“It’s a competitive game,” he said. “The rules are what they are these days and you can’t sort it out [like] in the old days. If there were punches involved you wouldn’t see so many people in there, I can tell you. It’s just frustration. That’s fine.”

Crichton also left with a lasting impression with his first treble, sealed when he was controversially awarded a penalty try after being impeded by Matt Timoko chasing a Nathan Cleary kick.

It wasn’t as devastating as Siosifa Talakai’s first-half demolition of the Sea Eagles, but Crichton was just as efficient. Fittler could do worse than choose both; Crichton in the centres and Talakai as a bench forward capable of also playing out wide. Maybe he will.

Crichton won’t be celebrating a NSW call-up just yet, unlike Penrith’s rapturous home fans who mocked the Raiders during the second half with their own version of the viking clap as the hosts piled on 22 unanswered points after the break.

“I don’t think he’d let anyone down [in the Origin arena],” Ivan Cleary said. “He’s been really good for us going back to the centres. There’s so many options. Personally, I like that [versatility] in any player.”

The Raiders were far better than the team who wilted against the Cowboys last week. But just being better doesn’t cut it against the Panthers juggernaut, unbeaten through seven games this season. Unless you’re at your absolute best, you’re not much of a chance. And even then it might not be good enough.

“For 53 or 55 minutes, it was our best football this season so we’ve got to build on that,” Stuart said.

“It was very hard. It was pretty unique, I don’t think we had a play-the-ball in their half in the second half [until the last few minutes]. It wouldn’t have been not only Penrith beating us by that amount, other teams would have beaten us by the same amount if you don’t have the ball in the opposition half.”

At one stage, Wighton was forced into a last-tackle clearing kick just six metres out from his own line. It was death by a thousand swarming cats.

There was more than a special significance about the day, Ivan Cleary handing 26-year-old hooker Soni Luke an NRL debut years in the making. Life after Api Koroisau might not be that bad after all.

Rarely has a substitute player been greeted with such enthusiasm coming onto the field. Not only did Koroisau smile and high five Luke as he left the field, Jarome Luai and Nathan Cleary also stopped to offer support as the local junior (do Penrith have anything else?) charged into the fray.

He showed all the class of Koroisau, setting up co-captain Yeo before Cleary’s late penalty goal was enough for a 14-6 lead at the break.

“I was really proud of them tonight, the second half in particular,” Ivan Cleary said. “I felt we had that ruthless edge to us tonight. We played the style of footy we wanted to play. I thought the Raiders were hard to break down and it took us a long time to finally get there. I was glad the boys stuck at it.”

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Crichton stuck at it longer than most, so much so he was still going after the full-time siren.

Only one more stage awaits.

PENRITH PANTHERS 36 (Stephen Crichton 3, Isaah Yeo, Taylan May, Viliame Kikau tries; Nathan Cleary 6 goals) defeated CANBERRA RAIDERS 6 (Joseph Tapine try; Brad Schneider goal) at BlueBet Stadium. Referee: Grant Atkins. Crowd: 20,612.

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