Monday Night Football returns to Sportingbet Stadium this round with the top of the table Penrith Panthers playing their first home game in a month against the up and down Brisbane Broncos.
Cold conditions will most likely greet the sixth placed Broncos, who are coming off a bye last weekend and an embarrassing loss to the lowly Sharks the week prior. Their season is very much at a crossroads and this road trip to the foot of the Mountains will be seen as vital in getting things back on track for the run home, particularly after the Origin period.
Penrith’s impressive 26-10 victory over the Wests Tigers last Sunday has come at a significant cost, with an ankle injury to halfback Peter Wallace robbing him of the opportunity to come up against his former club on Monday night.
Losing Wallace is significant but the quality of Penrith’s attack this season means that the side can get by with just Jamie Soward calling the shots.
Players like James Segeyaro, Elijah Taylor and Tyrone Peachey are doing an excellent job in the middle of the park, creating a platform for the forwards to gain plenty of metres and producing enough opportunities for the outside backs to pile on the points. This was most evident last weekend when both Segeyaro and Peachey took on playmaking roles when Wallace went off injured.
Penrith’s chances of success on Monday night without doubt rely on quality performances from four key players.
The first is Matt Moylan. After a debut season in which he created just as much positivity as he did negativity within the fan base, Moylan has shown particular class this season and is in sensational form. He is becoming more confident under the high ball, and most impressive was his footwork in scoring Penrith’s first try last Sunday.
Next up is Tyrone Peachey. When he came to the Panthers in the off-season, he declared he wanted to be the ‘x-factor’ in the Penrith squad, and he’s certainly made the most of every opportunity given to him by coach Ivan Cleary this year. Peachey is the kind of player you feel good paying to watch – he is energetic, surprising and always looking for an opportunity when he has his hands on the ball. He’ll be difficult to contain on Monday night.
Next up is Jamal Idris. Things were looking a little shaky when Idris took time off to sort out some personal issues, but the last two weeks have proven that when Idris is in a good frame of mind, his football only gets better. He has been like a dog with a bone these past two matches and they’ve easily been his best games in Penrith colours. He will be an absolute terror on the left side of the field on Monday night.
Finally, Kevin Naiqama. He may be a surprising pick in the ‘key four’ this weekend but I think Naiqama proved last Sunday that he is well on his way to securing a permanent first grade spot and is not just warming the wing position for an injured David Simmons or Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.
Naiqama has been on and off as far as his form this season, but was brilliant last weekend – he scored a magical try, showed some incredible footwork late in the game and was excellent under the high ball.
Critics may want to question how Penrith got to first place, but the bottom line is that you don’t lead the competition after 17 rounds if you haven’t proven yourself in what is a tight, evenly contested competition. The one question I ask you when it comes to if Penrith deserve to be on top of the competition or not is this – who else is going better? You may say Manly and the Bulldogs, and you’d probably be right, but no other team in the competition is showing the consistency, the attacking flair or the defensive structure that Penrith has shown in the middle part of the season.
Tip: Panthers by 16
