The regular NRL season is in the books and it’s time for the action to heat up as Week 1 of the NRL finals get underway. On Friday night it’s the top-of-the-table Penrith Panthers taking on the fourth-placed Parramatta Eels in a fascinating matchup.
Greg Davis is back with his preview of the clash with his NRL tips below!
Panthers vs Eels Preview & Betting Tips
BlueBet Stadium, Penrith, Friday September 9th 7:50pm
Squads
Panthers: 1. Dylan Edwards 2. Taylan May 3. Izack Tago 4. Stephen Crichton 5. Brian To’o 6. Jarome Luai 7. Nathan Cleary 8. Moses Leota 9. Apisai Koroisau 10. James Fisher-Harris 11. Viliame Kikau 12. Liam Martin 13. Isaiah Yeo 14. Mitch Kenny 15. Scott Sorensen 16. Spencer Leniu 17. Jaeman Salmon 18. Charlie Staines 19. Matt Eisenhuth 20. J’maine Hopgood 21. Sean O’Sullivan 22. Chris Smith
Eels: 1. Clinton Gutherson 2. Maika Sivo 3. Viliami Penisini 4. Tom Opacic 5. Waqa Blake 6. Dylan Brown 7. Mitchell Moses 8. Reagan Campbell-Gillard 9. Reed Mahoney 10. Junior Paulo 11. Shaun Lane 12. Isaiah Papali’i 13. Ryan Matterson 14. Makahesi Makatoa 15. Jakob Arthur 16. Oregon Kaufusi 17. Marata Niukore 18. Nathan Brown 19. Bailey Simonsson 20. Bryce Cartwright 21. Ofahiki Ogden 22. Ky Rodwell
Match Preview
As they say in the fight game, “styles make fights”. And there is something about the match-up between Penrith and Parramatta that delivers a knock-em-down, drag-em-out kind of contest that does not follow the form guide.
The ‘Wild West’ derby will get the 2022 NRL finals series underway on Friday night at Penrith’s BlueBet Stadium – even though the match would have got 50,000-plus spectators to Homebush.
The Panthers have been the most dominant side in the competition across the past three home-and-away seasons with Penrith losing just four matches this year on the way to the minor premiership that was wrapped-up well before the finals. Significantly, two of those four losses came against Parramatta - a 34-10 shellacking in Round 20 when Penrith superstar Nathan Cleary was sent-off for a dangerous tackle in the first half and a tight 22-20 victory in Round 9 out at the foot of the Blue Mountains. The teams also met in the 2021 finals series when the Panthers were able to grind out a tough 8-6 win over the Eels on their way to the title.
Clearly makes his first comeback from the suspension he copped for that ugly tackle in Round 20 in time for the re-match with the Eels who have named the same 17-man squad that beat Melbourne 22-14 last Thursday in a showdown for a top four spot. Cleary is one of many Panthers stars to come back into the line-up after Penrith opted to rest its first-choice line-up from the trip to Townsville last week when the club’s glorified reserve grade side copped a belting from North Queensland.
A berth in the preliminary finals await the winner but it will be anything but a smooth ride.
Whenever these two teams meet – regardless of ladder position – it is a tough, hard, intense and occasionally spiteful encounter. Add to the mix that the raging red-hot premiership favourite is taking on its bogey team in the finals and it has all the makings of a humdinger.
Rugby league being rugby league means that there has been plenty of drama heading into this clash with Panthers winger Taylan May being free to play despite copping a two-week ban from the NRL after being found guilty of assault from an off-field incident last year. The two-week suspension will strangely not kick-in until next season allowing the try-scoring machine to take on the Eels.
Parramatta prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard will also be a focal point as the ex-Panther is not on good terms with his former teammates with speculation that he was dropped from the NSW Origin side earlier this year because Penrith players supposedly cannot cop him.
Sub-plots aside, this is D-Day for the Panthers. They have been the best team all year and it is time to show that. Everything they have done has been about peaking for this time of year. They may be clunky early given Cleary has been sidelined since late July, but they have weapons all over the paddock that have been primed to fire in September.
Parramatta have found form, confidence and momentum at the right time and will get in Penrith’s face early and often. The Eels will be very confident about their chances.
A flash of brilliance here or there may be the only difference between the sides on the night.
Penrith to win but only just - making the +7.5 points start for the Eels too good to refuse.
Prop: First try – Stephen Crichton - $16 (Neds)
Eels +7.5
$2.00 (2 Units)
