Panthers
20
Match Complete
Rabbitohs
16
| 72 |  | C. Allan | ||
| N. Cleary |  | 68 | ||
| D. Edwards | | 66 | ||
| 50 | | A. Reynolds | ||
| 49 | | D. Gagai | ||
| N. Cleary |  | 39 | ||
| N. Cleary | | 28 | ||
| T. May | | 26 | ||
| N. Cleary | | 8 | ||
| B. To'o | | 7 | ||
| 5 | | A. Reynolds | ||
| 3 | | A. Johnston |
| 3 | Tries | 3 | ||
| 3 | Conversions | 2 | ||
| 1 | Penalty Goals | 0 | ||
| 0 | Field Goals | 0 |
The NRL preliminary finals continue tonight as the Penrith Panthers take on the South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 7:50pm (AEDT).
The race for the second grand final spot concludes tonight. Will it be the minor premiers or a team that has found its best form at the right time?
The Panthers will go for their 17th victory in a row tonight. Anything less than a victory now though will cloud the pride in that winning streak. You’d think Ivan Cleary’s young team would be feeling nervous, but there were no signs of that when they beat the Roosters in their semi-final clash.
Some of the Panther young guns had their finest games against the Roosters. Jarome Luai was dynamic in attack and his inside ball to Stephen Crichton made all NRL fans sit up and applaud. The Roosters also couldn’t control Dylan Edwards, who outplayed James Tedesco on the night. The Panthers will need to see more of this.
Nathan Cleary will have to be at his best, as will James Fisher-Harris.
The suspension of Viliame Kikau is a big loss for the Panthers, and he is replaced by Kurt Capewell. Spencer Leniu gets a spot on the bench.
In both semi-finals to date, the South Sydney Rabbitohs have fallen well behind before storming home to win comfortably. Playing the minor premiers, you’d have to doubt that they could get away with that again tonight.
I don’t think the Rabbitohs pack ever really got on top of the Eels. But they did match them, especially in the second half, and that was enough for their classy set of backs to run riot. Souths will know that if they can control Fisher-Harris, Adam Reynolds and Cody Walker can create enough chances to win.
The Rabbitohs are unchanged from last weekend. Jaydn Su’A was in some doubt with a knee injury but has been cleared to play.
Prediction
We have a 50/50 game here tonight.
The Panthers do lose a potent threat on the left edge through the suspension of Kikau. South Sydney have also shown us that they just back their attack to score more points than the opposition.
But against the Eels, the Rabbitohs also had a high error rate. The Panthers will take advantage of that to win a cliffhanger.
Penrith Panthers by 2.
Game information
Kick-off: 7:50 pm (AEDT)
Venue: ANZ Stadium, Sydney
TV: Nine, Fox Sports
Live stream: Kayo Sports, Foxtel, NRL Live Pass, 9Now
Odds: Panthers $1.47, Rabbitohs $2.75
Squads
Panthers
1. Dylan Edwards 2. Josh Mansour 3. Brent Naden 4. Stephen Crichton 5. Brian To’o 6. Jarome Luai 7. Nathan Cleary 8. James Tamou 9. Apisai Koroisau 10. James Fisher-Harris 11. Kurt Capewell 12. Liam Martin 13. Isaah Yeo
Interchange: 14. Tyrone May 15. Spencer Leniu 16. Moses Leota 17. Zane Tetevano
Rabbitohs
1. Corey Allan 2. Alex Johnston 3. Campbell Graham 4. Dane Gagai 5. Jaxson Paulo 6. Cody Walker 7. Adam Reynolds 8. Tevita Tatola 9. Damien Cook 10. Thomas Burgess 11. Jaydn Su’A 12. Bayley Sironen 13. Cameron Murray
Interchange: 14. Mark Nicholls 15. Liam Knight 16. Jed Cartwright 17. Keaon Koloamatangi
Stormy
Roar Rookie
Nervous times, Watda. Everything crossed that we play at our best. A strong start should see us with the win. The Panthers will be much stronger than they were against the Rabbitohs.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Rubbish, with the injuries and players we only got beat by 4 by these so called world beaters Panthers. Next year it’s a different game and team, when we get beat by only 4 and scored 150 points in 5 games I’m satisfied that we are on the right track!
steveng
Roar Rookie
HahaaHaa typical answer from someone who has no idea1
Big Daddy
Guest
If you look at the penalties and six against it reflects the scores. Storm/Raiders penalties 6-1 Melbourne and six again 2 all. Penrith/ South's penalties 3-2 South's and six again was 2 all. It looks as though Sutton put the whistle away hence a tight match.
Mon
Guest
No Joe, everyone did not think that Souths would run 60 in against the Panthers. Contradicted yourself well there.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
Souths over achieved this year. Even their full strength side was not expected to get this far. They'll be better next year Panthers have had a great year and hopefully that continues next week.
Joey
Guest
Souths are racking up those prelim losses. Choked a game out last three years running. Hardly looked the same side of a week ago, so you’d have to suspect the moment got them (again).
Rossi
Roar Rookie
Mate the only reason Souths were in it was because of all the calls going their way
Joey
Guest
Last two tries for Souths were absolute rubbish. Justice served. Everyone thought Souths would score 60 again. Instead they hardly made a half-break all game. Think again, if you think Melbourne are about to run rampant.
Succhi
Roar Rookie
Panthers got away with that - deserved to win, but the referee calls or lack of, really confused me.
Watda
Guest
I will take the Covid position
Stormy
Roar Rookie
Thank you, David. Hope it's a good game.
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
Yeah , I will go fishing in NZ if they win ( covid allowing). Will still be cheering for Penrith though.
Renegade
Roar Guru
Geez mate, that’s good going at round 5 – so you’re ready to collect? :happy:
steveng
Roar Rookie
Ask the refs those questions as Sutton was a shocker tonight as rule consistency is not their recipe with this play the ball and allot of other rules, they just make them up
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
I backed the Storm to win the GF. after Penrith beat them in Rd 5? Too much experience for mine . But I will be cheering for the chocolate soldiers,
The Sporacle
Roar Rookie
Yeah, the Panthers were terrible. They've only won how many in a row now. Geez bud I know you lost but at least give them some credit, seriously good team????
egbert
Guest
That's all fair except for not linking well. That's what got them where they are, even if it deserted them tonight.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Thanks Dave good call, Bunnies will be back in 2021 and in the GF, Panthers really beat or reserves tonight. Cheers and have a good one.
Andrew01
Roar Rookie
That was a classic Panthers game. Yep some individuals played well. They still don’t link that well They still make lots of errors They still don’t put teams away early when they have all the ball and running (see games v Knights, Cowboys, Titans, Broncos, Warriors, Tigers, Eels etc..) And like every Panthers game you can be sure Josh Mansour will play the ball quickly because he plays it incorrectly on know fewer than 10 occasions every single week and nothing is done. Good luck to them. To me the Storm are clearly the better team but the Panthers have shown all year they somehow find a way to manufacture wins, so why not do it one more time next week.