Sportingbet Stadium
Friday, May 30
Gates open: 5.15pm
Kickoff: 5.30pm
NRL kickoff: 7.40pm
TEAMS:
PANTHERS: 1.Corey HARAWIRA, 2.Joshua JAY, 3.Brent NADEN, 4.Waqa BLAKE, 5.Christian CRICHTON, 6.Jarrod BRACKENHOFER, 7.Sam SCARLETT, 8.Andy SAUNDERS, 9.Sione KATOA, 10.Atonio PELESASA, 11.Chris SMITH, 12.Dave COWHAN, 13.Brendan ATTWOOD
INTERCHANGE: 14. Jordan HALL, 15. Myles TAUELI, 16. Peter TIA TIA, 17. Josh TANGITAU
EELS: 1. Corey MAKELIM, 2. Leva LI, 3. Fou TAGILIMA, 4. Nathan DAVIS, 5. Halauafu LAVAKA, 6. Mark DAOUD, 7. Zach DOCKAR-CLAY, 8. Fred JUNIOR MAUALA, 9. Joey LUSSICK, 10. Kelepi TANGINOA, 11. Tepai MOEROA, 12. Eric NEWBIGGING, 13. Jeff MARKUS
INTERCHANGE: 14. Tepai TEPU-SMITH, 15. Brandon RAELI, 16. Jordan MUNA, 17. Jack ANDERSON
Friday night’s battle of the west is going to be a very tough match for Penrith’s youngsters who are coming off two losses to face the in-form, second placed Eels.
Trent Barrett’s boys have lost their last two games after turning in below average performances against Canberra and Newcastle. While their defence was good at times, they made silly mistakes and gave their opposition too many chances to score, and they failed to capitalise on numerous scoring opportunities of their own.
That said, there has been quite a few changes to the Panthers outfit this week to see if we can improve on the field. Corey Harawira has been named at halfback, Waqa Blake comes back into the centre after spending a few weeks playing in NSW Cup, and SG Ball star Christian Crichton will start on the wing.
Jarrod Brackenhofer returns from injury to start in the halves with Sam Scarlett, and young Peter Tia Tia has been named on the four-man bench.
Parramatta, on the other hand, has notched up four wins from their last four games, and they are now just 1 point behind Newcastle at the top of the table. They are a side that will bring their A-game for the full 80 minutes, which they proved a couple of weeks ago when they held off a 24-point comeback from the Dragons to come away with the win.
Penrith will have to play a very clean game and get back to basics if they want any chance of overcoming this strong Eels side. We’ll need to utilise our speedy wingers to give us opportunities to run the ball, while Brackenhofer and Scarlett’s kicking game should be able to guide us in the right direction.
A big home crowd will also get the boys pumped and fired up, so make sure you get out to Sportingbet Stadium for the 5.30pm kickoff! Tickets from www.ticketek.com.au
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