A record points haul from Penrith playmaker Nathan Cleary inspired his side to a 54-10 rout of Newcastle at Panthers Stadium on Sunday.
Cleary’s four tries and nine conversions saw him end the round 25 fixture with 34 points – a club record.
With both sides out of finals contention, the Knights started the contest on the front foot.
Forward Josh King was pulled down 10 metres short of the line after Daniel Saifiti busted through soft Penrith defence.
Debutant Starford To’a then gave the visitors the lead when he juggled an intercept and raced 70 metres to score.
However, Penrith hit back immediately through Cleary and scored two more tries to go into the half-time break up 18-4.
Newcastle came out firing in the second period, with Herman Ese’ese reaching out to bang the ball down next to the posts just minutes after the resumption of play.
A fortuitous Penrith try saw Billy Burns hold onto a Cleary bomb and stroll across the line, before Wayde Egan finished off a slick backline move.
The Knights, down a man after Connor Watson was sent to the bin, were then steamrolled as Moses Leota, Cleary and Burns all scored.
Cleary rubbed salt into the wounds by adding his fourth, and final, try in the 67th minute.
Newcastle ended the 2019 season in 11th place.
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