The Penrith Panthers will visit 1300SMILES Stadium to play the North Queensland Cowboys in the first game of round four.
TEAM FORM GUIDE
North Queensland Cowboys
The Cowboys played last Thursday night in the 2017 grand final match against Melbourne at AAMI Park. They lost 30-14, their second loss of the season. They conceded more penalties and made more errors than Melbourne which provided the Storm with opportunities to dominate.
Penrith Panthers
The Panthers suffered their first loss of the season to the Bulldogs last Friday night at ANZ Stadium, 20-18. It was Canterbury-Bankstown’s first win of the season.
SQUAD NEWS
North Queensland Cowboys
Lachlan Coote is named in the 21-man squad for the first time this season. The Cowboys are otherwise unchanged from last week’s game against Melbourne.
Penrith Panthers
James Tamou will play his 200th NRL game, and the Panthers welcome Jarome Luai, making his NRL debut off the bench. Halfback Nathan Cleary suffered a grade three MCL injury last week. This has pushed James Maloney to halfback, and brings Tyrone Peachey into five eighth.
PREVIEW
The Cowboys – who have only had one victory so far this season (against Cronulla in round one) – will be looking to climb the ladder.
The halves of both sides will add to the entertainment value of the match, and could have significant impacts on how each team performs. The loss of Cleary will have an impact, however the skills of James Maloney and Tyrone Peachey are unquestionable, and could do wonderful things for the Panthers. Michael Morgan and Johnathan Thurston have a strong halves partnership for the Cowboys and will make a difference.
KEY STAT
The Cowboys have won eight of the last eleven against Penrith.
SQUADS
North Queensland Cowboys
1 Ben Hampton, 2 Kyle Feldt, 3 Justin O’Neill, 4 Javid Bowen, 5 Antonio Winterstein, 6 Michael Morgan, 7 Johnathan Thurston (c), 8 Matthew Scott (c), 9 Jake Granville, 10 Jordan McLean, 11 Gavin Cooper, 12 Coen Hess, 13 Jason Taumalolo Interchange: 14 Te Maire Martin, 15 John Asiata, 16 Scott Bolton, 17 Ethan Lowe, 18 Corey Jensen, 19 Lachlan Coote
Penrith Panthers
1 Dylan Edwards, 2 Josh Mansour, 3 Waqa Blake, 4 Dean Whare, 5 Christian Crichton, 6 Tyrone Peachey, 7 James Maloney, 8 James Tamou, 9 Peter Wallace (c), 10 Reagan Campbell-Gillard, 11 Viliame Kikau, 12 Isaah Yeo, 13 Trent Merrin Interchange: 14 Jarome Luai, 15 Corey Harawira-Naera, 16 Moses Leota, 17 James Fisher-Harris, 18 Wayde Egan, 19 Nick Lui-Toso
THE IMPORTANT DETAILS
Date: Thursday, March 29
Venue: 1300SMILES Stadium, Townsville
Kick-off: 7:05PM (local time)
WHO WILL WIN?
Could not load the poll.
https://nothingbutleague.com/2017/06/24/four-pointers-north-queensland-cowboys-14-penrith-panthers-12/
