Penrith golden boy Nathan Cleary came thudding back to earth on Saturday, spending 10 minutes in the sin bin as the Panthers suffered a shock 18-10 loss to struggling Manly.
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But it came at a cost for the Sea Eagles with Dylan Walker carried off early in the second half after suffering what looked to be a serious knee injury, in his first game back from the fractured cheekbone he suffered in round 11.
The Panthers suffered an injury blow of their own late on when luckless back-rower Viliame Kikau left the field after appearing to re-injure his right knee, although he was cleared of serious damage soon after the match.
Cleary was marched in the 65th minute, adjudged to have obstructed Daly Cherry-Evans as the Sea Eagles halfback chased down his own grubber kick.
Just six days earlier, Cleary helped NSW wrap up a second State of Origin series since 2005 in a game that produced two similar incidents of players being obstructed while chasing a kick.
But back in the familiar surrounds of a sunny Panthers Stadium in front of 12,755 fans, Cleary's Penrith put in their worst showing of the season, allowing Manly to snap a four-match winless run.
"It was pretty consistent with what they've been doing, I suppose," Penrith coach Anthony Griffin said about the sin-binning.
"There wasn't much in it but we put ourselves in that position, it's just the way they're refereeing the game at the moment.
"It's a funny time of year. We've just lost a bit of rhythm and momentum at the moment, there's no excuse for it; clearly today we were nowhere near where we needed to be.
"It's a combination of a lot of things, you can make a lot of excuses. Everyone's going through it at the moment, we just weren't good enough today.
"We've had some really good games this year but today wasn't one of our best."
It marked a second straight loss for Penrith either side of the representative break, and their first at home this season. Only weeks ago the club was being earmarked as a genuine premiership threat, but Penrith have suddenly fallen into an untimely form slump.
Manly winger Matthew Wright also left the field and didn't return, injuring his left shoulder early in the second half in the process of a scoring a try that put the Sea Eagles in front.
Coach Trent Barrett confirmed at full-time that Wright had injured his AC joint, although he did return to the bench and would have returned to the field if necessary.
Walker, meanwhile, looks to be facing another stint on the sideline.
"I'm not too sure, it's a patella, [it's] not great" Barrett said.
"He [Wright] would have [gone back on], that's the sort of bloke he is, but Frank [Winterstein] ended up going over there and did a really good job for us.
"We haven't had a lot of luck and I know that but we can't use that as an excuse either. We've still got to improve on what we did today but I think our attack will get better.
"If you can get some consistency with the team you're picking every week, your attack will improve. All I wanted to see was effort from the players, and them showing some real intent and some care in their jumper and they did.
"It wasn't pretty but it's never easy to win out here at Penrith, that's the first time we've won here since 2011.
"They've stuck together over the last month, it's been difficult and I'm just happy for them. The effort they're putting in at training's not really reflected on where we're sitting on the table at the moment."
Saturday's game was a disjointed affair, with players from both sides clearly flat after last weekend's representative round.
Cleary was one of five players who featured for NSW in Sunday's second Origin, while several internationals were on the park including Martin Taupau, who only returned from a frustrating week in Denver on Thursday morning.
Trent Hodkinson booted a penalty goal after Cleary was marched to give Manly a two-point lead and the mid-season recruit made sure the points were safe moments later when he scored his first try for Manly after some excellent work by Jake Trbojevic.
Cleary returned soon after for the final five minutes, but his side were unable to overturn the deficit.
Manly 18 (J Thompson, M Wright, T Hodkinson tries, T Hodkinson 2, D Cherry-Evans goals) def Penrith 10 (D Watene-Zelezniak try, Maloney 3 goals)
Referees: Gerard Sutton, Matt Noyen
HT: Penrith 8-6
Crowd: 12,755 at Panthers Stadium
