Panthers v Broncos preview
8 hours ago | Rhys Sullivan
An aggressive Raiders outfit has held off a fast-finishing Penrith outfit to record a 22-12 win in front of over 21,000 fans and book a Preliminary Final with Melbourne next Saturday night.
Unfortunately it's the end of the year for the brave Panthers, but they certainly haven't lost any support after a promising year.
It was advertised as an attacking spectacle for the ages, yet poor handling errors from the Penrith side would amount to what was a relatively scrappy first half.
The Raiders forwards were rampaging early with all field possession with the home side early. The likes of Josh Papalii and Iosia Soliola were threatening to break through early and a run by the latter would set up Blake Austin to dummy and step over for an early try in the 11th minute.
Canberra continued to look likely yet Penrith exhibited some serious commitment in defence to somehow deny them. Jarrod Croker looked to have a nabbed a possible try in the 26th minute after stripping the ball from Cartwright, yet it would be correctly ruled that there were two in the tackle.
Trent Merrin looked certain to barge over a couple of minutes later only for a special effort from the Canberra defence preventing the Penrith lock from grabbing his sixth of the year. Momentum had began to swing towards Penrith with a couple of consecutive stories, yet, errors were the worrying trend for the away side and negated them any opportunity to getting back in it. To make matters worse - Joseph Leilua, who had proved a hassle for Tyrone Peachey all game put through a deft grubber for Jordan Rapana to cross in the 34th minute.
The Panthers have shown themselves to capable of easily scoring tries, just look at their effort in the second half against the Dogs last week, but they would really need to improve their 67% completion rate in the first half to be any chance.
If you thought the Panthers had no steam left, well, step in Sitaleki Akauola. He would absolutely smash Rapana off the kick and the home side would gain the penalty. Hodgson was quite smart in setting up an important goal line drop out and would continue to improve their ascendancy. And Croker would charge over in the following set, albeit there would be doubt over the put down.
Matt Moylan would continue to try hard for Penrith and his efforts would be rewarded when he would send Peachey over in the 58th minute off a sublime pass. A few subsequent penalties would give Penrith superior field possession and with momentum the Mountain Men would strike again. This time it would be Dallin Watene-Zelezniak striking out wide and Cleary would kick that one from the side line as well to set up a nervous last fifteen minutes for the home side.
James Fisher-Harris effectively ended Penrith's season with a lazy arm, ruled a high tackle and Croker would send Canberra in front by eight. The valiant Panthers continued to try hard, but they would just fall short with another late penalty seeing Croker seal a 22-12 victory.
The Panthers can now reflect on what was a very successful season for a young club but no doubt will be filthy with their first half display as they genuinely would have believed they were a shot this season. But next season looks very promising for the Penrith side and anything but a Top 8 finish would be a massive disappointment.
The season, however, is not over for the Penrith Under 20s side who are continuing their quest for a 3rd Holden Cup title next Friday when they battle the Cowboys in a preliminary final at Allianz Stadium. Kickoff for that one is at 2:55pm, followed by the Dragons and Roosters in the other Holden Cup preliminary final.
Meanwhile, the Raiders travel to take on the Storm at AAMI Park on Saturday night to try book a spot in the Grand Final. And they have all the confidence in the world to do just that - they beat the Storm comfortably at GIO Stadium in Round 23. Will it be the attacking brilliance of the Raiders or clinical defence of the Storm that ends up trumps? Tune in next Saturday night for what should be a great clash!
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