Round 12: Panthers vs Eels

[Tamwelg]

	vs
Panthers		Eels

Fri 30 May, 7:45PM Centrebet Stadium

Matt Moylan Josh Mansour Dean Whare Jamal Idris David Simmons Jamie Soward Peter Wallace Sam McKendry James Segeyaro Brent Kite Sika Manu Elijah Taylor Adam Docker   Tim Grant Jeremy Latimore Tyrone Peachey Lewis Brown Matt Robinson Ivan Cleary

Fullback Wing Centre Centre Wing Five-eighth Halfback Prop Hooker Prop Second Row Second Row Lock   Interchange Interchange Interchange Interchange Interchange Coach

Jarryd Hayne Semi Radradra Will Hopoate Ryan Morgan Ken Sio Corey Norman Chris Sandow Tim Mannah Nathan Peats Darcy Lussick David Gower Manu Ma'u Joseph Paulo   Pauli Pauli Peni Terepo Junior Paulo Mitchell Allgood Lee Mossop

[TITAN PETE]

Late Mail Round 12.Panthers v Eels

Panthers: Jamal Idris has been granted leave by Penrith to take an indefinite break from rugby league to address personal issues. Kevin Kingston and Nigel Plum are both on track to be late inclusions after overcoming foot and concussion injuries, while Lewis Brown and Elijah Taylor are both fit after missing the Panthers' previous game.

Eels: A decision will be made later on Friday whether Jarryd Hayne will be asked to back up from a massive State of Origin performance, with Eels coach Brad Arthur suggesting the star fullback will be rested. Englishman Lee Mossop is likely to drop out of the 17 and play another week with Wentworthville in the NSW Cup as he continues his recovery from a shoulder injury.

[DIEHARD]

Should be a good derby.

[DIEHARD]

Panthers v Eels
Sportingbet Stadium Friday, 7.30pm (AEST)

No wonder the locals are getting a little restless. Parramatta and Penrith haven't been this close in almost 30 years.
Not since the Eels last tasted premiership success has the Battle of the West been more than just an irrelevant fight for the region's bragging rights.

Not since June of 1986 – when Parramatta boasted the names Sterling, Kenny and Price and the Panthers enjoyed a young Alexander, Cartwright and Simmons – have the pride of Sydney's west occupied two of the top four spots on the competition ladder.

Yet here we are, almost 30 years on, with the third-placed Panthers hosting the fourth-placed Eels. Victory on Friday night will elevate one team's status to possible contenders, while defeat will condemn the other to probable pretenders.

Penrith will be buoyed by their first set of back-to-back victories, registering hard-fought wins on the road in Newcastle and then Canberra before last week's bye. Just goes to show how far two weeks of good, consistent football will get you.

Parramatta, meanwhile, have gone from wooden-spoon collectors to cold-blooded coach-killers after their 36-0 dumping of St George Illawarra a fortnight ago virtually rendered Dragons coach Steve Price a dead man walking.
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary gets Kiwi back-rowers Elijah Taylor (knee) and Lewis Brown (pec) back from injury, but there's still no sign of Kevin Kingston (foot). There's a chance he could be a late inclusion after training through the week.

Eels mentor Brad Arthur will wait with baited breath on how ready club linchpin Jarryd Hayne will be 48 hours after his man-of-the-match effort. (It should be remembered Hayne's second half of 2013 was hampered by a hamstring injury suffered after backing up from Game I last year.)

Watch Out Panthers: The Eels are ranked first in tries (Radradra 11, Hayne 9, Ken Sio 9) and points per game, and third in line breaks (Radradra 10, Hayne 9, Sio 7). There's no-one else in the league more confident in attack right now than Parramatta and it's all centred on their impressive back three.

Watch Out Eels: While the Eels are the hottest team with the ball, Penrith are one of the hottest teams without it. As it stands, the Panthers are giving up just 2.3 tries per game – second fewest behind competition leaders the Bulldogs. They also rank second in opposition line breaks with 3.3 – second lowest to the Rabbitohs.

Plays To Watch: A Panthers set play that looked strikingly similar to the Storm's famed outside-inside move came up trumps in the nation's capital a fortnight ago when hooker James Segeyaro jumped to the right out of dummy-half, turned it inside to halfback Peter Wallace running against the grain, who sent it further left to five-eighth Jamie Soward, affording fullback Matt Moylan space on the inside.

