THE revolution at the foot of the mountains is still a work in progress but there can be no question the NRL's sleeping giant, the Penrith Panthers, are fast developing into genuine premiership contenders.
The Panthers made it five wins in a row against an understrength St George Illawarra outfit, with last season's Red V outcast Jamie Soward once-again contributing strongly to this ever-evolving Penrith side.
Despite the Dragons having a mountain of possession, field position and a far superior completion rate, the Panthers simply found a way to win, like all the good teams do.
The halves combination of Peter Wallace and Soward is developing into one of the most well-balanced and complimentary pairings in the competition.
Brent Kite on the charge for the Panthers. Source: Supplied
In typical poker player fashion, Penrith coach Ivan Cleary was holding his cards tight after the victory, particularly when asked about the Panthers sitting on top of the NRL ladder.
"We've got a lot to do yet. We've got some very hard games coming up. We've got 11 games consecutively after our bye next week, so that's a big tough run. There's much to do," Cleary said.
"But we also feel like we're making progress as well and tonight was another bit of progress. It wasn't all perfect by any stretch, we had some pressure on us and we managed to hold them off."
Despite the closeness of the scoreline and the Dragons pressing for an upset in the final five minutes, the Panthers looked relatively in control for the majority of the match.
Anytime St George Illawarra started to ask harder questions, the Panthers repeatedly found the answers.
The only time the Dragons really had them under any genuine pressure was trailing 12-10 early in the second half, when Penrith's brilliant scrambling defence then turned into long-range attack and winger Josh Mansour completed a 55m movement with a try.
Local junior rookies Matt Moylan and Bryce Cartwright also showed flashes of brilliance in attack and defence, while 298-NRL game prop Brent Kite is like all good red wine, improving with age.
Josh Mansour crossed for the Panthers. Source: Supplied
Dragons captain Ben Creagh was in no doubt Penrith can be the real deal when it comes to September.
"Definitely. They're a quality side. They play disciplined footy, that's what you've got to do if you want to win premierships," Creagh said.
"They don't give away too many penalties and they don't make too many errors either. And they punish teams for giving them away. They're a quality team, they're playing as a team and they're playing for one another. They're a tough footy side."
St George Illawarra coach Paul McGreggor labelled it the Dragons best performance of the season, a big call considering the club has notched five victories.
Benji Marshall had an unhappy game. Source: Supplied
"Sometime you lose but you win. Half our salary cap's at home sitting on the lounge with rep duties and injuries," McGreggor said.
"That's the best game we've played this year and we had a couple of wins earlier in the year."
McGreggor was right. The Dragons were missing Josh Dugan, Trent Merrin, Brett Morris, Dan Hunt, Dylan Farrell and lost Tyson Frizzel for the match inside the opening 20 minutes.
Yet the Red V had a massive dig.
The Panthers showcased it all, too. Short, long, set-piece, off-the-cuff, this team is so well balanced and composed.
A basket case three years ago prior to Phil Gould and then coach Cleary's arrival, the transformation is still a long way from being complete but the uprising to the top of the NRL ladder can no longer be ignored.
PENRITH 18 (D Whare 2 J Mansour tries J Soward 3 goals) bt ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 14 (J Nightingale 2 C Runciman tries G Widdop goal) at Sportingbet Stadium. Referee: Ashley Klein, Adam Gee. Crowd: 13,768.
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