Panthers NYC Match Preview 
The Penrith Panthers Holden Cup team will play a highly anticipated match on Saturday afternoon against the first-placed Canberra Raiders. The top of the table clash is certain to be a fantastic match showcasing some of the best young footballing talent in the country.
The teams have already met once this year in round one where the Panthers proved too strong winning 40-16. Since the round one defeat the Raiders have not been beaten while the Panthers have only dropped two games in season 2013 so far.
The Panthers have put together ten wins whilst dealing with personnel changes on a weekly basis through injury, and the promotion of players to the NSW Cup. In team news this week, Toby Evans has been given the chance to play for the Windsor Wolves which will see a new halves pairing of Nikko Roberts and Geordie Connelly given the responsibility of steering the team around the park. Brendan Attwood will start at hooker and Andy Saunders has been promoted from the bench to the starting line-up.
As to be expected, both sides carry good form into the match with the Panthers thrashing the Tigers 50-12 last week while the Raiders had a strong win, 38-28 over the Broncos. Coach David Tangata-Toa knows his team will face a big test this weekend trying to contain a Raiders team that has class throughout their side.
“They don’t have a particular strength, their strength is they are strong all over the park. From there halves pairing to their outside backs, and then on top of that they have some big forwards that carry the ball really strongly. We will have to aim up in every aspect of our game” said Tangata-Toa.
Touching on the round one encounter Tangata-Toa made mention of the fact how different the Panthers line up will be, but how much faith he has in the depth of the current squad. “If you look at our round one team compared to the team this week, there’ isn’t too many players who were there in round one. They’ve had a few changes as well so we won’t be reading into the result back in March. They haven’t lost since then so we know it will be a tough game.”
The Panthers will yet again have a new halves pairing on the weekend but with the amount of changes the team has had this year it isn’t anything new for the team. Tangata-Toa is confident in the new pairing of Roberts and Connelly. “We have two new blokes in there, but the beauty of this team is they all do their jobs and they won’t let anyone down.”
Source: http://www.penrithpanthers.com.au/news-display/Panthers-NYC-Match-Preview/77111
Topic: Preview: The Holden Cup battle for top spot - Raiders V Panthers
