The Panthers and Roosters meet on Friday night, with both sides yet to reach their top form in 2023.
MATCHDAY NEWS
MATCHDAY SCHEDULE
Penrith Panthers Vs Sydney Roosters
Venue: BlueBet Stadium
Date: Friday, May 12, 8:00pm AEST
MATCHDAY TEAM NEWS
Panthers: Panthers: 1. Dylan Edwards 2. Sunia Turuva 3. Tyrone Peachey 4. Stephen Crichton 5. Brian To’o 6. Jarome Luai 7. Nathan Cleary 8. Moses Leota 9. Mitch Kenny 10. James Fisher-Harris 11. Scott Sorensen 12. Zac Hosking 13. Isaah Yeo Interchange: 14. Soni Luke 15. Lindsay Smith 16. Spencer Leniu 17. Jaeman Salmon Reserves: 18. Jack Cogger 19. Luke Garner 20. Thomas Jenkins 21. Liam Martin 22. Liam Henry
Roosters: 1. James Tedesco 2. Corey Allan 3. Joseph Suaalii 4. Billy Smith 5. Jaxson Paulo 6. Joseph Manu 7. Luke Keary 8. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves 9. Brandon Smith 10. Lindsay Collins 11. Angus Crichton 12. Nat Butcher 13. Victor Radley Interchange: 14. Drew Hutchison 15. Fletcher Baker 16. Sitili Tupouniua 17. Matthew Lodge Reserves: 18. Jake Turpin 19. Naufahu Whyte 20. Sam Walker 21. Tuipulotu Katoa 22. Terrell May
Referee: Gerard Sutton
Embed from Getty ImagesMATCHDAY PREVIEW
The Panthers are unchanged this week, with Liam Martin an outside chance of returning from a hamstring injury after being named in the reserves. Egan Butcher is out for the Roosters with a concussion, and Angus Crichton comes into the starting side while Fletcher Baker joins the bench.
Both teams enter this match with a 5-4 record, with the Panthers securing a hard-earned an 18-6 win over the Warriors last week, while the Roosters could only manage one try in their loss to the Cowboys.
The Panthers still boast defence in the competition, but their attack is still far from fluent 10 rounds through the season. It’s a similar story for the Roosters, who have only scored the second least amount of points this year. Sydney are averaging 17 points per game and it won’t get any easier against the Penrith defence that have allowed just 117 points through nine games.
Joey Manu and Luke Keary are really yet to form a solid combination in the halves and one has to wonder whether the decision to drop Sam Walker was the right one. While James Tedesco is still the typical metre eater at fullback, he is yet to find that magical top form that we’ve been accustomed to for many years.
The Panthers hold the better recent history against their opponents, winning the last six matches between the two sides. A win will help solidify their spot in the top four in an extremely tight competition and put them in good stead for a blockbuster match against the Broncos in round 12.
LAST TEN MATCHES
Panthers 7, Roosters 3
MATCHDAY PREDICTION
Panthers by 4 points.
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