Jamal Idris' hat-trick shows he has plenty to offer his Penrith Panthers

EARLIER this year Jamal Idris admitted retirement was a very real consideration for him, but on Saturday at Carrington Park the imposing centre showed that he still has plenty to offer his Penrith Panthers.

Idris scored three tries and played a hand in another to help his Panthers to a convincing 40-0 win over the Gold Coast Titans in front of a crowd of 6,240.

His size and strength gave the Titans defence continual headaches, former Panther James Roberts in particular suffering as Idris twice steam-rolled him on the way to scoring.

Having gained 101 metres and pulled off 13 tackles as well, it was a performance that impressed his team-mates.

Fullback Matt Moylan, himself a standout over 80 minutes, declared it "probably the best game he has ever played in a Panthers jumper."

Penrith coach Ivan Cleary liked what he saw from the number four as well, especially given Idris had surgery on his back during the off-season.

"Jamal was terrific for us. Actually I think he helped us today by just showing the way, taking them on and running hard, " Cleary said.

"It was good for him to get over the line a few times as he hasn't been doing it that much for us recently.

"He is in pretty good shape actually Jamal, he is moving a lot better than he was at this time last year. He has had his issues with back surgery, but the more he plays the better he will get."

That might be good news for Cleary, but certainly not his rival NRL coaches.

Having switched off in their first round match against the Bulldogs to get home by six points after leading 24-0, the Panthers were much more ruthless against the Titans.

However, they were still guilty of starting a little slowly in a bizarre opening to the match which saw the first three potential tries disallowed by video referees Steve Clark and Steve Folkes.

The first of those decisions came five minutes into the game when an Aidan Sezer kick to the left wing was taken by Anthony Don who planted the ball over the line untouched.

However, Don was ruled to have been off-side.

Four minutes later the Titans again thought they had scored the opening points of the match.

Gifted a set on the Panthers line after Brent Kite was penalised for holding down a player in the tackle, Titans fullback William Zillman sliced through.

This time the try was disallowed due to a Panthers defender being obstructed.

It was the same ruling in the 18th minute when Panthers winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak went over in the corner.

However, two minutes later a try was finally awarded and the man who successful scored was Idris.

From that point onwards Panthers never looked back.

Dean Whare doubled Panthers' lead before half-time and added to Don's woes when he scored what was to be the first of his two tries.

Don lost the ball when trying to outmark Watene-Zeleziank, the try making it 8-0.

The Titans did show some promise as they held Lewis Brown up over the line just before the break and made handy metres off a Roberts line break early in the second half, but that was as good as it got.

They failed to complete a set of six after the 55 minute mark and with a glut of possession, the Panthers dominated.

Idris crossed for his second shortly after the resumption of play and before the full-time siren had sounded, five more tries were added by the Panthers.

Whare made it a brace thanks to a brilliant Moylan short ball, while the fullback also played an integral role in seeing winger George Jennings score his second try in as many NRL appearances with a well-executed wrap-around.

Second rower Sika Manu and Bryce Cartwright also got their names on the score sheet, while Moylan booted four conversions to put the final score at 40-0.

"The first 20 we were definitely off the pace, we probably got a bit lucky there not to concede a try somehow," Cleary said.

"But the back end of the first half we started to find our rhythm and in the second half we went on with it.

"We will take the two points and move on."

PENRITH PANTHERS 40 (Jamal Idris 3, Dean Whare 2, Bryce Cartwright, George Jennings, Sika Manu tries; Matt Moylan 4 goals) defeated GOLD COAST TITANS 0