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The Penrith Panthers defeated the Canterbury Bulldogs by 16 points on Sunday and in doing so booked a place in the semi-finals next week against the Canberra Raiders.
» Click here to read the full match report
Final score
Penrith Panthers 28
Canterbury Bulldogs 12
The in-form Penrith Panthers will avoid going to Homebush, but they are still away from home as they host the unsettled Canterbury Bulldogs in the second NRL elimination final. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 4:10pm (AEST).
Intriguingly, the venue of the match wasn’t locked in until after the final game of the season. The Bulldogs looked like they were going to finish sixth, but a loss in the final round, while the Panthers demolished Manly, saw a swap in positions.
The Panthers have then obviously elected to get the game away from Homebush and take it to the Sydney Football Stadium.
The Bulldogs though, will be disappointed with their finishing position on the ladder and still would have been if they had finished sixth. They were battling for a top four spot not so long ago, dropping a couple of matches straight coming into the finals.
While the quality of opposition Canterbury have had to face has been strong, they are teams you have to beat to win the competition and right now the Bulldogs don’t look like they will be doing that.
As mentioned, the Panthers have marched into the finals on the back of a big win over the Sea Eagles but for a team that were supposed to be in a battle for the top eight, they have done a remarkable job over the closing stages of the season.
Apart from that win against the Sea Eagles, the Panthers have won five straight and with their inexperienced halves combination of Bryce Cartwright and Nathan Cleary ticking along, they have been putting up a lot of points.
If they can fire here, it is going to make life extremely difficult for the Bulldogs.
In team news for the Panthers, Moses Leota has been added as 18th man in an otherwise unchanged line-up.
The Bulldogs are without fullback Will Hopoate, due to his choice not to play on Sunday due to his religious beliefs, which is a massive blow.
Brett Morris will shift to custodian, Tyrone Phillips comes onto the wing, Sam Kasiano returns from suspension onto the bench, and Danny Fualalo has been named as 18th man.
The winner of this moves on to play the loser of the Canberra Raiders and Cronulla Sharks qualifying final, which was played yesterday evening.
Prediction
The Bulldogs are unsettled and their form has been patchy – they finished seventh, when only a short time ago they were challenging for the four.
Meanwhile, the Panthers have been gaining momentum and form, with their young halves combination improving by the week.
Penrith should run away with this, and it could well be a convincing scoreline.
Panthers by 12.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of the second NRL elimination final from 4:10pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde