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Home team Penrith are sitting on 20 points in 11th, and have very slim chances of making the top eight, while the Tigers could be forgiven for looking over their shoulders sitting in eighth, even though they are four points clear of the chasers. Join me live at 7:30pm AEST.
The Tigers will be looking to set down the marker tonight, after South Sydney’s impressive performance last week has them believing they can still be playing footy come finals time.
Wests have looked dominant in the run in to the finals, however, knocking off Manly, St George and North Queensland in a run which hasn’t seen them lose since Round 18 against Parramatta.
In the Penrith dressing shed, making the eight will still seem like a possibility, but they need to win every game, and hope the Warriors, Newcastle or the Tigers have a horrid run home. Unlikely given their 3 loss streak, but stranger things have happened.
They’ll need to pick themselves up after being destroyed in the second half against a rampant Storm outfit, but can take heart from a good first half performance against the likely Minor Premiers.
Keys to the game:
One of the big ones will definitely be Michael Jennings move to fullback, a move designed to make the most of his explosive speed and try scoring ability, the latter which has been down on previous seasons. With Lachlan Coote and Michael Gordon out, Jennings will have to have a big game for the Panthers to take the points tonight in a position unfamiliar to the Australian representative.
Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah will again be keys to a Tigers victory, especially off the boot as they look to take advantage of Jennings inexperience in the No. 1 jersey. Expect a few kicks early in the set, just to see if Jenko is paying attention.
Head-to-head:
The Tigers have won their past two against the Panthers, but Penrith nabbed the last one at Penrith Park, in Round 7 last year.
The last time the Tigers won at the foot of the mountain was in Round 11 of 2007, with a field goal the difference between the two sides.
David Simmons has moved from fullback to the wing to accommodate Jennings, who is replaced by the call up of Junior Vaivai. Ryan Walker has been dropped. Luke Lewis is out through injury, which is a huge blow for the Panthers, with young Harry Seijka moving in to five-eighth to replace him.
In the engine room, Kevin Kingston moves to hooker in place of Nafe Seluini who has dropped back to the bench, and Matthew Bell has been called up to the interchange bench to replace Masada Iosefa.
Australian centre Chris Lawrence has suffered a hamstring injury in the win over the Dragons last week and will not feature, replaced by Mitch Brown in the only change to the Tigers line up.
Referees: Ashley Klein and Phil Haines
Touch Judges: Daniel Eastwood and Ricky McFarlane
Video Referee: Paul Simpkins
Odds: The Tigers are at $1.45 to beat Penrith, at $2.75.
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