Penrith keep on as Souths keep counting the fallen

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Penrith Panthers v South Sydney Rabbitohs

South Sydney's 2025 season found another way to get worse with a potential season-ending ankle injury to star Keaon Kolomatangi in their 20-point loss to Penrith at CommBank Stadium tonight.

It was a tense opening ten minutes to the game as both sides had their chances in good ball territory. A desperate Tyrone Munro try-save on Tom Jenkins early kept our score-board level. But the Panthers capitalised off a Brad Schneider bomb, the visitors didn't want to contest it as Brian To'o batted it back to Paul Alamoti who chipped ahead and beat Tallis Duncan to ground the ball.

The Panthers had a quick fire double following a strong kick return from To'o. It was terrific transition from the premiers as they went to the left edge, a vicious left hand fend sent Thomas Jenkins away before finding Edwards in support for his second try.

Right before the break, the Panthers issued the dagger in the hearts of the South Sydney side. Blaize Talagi was able to get the arm free to Edwards who broke into the clear before finding Casey McLean to go over for the Panthers third of the first half. Souths fired the final shot before the break but the terrific scramble of Edwards denied the Bunnies and it was 18-0 at oranges.

Off the back a strong start to the second half. Some direct attack saw the Rabbitohs crash across for their first of the second half. A crash play from Peter Mamouzelos sent Liam Le Blanc charging over for his first NRL try.

Penrith wouldn't be down for long. Despite having to wrestle momentum back, the Panthers played short and targeted the South Sydney edge defence. A short pass from Brad Schneider found Garner who sat and offloaded to Edwards to get his second try and restore the 18 point advantage.

On a night where nothing seemed to go Souths way, there are injury concerns with Kolomatangi (ankle) and Mamouzelos (HIA) failing to finish the match. Lewis Dodd showed some nice touches with his kicking game causing some grief for the Panthers but it's clear that he was having a crack. Penrith finished with a bang after a Scott Sorensen offload found McLean who turned the defence inside and out to score the try that cemented a victory for the Panthers. Souths managed a consolation as Alex Johnston moved to within five of the legendary Ken Irvine's record after getting to a Jack Wighton grubber first.