Penrith open their season away from home for the first time since 2009 when they travel to the nation’s capital to take on the Canberra Raiders.
Both teams are capable of being two of the big improvers of 2016. Canberra and Penrith both missed out on the finals after finishing 10th and 11th respectively last year.
The visit to Canberra is normally associated with bitterly cold conditions for players and spectators alike but the Round 1 is likely to be instead played in sweltering conditions, with temperatures expected to be 35 degrees come kick-off at 3pm this Saturday.
With this being Penrith’s 50th year in the NRL, this clash also represents the 25th anniversary of the 1991 grand final between the two sides, which saw the Panthers reverse the 1990 result to famously claim their first premiership.
Both teams have collected just the one premiership since then which given the rugby league nurseries at their disposal is disappointing.
The Raiders and the Panthers will be looking to improve their respective home-and-away records in this clash. The Raiders recorded only three home victories in 2015 (their last being against Penrith 34-18) while the Panthers have fared no better on the road with just two wins, their last coming in Round 16, 2015 against the lowly Wests Tigers.
For Penrith especially their ability to perform on the road in 2016 is crucial to their chances of returning to the finals, given the Panthers play at Pepper Stadium just four times in the opening fifteen rounds.
The Raiders continue to build under Ricky Stuart, having recruited the likes of half, Aiden Sezer, English international back-rower, Elliott Whitehead and experienced prop Jeff Lima.
After three years in the finals wilderness, this roster is set to realise its enormous potential and qualify the Raiders for the finals, provided they tighten up in defence.
Team news
For the home team, key playmaker Blake Austin will start from the bench having not adequately recovered from a serious shoulder injury, suffered ironically against his former club in Canberra’s big 34-18 Round 25 win.
Sam Williams will instead partner new recruit, Aidan Sezer, who comes to Canberra with huge raps and huge expectations, in the halves.
Austin, the 2015 Dally M five-eighth with 14 tries, 16 line-breaks and seven try assists to his name has yet to play a trial in 2016, hence the decision to start him from the bench.
Such is the depth available at Canberra, the likes of Joseph Tapine, Sisa Waqa and Jarrad Kennedy will play for Mounties in the opening round of the newly-named Intrust Super Premiership (NSW Cup), while Whitehead’s inclusion sees Canberra’s 2015 best player award recipient, Iosia Soliola relegated to the bench alongside Jeff Lima.
As for Penrith, having been crippled by the NRL’s worst injury toll of 2015, they haven’t fared much better so far. Newly appointed captain, Matt Moylan and Kiwi international centre Dean Whare are both side-lined and will be replaced by Will Smith and Waqa Blake respectively.
While both Moylan and Whare will be missed, Smith is a more than capable replacement at fullback, while a rejuvenated and bulked up Blake has been rewarded for his strong pre-season form with his selection in the centres.
The upside for new Panthers coach Anthony Griffin is that he gets to unleash star recruit, Trent Merrin for the first time, while other key recruits feature as well with Peta Hiku partnering Blake in the centres, while prop, Suaia Matagi joining Tyrone Peachey, Jeremy Latimore and Elijah Taylor on the Penrith bench.
While Panther halves Jamie Soward and Peter Wallace have seen off challenges to be named for Round 1, no doubt they will need to control the show from the start and steer a youthful-looking roster to a strong start in 2016. Otherwise they will face the real prospect of a new halves pairing of Moylan and Wests Tigers recruit, Te Maire Martin.
In the forwards, Merrin reverts back to his customary position at lock, which allows Sam McKendry, who was asked to play in a lower grades trial versus Wentworthville just two weeks ago, another crack.
With Yeo moving back to the edges, Elijah Taylor has been named on a strong looking bench. In fact, late mail suggests Junior Kiwi forward, James Fisher-Harris, who wasn’t named in any grade last Tuesday, will become the 554th Panthers player to make his first grade debut. This will possibly be at the expense of Elijah Taylor, a clear sign Griffin is looking for as much size as possible to counter a daunting looking Raiders pack despite hosing down earlier suggestions.
Key match-ups
Shaun Fensom v Trent Merrin
Josh Hodgson v James Segeyaro
Stats
Played 67: Raiders 33, Panthers 33, Drawn 1.
Canberra looking for their first Round 1 win since 2013.
Penrith lost both clashes to the Raiders in 2015 with both teams combining for 110 points in those clashes, after having won both clashes in 2014.
Panthers hooker, James Segeyaro will play his 100th NRL game.
Both sides have 11 players returning from last year’s Round 25 clash.
Penrith have up to nine players with less than 50 NRL games experience, the Raiders by comparison have just five.
Stew’s view
The Raiders on paper deserve to be strong favourites – playing at home and fielding a bigger than ever pack of forwards offering plenty of mobility.
However the Panthers while down Moylan and Whare, still have enough upside and possess enough match winners of their own in the form of Tyrone Peachey and Bryce Cartwright could just sneak away with the two competition points first up provided Soward and Wallace take control of the game early on.
Panthers by 7.
Raiders:
1. Jack Wighton 2. Edrick Lee 3. Jarrod Croker (c) 4. Joseph Leilua
5. Jordan Rapana 6. Sam Williams 7. Aidan Sezer 8. Shannon Boyd
9. Josh Hodgson 10. Frank-Paul Nuuausala 11. Josh Papalii 12. Elliott Whitehead 13. Shaun FensomInterchange: 14. Blake Austin 15. Iosia Soliola 16. Paul Vaughan 17. Jeff Lima
18. Kurt Baptiste (one to be omitted).Panthers:
1. Will Smith 2. Josh Mansour 3. Waqa Blake 4. Peta Hiku
5. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak 6. Jamie Soward 7. Peter Wallace (c)
8. Sam McKendry 9. James Segeyaro 10. Reagan Campbell-Gillard
11. Bryce Cartwright 12. Isaah Yeo 13. Trent Merrin.Interchange: 14. Tyrone Peachey 15. Jeremy Latimore 16. Suaia Matagi
17. Elijah TaylorMATCH OFFICIALS:
Referee: Gavin Badger. Assistant Referee: Dave Munro.
Touch Judges: Brett Suttor and Dave Ryan.
Review Officials: Ben Galea andamp; Jason Robinson.
Senior RO: Bernard Sutton.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Nicho Hynes has not quite made an undeniable case to be Nathan Cleary’s halves partner for NSW but he should be the first five-eighth…
The Sharks halfback backed it up with a try from a few seconds later, through some more tired Canberra defenders.
The Sharks were scoring plenty of points, but equally impressive was their defence - stopping this near certainty!
After the Raiders hooker bombed a near-certain try, Sione Katoa scored at the other end of the field in a 12-point turnaround.
1. Tigers earning their stripes The Tigers played Souths last year when the Bunnies were at their very highest point. Tim Sheens coached them…
It had all been going so well. Canberra were by far the better side for ten minutes, with Jamal Fogarty giving the Brisbane back…
