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The Penrith Panthers will be up against it as they host the high-flying South Sydney Rabbitohs in this round three clash. Join us from 3.00pm AEDT with live scores and commentary from the foot of the Blue Mountains.
After starting the season with a great first-up win over the Raiders, the boys from Penrith were handed a tough loss by the Wests Tigers last Sunday, who were not really made to work very hard for the victory.
The big talking point has been the season-ending injury to Lachlan Coote – a blow that just might help solidify the Panthers as the wooden spoon candidates that many had been talking them up as before the season started.
Souths on the other hand, turned in an insipid attacking performance against the Sharks on Monday night but still managed to come away with a gritty 14-12 win.
The 11-day turnaround from their previous game was evident as they appeared rusty throughout.
After scoring two quick tries in the opening ten minutes, both from the gifted boot of Adam Reynolds, many thought Souths would run away with it.
Instead, the margin of victory was only the penalty goal Reynolds added on the stroke of halftime.
The attack may not have been up to speed but the defence certainly was, as both of Cronulla’s tries came from fortunate circumstances.
One was a dropped ball that bounced perfectly for Michael Gordon (the former Panther) to split the line and the other a 90m Beau Ryan intercept.
Prediction
It’s unlikely that Penrith will have any more joy attacking this vaunted Rabbitohs defence than the Roosters or Sharks have had this season.
Without their star playmaker for the remainder of the season, it might already be time to start looking ahead to 2014.
But who knows? Teams have rallied past injured stars before and gone on unlikely playoff runs.
The Panthers might get something going in the next few weeks, but they should be no match for Michael Maguire’s men in this one.
Greg Inglis is in career best form and appears unstoppable.
I very much doubt we’ll see the attacking ineptness that we saw last week from Souths – including a Nathan Merritt dropped ball with the line begging.
I’d expect him to be among the scorers this weekend, along with fellow winger Andrew Everingham, who scored with his first-ever touch of a football in first grade in a round three encounter with Penrith, on this day a year ago.
It was also on that day that Greg Inglis first made a move to fullback, which has re-ignited is career and again prompted discussion that he could be the best in the NRL right now.
And plus, what kind of Souths fan would I be if I didn’t pick them in my first live blog of the season?
Rabbitohs by 16.
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