After copping a 42-10 thrashing by St George Illawarra in Round 1, the Penrith Panthers can exact some revenge by ending their rivals’ season at home this Sunday afternoon.
After reaching the semi-finals last year, many touted the Panthers as premiership favourites at the start of the season, but not many had forecast what would happen on that first Saturday of March at Kogarah Oval.
Tipped to struggle after a dismal 2016 season, the Dragons ambushed their opponents to take an 18-4 lead into the halftime break, going on with it in the second half to win 42-10.
The victory was marshaled by captain Gareth Widdop, whose personal haul of 22 points equalled the club record for most individual points in a match, alongside Amos Roberts and Jamie Soward.
It marked the Red V’s biggest ever win over the Panthers, and the 42 points they scored were ten more than what they had managed in any match last season.
The result came as a major surprise and for the first half of the season it appeared as though the Mountain Men would not recover, losing seven of their first nine games to languish in 15th place after Round 9.
By contrast, the Dragons won six of their first seven games to ascend to the top of the ladder, before suffering a major form slump that has seen them tumble out of the top eight with two games left in the regular season.
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So far this season their largest defeat was by only 18 points, against the Eels in Round 2, while five of their defeats were by less than ten points, including a heartbreaking golden-point loss to the Roosters on Anzac Day, which initiated the form slump.
Last week, a virus struck most of the team, contributing to their 24-12 loss to the Broncos in Brisbane, which has seem then drift further away from the top eight.
This has left them in the precarious position whereby they must win their two remaining matches to have any chance of playing finals footy.
Further complicating their cause is that, despite having won their past three matches against the Panthers, they have not won at the foot of the mountains since 2009, while they have only beaten their final opponent, the Bulldogs, just once since Wayne Bennett left Wollongong at the end of the 2011 season.
On the other hand, the Panthers enter their first home game against the Dragons since 2014 on the back of seven straight wins, having not been beaten since they were thrashed 42-14 by the Rabbitohs in Round 17.
In fact, they have won 11 of their past 13 matches, dating back to Round 10. But if they are to end a three-game losing streak against the Dragons, they’ll have to do it without captain Matt Moylan, who suffered a hamstring injury in their thrilling win over the Raiders in Canberra last Sunday afternoon.
In his place, Tyrone May will play at five-eighth, while former captain Peter Wallace returns after a hand injury kept him sidelined for one week.
The Dragons, meantime, will be without centre Euan Aitken for the rest of the year, after he suffered a shoulder injury in the loss to the Broncos.
Joel Thompson, Kurt Mann and Jack de Belin are also no certainties to play, either being bed-ridden or sent home early from training in the past week.
In short, the stakes are high for both clubs – the Panthers could climb as high as fourth if the Eels and Sharks drop their games against the Broncos and Roosters respectively, while a win for the Dragons will keep them in the finals race.
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