Unbelievable: Ivan Cleary’ Said Choosing Penrith Panthers Was The Biggest Mistake He Has Ever Made….

Lara and Sam Worthington made a surprise appearance in Pines Park, Sydney on Saturday as they watched the round five NRL match between the Manly Sea Eagles and Penrith Panthers.

The glamour couple donned matching black ensembles for the occasion, with Lara, 36, looking typically stylish in a leather jacket while showing off her recently chopped blonde locks.

The mother-of-three completed her ensemble with a natural makeup look and several silver rings.

The Manly Sea Eagles have delivered a stunning performance against the defending premiers, the Penrith Panthers, marking Daly Cherry-Evans’ record-breaking 310th NRL game.

Cherry-Evans etched his name in the history books for the Sea Eagles by surpassing club legend Cliff Lyons to become the most capped player for Manly. However, the 32-18 victory for Manly was not without its share of controversy.

The pivotal moment came in the 34th minute when Tolutau Koula capitalised on a Panthers error, intercepting a misguided pass and dashing 90 meters to score a contentious try.

The decision to allow the play to continue by referee Gerard Sutton, missed by bunker official Peter Gough, was met with disbelief. “It was one of about five or six intercepts we threw so it was a bad play by us in the first place,” Panthers coach Ivan Cleary admitted, yet he couldn’t hide his frustration.

Embed from Getty Images
“Everyone in the stadium knew it was a knock on.”

Panthers captain Isaah Yeo echoed Cleary’s sentiments, revealing the team’s expectation of a knock-on call.

“I guess the feeling was that we thought it was a knock on,” Yeo remarked

“But like Ivan touched on, even our reaction off the back of that. They scored a try which was disappointing, but after that, there was no control for us, we didn’t hold our hands up for long periods of time.”

The NSW and Australian representative intimated that it was not the sole reason for their loss.

“Every time we started to get back into the arm wrestle, we’d make an error or give away a penalty. That [decision] wasn’t why we lost,” Yeo admitted.

Daly Cherry-Evans got involved in the try-scoring action on the night in which he became the Sea Eagles’ most capped player, as Manly downed the Panthers 32-18 at 4 Pines Park.

The 310-gamer scored the first of the Sea Eagles’ three second-half tries as they powered past Penrith with a spirited effort in the second 40 minutes that ended a two-game winless run for the club.

Cherry-Evans also had a try assist and booted a perfect six from six off the tee, after taking over kicking duties following the loss of Reuben Garrick to a head knock on three minutes.

At the end of a closely contested first period it was a length-of-the-field runaway from Tolutau Koula, after the Bunker cleared an early spilled ball of being knocked on, that created breathing space on the scoreboard at half-time for the Sea Eagles at 14-6.

Earlier Brad Schneider got things going on six minutes before Tom Trbojevic hit back and Cherry-Evans added a penalty just after the half hour.

A full-field effort of their own got Penrith back into the contest soon after the break, with Dylan Edwards picking off a Cherry-Evans attacking kick to reduce the gap to two points.

But over the next 20 minutes the Sea Eagles ran in three tries, with Cherry-Evans’ effort being followed by strikes from Corey Waddell and Jaxson Paulo which stretched the home side’s advantage out to 20.

With 11 to play a second effort from Edwards – which capped a fine individual performance that included 15 runs for 239 metres – gave the Panthers a sniff, but they weren’t able to go on with it, as the Sea Eagles came up with some big defensive plays late on to seal the result.