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Both the Penrith Panthers and the Melbourne Storm will be looking to bounce back from recent woes at Pepper Stadium in Penrith. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7pm (AEST).
Season 2015 has been rough for the men from the mountains, who have been struck down by the dreaded injury curse.
With key players out for extended periods, the Panthers’ premiership campaign has lacked the cohesion and consistency that took them so far into last year’s finals.
Last week the machine-like Melbourne had their once-a-year obligatory shocker. This week they will be looking to iron out the glitch that disrupted their usual precision. Their fourth spot on the ladder shows the league that the cyborgs from Victoria are still a force.
Penrith, while still missing Josh Mansour and a host of others, have also lost Matt Moylan. However Jamie Soward has been cleared to take his spot after suffering a shoulder injury last week in the loss to the Eels. Penrith fans will hope that he and Peter Wallace can manufacture some points for the Panthers, who haven’t had a lot go their way in terms of attack this season.
The biggest problem facing Storm coach Craig Bellamy is his team’s lack of preparation. With only a few days between the last match and this one, the Storm will rely on their well-drilled systems to take home the points. The return of Billy Slater is a huge plus and his creativity in both attack and defence will be needed.
The Panthers have had a stop-start season thus far and while ever their defence is on (which is ranked fourth in the league), a win is not out of the question. What is questionable is their attack, and unless Soward and Wallace can engineer something, Penrith don’t look likely to penetrate the Melbourne defence (which is third place, a clear 40 points ahead of Penrith).
Prediction
Should the Melbourne forwards be feeling the effects of their heavy workload, then watch for James Segeyaro to take advantage. If he does and his teammates follow along, a Panthers win is not out of the question.
I’ll buck the trend here and say Penrith by 4.
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