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The South Sydney Rabbitohs face a massive challenge when they take on the Penrith Panthers at Pepper Stadium. Will they be able to upset the mountain men or will Penrith come away with a convincing win? Join The Roar from 7:50pm (AEST) for live coverage.
The Panthers are in brilliant form and are starting to emerge as the competition darkhorse.
The young side will welcome back Matt Moylan and Josh Mansour from State of Origin as they look to move back into the top eight after being bumped out on points differential last week by the Titans.
Anthony Griffin’s side are working very well together across the park.
Moylan is fit, Mansour is developing into one of the best wingers in the game, Bryce Cartwright continues to play at his monstrous best, Nathan Cleary has settled into first grade and their forwards are marching up the field and making gaping holes in their opponent’s defensive line.
Friday night should be no different as the chocolate soldiers look to get a win at home in front of their faithful fans.
Trent Merrin will be reeling after he was excluded once again from State of Origin and has a point to prove with Laurie Daley’s side having lost their tenth series in eleven years.
Cartwright will have a similar claim to make at five-eighth with the nephew of club legend John needing to play more like an extra forward as opposed to playing as a playmaker to earn his Origin debut and prove to Daley he is able to play his own game at the elite level.
This means that the weight will be shifted to 18-year-old Nathan Cleary.
The former Australian schoolboy has proven himself as a first grade player after Penrith’s convincing 31-24 comeback win over the Sea Eagles where his kicking game put veteran fullback Brett Stewart under serious pressure.
He will need to do the same against Souths and target rookie Tasi Tasi at the back with his kicks in-play.
Michael Maguire has made a number of changes to his line-up and could be forced to make even more with Adam Reynolds likely to spend a month on the sidelines after suffering a shoulder injury in State of Origin II.
Greg Inglis has been named to back-up from Origin as Souths hope to climb back from a 30-12 defeat at the hands of the Eels.
Inglis will line-up in the centres with Tautalatasi Tasi named to make his NRL debut on the wing after Maguire dropped Dane Nielsen and Kirisome Auva’a for their poor performance against Parra.
Reynolds has been named on the bench however, he is unlikely to play with Cody Walker expected to take his spot at halfback, shifting Alex Johnston to fullback, Aaron Gray onto the wing and Jack Gosiewski into the centres.
Damien Cook would then come onto the bench having been named as 18th man with Ed Murphy also in line to make an appearance for the cardinal and myrtle as part of a six-man interchange.
Siosifa Talakai is out injured while Paul Carter will miss the match through suspension with the Bunnies needing to step up on defence having been considerably poor in recent weeks which has seen them drop to 13th position as their finals chances grow slimmer and slimmer each week.
The two teams have met 25 times since 1998. Of these encounters, the Panthers have the slight upper-hand with 13 victories while Souths have come out victorious on 12 occasions.
They met twice last year with a Round 21 encounter going the way of the Rabbitohs 20-16. It came four weeks after Penrith defeated the Bunnies 20-6 in Round 17.
Prediction
Penrith will be simply too strong and record another win, moving back into the top eight.
Panthers by 18.
Join The Roar from 7:50pm (AEST) for live score updates and debate in our live blog.
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