RUGBY LEAGUE
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THEY will no doubt start next Saturday’s match against the Gold Coast Titans as warm favourites, but Jamie Soward has gone further and declared the Penrith Panthers have the spine to go one better than last year and make the NRL grand final.
The Panthers have one of the strongest creative cores in the competition with veterans Soward and Peter Wallace forming the halves, last year’s surprise packet James Segeyaro at hooker and representative star of the future Matt Moylan in the custodial role.
Soward said the quartet’s combination had improved after a year and a pre-season, together and had the potential to go better than last year’s heart-breaking preliminary final exit.
“I’d like to think I’ve got a better understanding of Matt and James’ games,” Soward said.
“I understood Wal’s a lot earlier because we’re older guys and we room together and spend a lot of time together.
“With the young guys, just keeping up with them is the main thing.
“We’re a tight-knit spine. You’ve got Isaac John there as well who can step in at the drop of the hat.
“Between the five of us, we’ve got a real good combination there and if everyone does their job right, we can go further this year.”
While Penrith have that strong combination as well as a littering of players with international experience, their rivals for next Saturday’s Carrington Park match are nowhere near as settled.
The cocaine scandal struck the Gold Coast Titans a massive blow in their build up to the season and they face the very real prospect of heading to Bathurst without two big name players in forwards Greg Bird and Dave Taylor.
That pair are expected to face court on Monday while team-mates Beau Falloon and Jamie Dowling made an appearance on Thursday.
Falloon and Dowling did not enter a plea and their matters have been adjourned until May 8.
The Panthers versus Titans match is set to kick off at 4.30pm next Saturday.