There’s no such thing as an easy game in the NRL, but take one look at the draw over the next few weeks and you’d have to agree: the Panthers’ run into rep season is about as tough as it gets.
Following this week, Penrith play the Storm, Dragons, Cowboys and Sea Eagles, four of the more fancied sides in the competition, and all of them with an ensemble cast of players vying for Origin spots come June.
Which leads me to this Monday, and the Panthers’ road trip up the F3 to take on a struggling Knights outfit at Hunter Stadium.
Make no mistake about it – the Knights are struggling. Any side willing to sign Willie Mason mid-season would have to be.
Something about Wayne Bennett’s many-times-proven coaching style has not clicked with the Novocastrians; their attack has been downright awful and the likes of Darius Boyd and Timana Tahu have yet find their former spark.
Still, Bennett builds his success on defence first and foremost, and despite their average start, the Knights have conceded an average of just 14 points per game – the fourth best defensive record in the NRL.
That’s a worrying prospect for the Panthers, who’ve scored consecutive duck eggs in the last two weeks.
Points hadn’t been a problem for Penrith previously, but a growing list of injuries – in particular, to Michael Jennings and Kevin Kingston – have seen their combinations falter in spectacular fashion.
The absence of Tim Grant hasn’t helped. With just two specialist front rowers in the rotation, the Panthers have lost the forward battles in their last three encounters, making it difficult to mount meaningful attack.
Blake Austin was thrown into the fray last week, partnering Luke Walsh at five eighth, and the youngster will be better for the experience (hopefully he has invested in a more grippy pair of boots, too).
In the end if Penrith are to have a chance against the Knights, they’ll need to do a better job of controlling possession.
In the last few weeks they’ve hovered somewhere around the 65 per cent mark.
Your only hope of winning a football match like that is if your opponents are just as bad – hardly a formula for NRL success.
To put it in perspective, the Storms, Broncos and Cowboys of the competition are in the 80 per cent range on a regular basis.
Penrith have had two weeks to work on those combinations and get their heads right for this contest.
It is not yet do or die, but it’s becoming close to it.
With much of the interest to surround Willie Mason in the build-up, an under-the-radar win is perhaps likely.
If they can control the ball and threaten the Knights on their home turf, there may just be hope for this season yet.
If not, you get the feeling the coming weeks are going to be very, very long ones.
