It was their third win on the trot but Ivan Cleary claimed his Penrith Panthers ‘looked different’ in Sunday’s 19-10 upset victory over the Sydney Roosters.
The Mountain Men backed up morale-boosting wins over Parramatta and Manly with easily their best performance of the season against Trent Robinson's side.
NSW duo Latrell Mitchell and Angus Crichton were missing but Boyd Cordner and James Tedesco both backed up from Origin I while Cooper Cronk returned for the Chooks.
Blues half-back Nathan Cleary played for the Panthers but discarded NSW five-eighth James Maloney was the pick of an impressive Panthers bunch, laying on all three tries.
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“I think a lot of the team saw this game as a real opportunity to build on what we’ve done the last couple of weeks,” coach Cleary said.
“We were pretty much probably ready to be put down three weeks ago but we realised we had to work off those wins and actually play some better footy and we did that tonight.
“There’s still a way to go but we looked different tonight.
“There was a different intensity about us and we looked so much more like a team these last few weeks.”
While Cleary was keen to highlight the Panthers’ improved teamwork, Maloney, who added a field goal and a 40-20 kick to his three try assists, was the standout player on the field.
“Jimmy was very good tonight,” Cleary said.
Pressed on whether the veteran playmaker was looking to send a message to Blues selectors, Cleary replied: “I don’t know. James has been there and done it, he knows better than anyone anything can happen if you play well.
“I thought Freddy (Brad Fittler) made a good point the other night that after Wednesday that for all the guys who played in that game it’s all about what you do for your club.
“So I guess that means (it’s the same) for players that didn’t play in that game as well.
“… I don’t know what Jimmy’s motivation was but he played well.”
The Panthers lost eight of their first 10 games but now sit just two points outside of the top eight after their hat-trick of victories.
Cleary insisted he’s not looking at the competition ladder and conceded his Panthers will ‘need to play better’ to keep their resurgence going against South Sydney next Saturday.
“It’s pretty congested, I think this time last year the eight was starting to work itself out whereas this year the top teams are doing really well and there’s just a mass of teams.
“I’ve always said if you can win a bunch of games in a row in the NRL in pretty much any season your whole year can change.
“… We’re obviously in a bit of a bubble so we’ve just got to keep doing what got us here in the first place and I actually think there’s more in our team.”
