TEAMS
PANTHERS – 1.Kieran MOSS 2.Eto NABULI 3.Waqa BLAKE 4.Wes NAIQAMA 5.Kevin NAIQAMA 6.Will SMITH 7.Tom HUMBLE 8.Sam ANDERSON 9.Kevin KINGSTON 10.Tim GRANT 11.Bryce CARTWRIGHT 12.Matt ROBINSON 13.Ryan SIMPKINS
INTERCHANGE: 14. Ben MURDOCH-MASILA, 15. Tom EISENHUTH 16. Vaipuna TIA KILIFI 17. Reagan CAMPBELL-GILLARD 18. Anthony CHERRINGTON
COACH: Garth BRENNAN
BEARS – 1. Kane MORGAN 2. Mark O'DARE 3. Joe ULUIBAU 4. Jackson WILLIAMS 5. Curtis JOHNSTON 6. Jordan WORBOYS 7. Luke KEARY 8. Nathaniel NEALE 9. Kurt ALDRIDGE 10. Brad LUPI 11. Jesse ROBERTS 12. Chris GREVSMUHL 13. Matt HYLAND
INTERCHANGE: 14. Steve TAVITA 15. Josh TOOLE 16. Duncan LOW 17. Jackson GARLICK 18. John KITE
COACH: Wayne LAMBKIN
The top of the table Panthers take on the last-placed Bears in Sunday’s NSW Cup clash at North Sydney Oval, with Penrith looking to continue their winning streak and Norths desperately trying to get another win under their belts.
The Panthers have named a full strength squad with Kevin Kingston starting at hooker again and Bryce Cartwright backing up from NRL duties in the second row. While the Bears have a depleted side again this week, with several players promoted into South Sydney’s NRL team because of Origin 2.
Penrith are the in-form team in the competition at the moment having won their last seven games straight. They have been sloppy in defence at times and maintaining discipline for the full 80 minutes of a game has been a challenge for them, but they have managed to come away with the two points every week since round 8.
North Sydney on the other hand, haven’t posted a win since round 10 and are really struggling to put a game plan into action. They went down to Manly 54-22 last weekend thanks to some very poor defence; they let in four tries in 9 minutes at one point.
This game will be a big mental contest for Penrith who will have to be careful not to go into the match with too much confidence. While they have been playing some good football in recent weeks, there have been plenty of mistakes, and they will need to keep it clean and simple against a somewhat unpredictable North Sydney team. With plenty of first grade experience on their side, the Panthers should come away with the win.
