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The Canberra Raiders are through to a prelim against the Melbourne Storm next week, winning by 10 over the Penrith Panthers.
» Click here to read the full match report
Final score
Canberra Raiders 22
Penrith Panthers 12
The second NRL semi-final sees a repeat of the 1990 and 1991 grand finals as the Canberra Raiders host the Penrith Panthers. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7:40pm (AEST).
The Raiders find themselves in sudden-death football from here on out after failing to record a win last week in their qualifying final against the Cronulla Sharks.
Of course, the biggest problem to come out of that match was the injury to Josh Hodgson, but as of Friday Afternoon he has been cleared to play along with the Raiders’ livewire in the halves, Blake Austin.
The pair are massive inclusions for the Raiders, and much-needed ones as they try to spark their offence to a satisfactory level to overthrow the Panthers.
The Raiders entered the finals in form that was hard to read after they scored 96 points across two weeks, but also conceded 30 against the Sea Eagles and never looked to be quite at the top of their game.
They then got out to a lead against Cronulla last weekend before Hodgson was injured and they never looked like scoring again, falling 16-14 to the Sharks.
If the Raiders right side attack gets going though, which is fairly likely with Austin back amongst it then the Panthers defence will get a true test.
Penrith entered the finals in some red-hot form, putting up points and looking like they were one of the better sides in the competition with a defensive line holding opposition to low totals weekly.
They then took on the Bulldogs last week in the second elimination final, playing an absolutely fantastic second half to come from two down and take the victory, holding the Bulldogs to a single try in the final 40.
Matt Moylan is undoubtedly the key for Penrith, as he takes off a lot of pressure for their young halves combination Nathan Cleary and Bryce Cartwright, while also combining with outside backs Josh Mansour and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak in stunning fashion.
The one thing you can be sure about here is we are in for a lot of points – both of these times are built around dynamic attacks and have weapons all over the park.
The only other team news to report is that Sam Williams will be the man to make way for Austin while Moses Leota has been added to an extended Panthers bench.
The winner of this match will go onto meet the Melbourne Storm in the third week of the finals.
Prediction
This should be a cracker of a match, and very entertaining at that. Canberra have got their full contingent of players, but the Panthers have been red-hot and should get the job done. Either way, expect there to be 50 plus points scored.
Panthers by 8.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of the second NRL semi-final from 7:40pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde