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Stats reveal Panthers as NRL's most sin-binned team this season so far
Jasper Bruce, AAP • August 26th, 2026 7:20 pm
The usually disciplined Panthers have incurred the referees' wrath many times this season | Photo: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Premiership heavyweights Penrith are the surprise owners of the title of the NRL's most sin-binned team this season.
But Panthers players say it is not always in their control whether a player is sent from the field for 10 minutes.
The usually disciplined Panthers have lost 11 players for 10 minutes this season, two more than the second-most prolific team North Queensland.
Penrith have had as many sin-binnings this season as the Warriors, Dolphins and Roosters combined | Photo: Susie Dodds/AAP
Second-placed Penrith most recently lost three men in last week's 22-14 victory over Melbourne, the first time the Panthers had that many sin-binned in a game since 1996.
"I don't think I've been in a game where there's been three sin bins like that," said back-up hooker Billy Scott.
The Panthers' tally of 11 sin-binnings across the opening 25 rounds is more than in any season since surging to premiership dominance in 2020.
It is also more than in their 2020, 2021 and 2022 campaigns combined.
Penrith's nearest rivals for the 2026 premiership the Warriors (3), Sydney Roosters (1) and the Dolphins (7), have 11 sin-binnings among them this season.
"It's our discipline at the end of the day," Scott said ahead of Friday's game against Canterbury.
"Hopefully we don't have anything like that this week."
The Panthers have had six players sin-binned for illegal tackles, four for professional fouls and one for repeated infringements.
But some of the sin-bin offences have appeared more severe than others.
Penrith Panthers coach Ivan Cleary wasn't happy with Liam Martin's sin-binning against the Melbourne Storm | Photo: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said it was "really harsh" of match officials to sin-bin Liam Martin for a professional foul in last week's win.
The previous week centre Paul Alamoti was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle against the Warriors, but did not receive a suspension from the match review committee.
Hooker Freddy Lussick said the Panthers could not control what was considered a sin-bin offence.
"Stuff like that is sort of in our control, but not in our control," he said.
"We've just got to adapt to whatever the decisions are or however the game's going. There's no point holding onto things."
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Casey McLean said the Panthers could not avoid sin-binnings altogether, and found reason to be positive in overcoming three to win last week.
"A game's not going to go perfectly. It could go bad, it could go good, so it's kind of just being able to adapt to how your situation is," the NSW representative said.
"(The win over the Storm) did showcase a little bit of what we're trying to be at this club. There's a lot of emphasis on the coach talking about our resilience and leaning on that.
"I suppose it's just trusting in your brothers ... we could have 11 on, we could have 13 on, but at the end of the day you've got to do a job for one another."
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