The Penrith Panthers are the toast of the NSW Intrust Super Premiership after taking out the Minor Premiership with still three games remaining.
The Mountain men eased past Western Suburbs 38-10 at Panthers Stadium on Sunday to open up a seven point margin over the rest of the chasing pack. Young five-eighth Adam Keighran again led from the front with a personal haul of 14 points including scoring a try and setting up another. With the game close at half time in favour of the Panthers 12-10, they exploded in the second half to score 26 unanswered points to achieve victory for the 14th time this season. Undefeated in its last nine games, it seems a matter of if not when the Panthers will taste defeat again considering their good form.
In the SWR League match of the day it was another dream performance from the North Sydney Bears as it stretched its undefeated streak to four games with a commanding 36-22 defeat of thee Wyong Roos at North Sydney Oval. Fresh off a thumping 34-6 win against the Mounties a week prior, the Bears struggled in the opening stages and even found itself behind 6-0 with a Luke Sharpe try capping off a lovely move by Roos back-rower Brock Gray. However the Shoreman managed to turn things around relatively quickly on the back of some splendid play from their young halves Connor Tracey and Dean Hawkins. Tracey scored a double in the 21st and 44th minutes in between setting up a try to second rower Dean Britt. Despite some late flashiness from the Roos, the attack of the Bears was too much to cope with and it ran out with a vital 14-point win which keeps its finals hopes alive.
In the rounds other games: Newtown suffered back to back defeats with a 26-24 defeat at home to the Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles, St George Illawarra leapfrogged Canterbury and the Jets into the top 4 after a nailbiting 15-14 win over the Dogs at WIN Stadium, Newcastle stunned Mounties 16-6 in Newcastle and Wentworthville and the New Zealand Warriors had the bye.
In this week’s action the SWR League team has a double dose of footy for you with two games! On Saturday we travel out to Penrith to watch the table topping Panthers do battle with the Wyong Roos who are grimly holding on to a top 8 spot. Then on Sunday we are over in the North to see if North Sydney can keep its finals hopes alive with a game against Wentworthville at North Sydney Oval. Both matches will be live on SWR999.com.au/SS1- Saturday at 12.30 and Sunday at 1.30.
In the rounds other matches: The Warriors tackle the Knights at Mt Smart Stadium in NZ, Blacktown take their home game back to Brookvale against the Canterbury Bulldogs and Mounties look to arrest their slide against and out-of-sorts Wests magpies side at GIO Stadium on Sunday.
