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Nathan Cleary with Panthers fans.

After staging yet another miraculous great escape in round 20, the Penrith Panthers can now officially lay claim to being the comeback kinds of 2018.

It was the fifth time this season Penrith have trailed by a double-digit margin and come back to win, according to NRL.com Stats - no other team has done so more than twice.

Penrith slipped to 14-0 deficits in both of their opening two games this season before finishing over the top of the Eels and Rabbitohs, respectively.

They were also down 12-2 at one stage against the Bulldogs in round eight before going on to win and trailed by 10 against Canberra in an eventual thrilling 23-22 win in round 14.

Saturday's round 20 fixture at Lottoland unquestionably takes the cake; down by 18 with 13 minutes to play they somehow piled on four tries in seven minutes to steal a 28-24 win.

It was the latest a team has trailed by 18 points or more and gone on to win in the NRL era.

It puts them three clear of the Storm, Knights, Dragons and Raiders in terms of double-digit comebacks with each of those clubs overturning a deficit of 10 or more on two separate occasions this year.

Saturday's effort was also the equal-biggest comeback this year, matching the 18 points the Gold Coast trailed Canberra by in round one and just ahead of the 16 points Brisbane overturned in round 16 with the Raiders again on the wrong end of it.

Round 20 was actually a bit of a weekend for comebacks; while Penrith's late flurry was easily the most dramatic, five of the eight round 20 winners trailed at some stage.

Brisbane were only down by 6-4 against the Sharks early on and the Titans by 12-8 against the Warriors at half-time. But the Cowboys (down 18-6 against the Knights with half an hour to play) and Rabbitohs (down 20-6 against Parramatta with barely 20 minutes to go) both had to stage memorable comebacks of their own to earn the two competition points.

Match Highlights: Sea Eagles v Panthers - Round 20, 2018

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