For the Eels, Jarryd Hayne is playing like a man possessed. When he's not scoring tries – he's got nine so far – he uses his supreme ball-playing skills to carry out his pinpoint vision, just like he did on two occasions against the Dragons a fortnight ago with a couple of short balls targeted for lazy players in defence. The only way to curb his attacking influence is by keeping the Eels out of their red zone because once they're there, there's no stopping him.

Where It Will Be Won: Parramatta's at-times paper-thin defence. We're all accustomed by now with the Eels' seemingly limitless reserves of attacking power, but can they read what opposition teams are going to do with the ball?

They are the second worst team in the league for conceding line break assists. On the flip side, Penrith aren't exactly crash hot at getting men to crash through defensive walls either, with their 30 line break assists the fourth lowest total in the competition.

Parramatta will get theirs, but how much will they give to Penrith?

The History: Played 104; Eels 60, Panthers 42, drawn 2. There is no other team in the premiership that has handed Penrith more football lessons than their geographical neighbours, and that didn't change during a 32-16 spanking back in Round 4. That win proved to be a breakthrough victory for the Eels and triggered Chris Sandow's personal comeback.

Match Officials: Referees – Matt Cecchin & Gavin Morris; Sideline Officials – Paul Holland & Brett Suttor; Video Referees – Bernard Sutton & Henry Perenara.

Televised: Channel Nine – delayed 7.30pm (AEST).

The Way We See It: Blockbuster games like these, where a sell-out crowd isn't exactly out of the question, have a way of coming down to the wire. Much depends on the fitness of Jarryd Hayne but if the plane does take off the Eels just might come away in a tight one. We'll give it to Parra by four points.

*Statistics: Champion Data

Source: http://www.nrl.com

[TITAN PETE]

Panthers smoke Hayne-less Eels in derby
By Matt Encarnacion, Western Sydney Correspondent
NRL.com
9:45pm Fri 30th May, 2014


Penrith have consolidated their spot in the top four with an emphatic 38-12 hammering of Parramatta in front of a sellout crowd at Sportingbet Stadium on Friday night.

The Panthers extended their winning streak to three with a seven tries to two rout, with five-eighth Jamie Soward having a hand in five of them.

Lock Tyrone Peachey and winger Josh Mansour both nabbed a brace against an Eels side that clearly struggled without spearhead Jarryd Hayne.

Penrith opened the scoring through Mansour, whose superman dive beat a watching Ken Sio to Soward's fifth minute dink behind the line.

Already embarrassed by that effort, Sio would've been a relieved man when his spilt bomb – also from the boot of Soward – was first knocked-on by Penrith in the lead-up just before Peachey crumbed the loose ball and fell over the line.

Sio wasn't the only one who had a rough start for the visitors. The team's ill-discipline as a whole – they completed just 10 of 18 sets in the first half – gifted the home side three straight sets in the red zone that eventually resulted in a soft, 24th minute try to James Segeyaro that extended the lead to 12.

And it would've been 18 when yet another Soward bomb was bobbled by fullback Matt Moylan, only for the Panthers No.1 to cop a high shot from fill-in fullback Justin Hunt that gave Soward an penalty in front of the posts.

But it didn't take long for Penrith to post their third try, when Soward's brave chip for Moylan from inside his own half ended in Peachey's mad sprint for the corner and set up a daunting 18-0 deficit for the Eels at half-time.

As expected, Parramatta came out of the sheds like a house on fire, repeatedly forcing Penrith to take the ball from deep inside their territory.

But any hint of a comeback was quickly doused by a 50th minute individual effort from Peachey, whose hit-and-spin on the 40m line was followed by a strong fend, before turning on the afterburners for a highlight-reel worthy four-pointer.

And if the contest wasn't over by then, it was put beyond down when fourth-gamer Isaah Yeo – who was a late replacement for the absent Jamal Idris – crossed for his first career try in the 59th minute.

Parramatta finally got on the scoreboard with two late consolation tries to Pauli Pauli and Corey Norman in the final 10 minutes, but Penrith responded with two of their own to Mansour and Soward that took them past 20,000 points in club history.

Eels prop Mitch Allgood was put on report for a lifting tackle on Mansour in the 72nd minute, while hooker Nathan Peats failed to finish the match after aggravating a knee injury.

Penrith forward Bryce Cartwright, the nephew of club legend John Cartwright, enjoyed a terrific NRL debut for the Panthers with some classy touches.

Penrith Panthers 38 (Peachey 2, Mansour 2, Segeyaro, Yeo, Soward tries; Soward 5 goals) defeated Parramatta Eels 12 (Pauli, Norman tries; Sandow 2 goals) at Sportingbet Stadium. Crowd: 19,141.


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