PANTHERS: 1.Logan GEYER, 2.Joshua JAY, 3.Brent NADEN, 4.Solofa SILIPA, 5.Eddie AIONO, 6.Corey HARAWIRA, 7.Sam SCARLETT, 8.Andy SAUNDERS, 9.Sione KATOA, 10.Atonio PELESASA, 11.Peter TIA TIA, 12.Dave COWHAN, 13.Brendan ATTWOOD
INTERCHANGE: 14. Josh TANGITAU, 15. Myles TAUELI, 16. Jordan HALL, 17. Elkander FAIROUZ, 18. Jahnayah FREEMAN
RAIDERS: 1. Ricky GARARD, 2. Thomas CRONAN, 3. Cleveland MCGHIE, 4. Jack CREITH, 5. Lachlan HURST, 6. Lachlan LEWIS, 7. Matthew FRAWLEY (C), 8. Brett SOLOMON, 9. Dylan MCGRATH, 10. Mitchell BARNETT, 11. Patrick MAGO, 12. Scott DOYLE, 13. Jamal NCHOUKI
INTERCHANGE: 14. Lachlan CROKER, 15. Thoren FIDOW-KELE, 16. Tevita PANGAI JUNIOR, 17. Jared MCILLWRICK, 18. Mitchell SHAW, 19. Jack WILLIAMS, 20. Ben MAGUIRE, 21. Jules WEBLEY
These two teams will be pumped and ready to get back to their winning ways this weekend, after their string of victories came to an abrupt halt last week when they suffered shock losses to the Knights and the Warriors.
It was the first loss in five games for our Under 20’s boys, who went down to top of the table Newcastle 40-22. That score line doesn’t really depict the overall game too well, with Penrith carving up in the first half and leading 18-14 at the end of 40 minutes. Brendan Attwood and David Cowhan had brilliant games with a combined 62 tackles between them.
Defence in the second half is what let the Penrith side down and gave the Knights the chance to run away with the match. Despite that though, Coach Trent Barrett was happy with the 83% completion rate by his boys, and he’ll want a repeat performance of that on Sunday.
There’s only one change to this week’s team with Peter Tia Tia starting in the second row after helping the Panthers SG Ball side to a Grand Final berth last week.
The Raiders had an even worse weekend on the road, unable to put a single point on the board against the Warriors, who tallied up 54 on them. In a very uncharacteristic performance, they made 18 handling errors, missed 52 tackles and ran half as many metres as the New Zealand side.
Coach Mick Mantelli has made quite a few changes to his team this week, and like Penrith, e’s bringing a few boys up from SG Ball. Thomas Cronan, Cleveland McGhie, and Lachlan Lewis will start, while Lachlan Croker, Jack Williams and Ben Maguire have been named on an extended bench.
Former Queensland Under 15’s hooker Dylan McGrath will replace Trent Schubach at hooker, and Matthew Frawley will shift from five-eighth to halfback for the injured Andrew Heffernan.
