Big League Weekly Edition – July 25, 2019

4 BIG LEAGUE 2019 Round 19

Eels winger Maika Sivo has scored six tries in six games at Bankwest Stadium.�� The Panthers are aiming for a club r

ByMICHAELBLOK

P

ENRITHwillhavethechance

toequala club-record

eight-straightwinswhen

theyhostCanberraonSunday.

Aftera 2-8starttothe

season,thePanthers

havedramaticallyturned

theirfortunesaround

andnowfindthemselves

seventhontheladder

withsevenrounds

remainingfollowing

seven-straightvictories.

A fortnightagothey

becameonlythethird

teaminNRLhistoryto

losesix-straightgames

andthenwinsix-straight

inthesameseason.They

nowhavetheopportunity

towineight-straightfor

thefirsttimesince 2003

• theyeartheylastwon
  thepremiership.
  “It’sprettyamazingconsidering
  wherewewereatthestartof
  theseason,”fullbackDylan
  EdwardstoldBigLeague.
  “Havinglostsomanygames
  tostarttheseason,notmany
  would’vethoughtwecould
  winseven-straight.I guess
  we’llkeeprollingwithit.”
  AlthoughthePanthersare
  overjoyedwiththeirinspired
  turnaround, Edwards said

thesidestillhasplentyof

improvementtocome.

“Thepleasingthingis

we’vestillgotimprovement

inus,”thefullbacksaid.

“Itwasourbestattacking

performance [against St George

Illawarra]oftheseasonbutas

a teamwe’restillbuildingwhich

ispleasing.”

A relativelyyoungside,

a coupleofthePanthersareyet

toexperiencedefeatastheyride

thehighsoftheNRL.Hooker

MitchKennyhaswonallseven

gameshe’splayed,BrentNaden

isunbeatenfromsixfixtures,

whilewingerBrianTo’ohas

lost just once in eight games.

“Someoftheboyshaven’t

experienceda lossandhopefully

theydon’tfora littlewhileyet,”

Edwardssaid.

“Buttheydon’tthinkit’seasy

• they’restillgettingthebumps
  andthebruisesandthey’refeeling
  it the nextmorning.”
  AsPenrithattempt
  toextendtheirwinning
  runtoeight,Edwards
  isexpectinga tough
  encounteragainstthe
  Raiders,whositfourth
  ontheladder.
  “It’sgoingtobea huge
  match.Hopefullyweget
  a goodturnout,”hesaid.
  “TheRaidersare
  a topfourside.They
  defendreallywell.”
  Ina goodomenforthe
  mountainmen,they’ve
  beenabletoredeem
  themselvesagainstevery
  sidethathasbeaten
  themsofarin2019.Following
  early-sesonlossestotheEels,
  TitansandWarriors,theywere
  abletoovercomeeachopponent
  ontheirsecondattempt.
  They’llbehopingthatrecord
  remainsintactastheyseek
  revengefromtheir30-12loss
  toCanberrainRound8.
  “Ifthey’vebeatenyouthe
  firsttime,you’vealwaysgot
  a score to settle,” Edwards said.

Panthers keep

the streak alive

ByMARTINGABOR

I

T wasthesprayfewsawcomingfromtheusually

reservedMichaelMaguire,butclublegendBenji

Marshallhasbackedhiscoach’sharshwordsand

saidtheWestsTigersmustwinagainsttheKnights

onFridayif theywanttoplayfinalsfooty.

TheWestsTigersheadtoNewcastleon

a three-gamelosingstreaktofacea Knights

sidesittingtwocompetitionpointsabovethem

ontheladderasthelogjamforspotsinthetop

eightrampsup.

Maguirewasparticularlycriticalofhisside’s

first-halfperformanceagainsttheRaiderslast

week,slammingthemfortheirlackofconsistency

in the post-match press conference, and Marshall

believesthattoughapproachisjustwhattheWests

TigersneededleadingintoFriday’sblockbuster.

“‘Madge’cameoutafterthegamelastweek

andsaidsomethingsaboutuspublicly,thatwe

neededtohardenup,andthethingI likeabout

thatisthathe’snotsugar-coatingit ortrying

tohidefromit,”hetoldBigLeague.

“Forourteam,it’sa reallygoodthingtotryto

provea pointthatwecanbeconsistent.We’redoing

thethingsthatMadgewantsinpatches,butwe’re

notdoingit consistentlyandthat’swhyweare

whereweareonthetable.

“Ifwewanttomakethesemis,wehavetodoit

thisweek.It’sdo-or-dieforus.Newcastlearetwo

pointsaheadofusonthetablewitha muchbetter

for and against. We have to win – it’s as simple as that.”

Ire of the Tigers unleashed

PHOTOS:

NRLPhotos.com:

Robb

Cox

(Edwards), Scott Davis (Titans);

Phil Hillyard (Watene-Zelezniak)