Nathan Cleary has put Penrith's premiership rivals on notice, scoring a hat-trick of tries and putting on an attacking masterclass in a 46-10 win over St George Illawarra.
Reunited with the Panthers' State of Origin stars for the first time since May, Cleary finished with 26 points and set up two other tries in Wollongong.
Cleary's clinic helped the visitors stay within four points of Melbourne at the top of the table, and left the Dragons out of the eight for another week.
The victory did come at some cost, with prop James Fisher-Harris suffering a minor groin strain and fill-in fullback Daine Laurie a concussion.
Still, the injuries did little to slow the Panthers, who are now gearing up for a shot at a historic fourth straight premiership.
The conventional wisdom this season has been that while Penrith are still favourites to win the title, the gap at the top is shrinking.
But on Sunday afternoon, that chasm looked as large as ever.
Cleary was at the centre of it all, one week on from kicking a golden-point field goal on return from a hamstring injury against the Dolphins.
After Jesse McLean scored Penrith's first, Cleary went short to put Liam Martin through a hole from close to the line for their second.
The halfback had his fingerprints all over the Panthers' next, when he helped Laurie bust down the right edge then loomed up on the inside to score.
And by the time he dummied and stepped between Ben Hunt and Raymond Faitala-Mariner to score, it was 22-0 after 24 minutes.
Cleary then completed his hat-trick in the second half when he and Jarome Luai combined, with the pair regularly finding each other in attack.
"I've been looking forward to (getting them back together) for ages," coach Ivan Cleary said.Â
"We got plenty of ball, plenty of opportunities together. It's going to take a little bit of time. But today was good."
Cleary also kicked for Liam Henry to score another second-half try, on a day where he also ran the ball 41 times for a career-high 273 metres.
Also notable was the confidence Luai continued to display after wearing the No.7 in Cleary's absence, putting Scott Sorensen over in the second half.
"The comms and the way (Cleary and Luai) worked together, it just felt like it helped our shape and we could be a bit more positive in attack," co-captain Isaah Yeo said.
"It's nice to get back into that rhythm. Looking forward to the next six or seven weeks."
All the while, St George Illawarra didn't help themselves in front of their first sell out in Wollongong since July, 2007.
Ben Hunt put three kicks out on the full, in what will easily go down as one of his worst afternoons in Dragons colours.
Mat Feagai's move to the No.1 jersey was short-lived after a concussion in a head clash with Laurie that could also lead to the fullback being suspended.
Raymond Faitala-Mariner could also find himself in trouble for the hip-drop tackle in which Fisher-Harris was injured.
Zac Lomax scored once in the first half and Jaydn Su'A in the final minute, but the Dragons otherwise made too many errors.
"It was probably our worst performance of the year," coach Shane Flanagan said.
