80m break.

The Panthers have now won 12 of their past 13 games against the Roosters, who leaked 40 points for a second time in three games.

AAP