Penrith have been brought back to earth with a thud after having their seven-game NRL winning streak emphatically snapped 30-18 by Canberra.
The Panthers were on track for what would’ve equalled a club-record eighth-straight victory when they shot out to a 4-0 lead on Sunday in just the fourth minute.
But the Raiders wasted little time in taking the lead in the 15th minute, before kicking on with a dominant second half to claim their sixth win in seven games.
It was a resilient performance from Ricky Stuart’s men, who had to contend with defending eight of the opening nine sets of the match.
The victory consolidates Canberra’s grip on fourth spot, while the defeat for Penrith leaves them precariously placed in seventh position.
John Bateman continued his impressive maiden NRL season with another strong performance, scoring a try and running for a team-high 131 metres.
Jack Wighton added a try assist, line-break assist and 111 metres.
Canberra were holding onto a six-point lead at halftime but blew the game open with three tries in 13 minutes – all down their right edge.
The first was the try of the evening for the 15,560-crowd at Panthers Stadium.
What began with a Siliva Havili offload in their own half ended in Bateman burning James Maloney and Michael Oldfield kicking infield for Aidan Sezer to finish.
Penrith responded through Moses Leota, however the Raiders regained their two-try advantage via a questionable try to Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.
The Canberra fullback pounced on a loose ball despite replays showing Josh Mansour had been pushed in mid-air by Jordan Rapana.
The contest was over when Rapana scored one himself five minutes later, with James Tamou crashing over for a consolation try.
Penrith seized the early lead when Brian To’o picked up his sixth try in his past six games in an opening where the home side had eight of the opening nine sets.
However, the Raiders responded quickly through Josh Papalii, before Elliott Whitehead also crossed after Dean Whare was sin-binned for a professional foul.
