NSW Cup Round 5 preview
Thu 02 Apr, 2015, 3:44pm
By NSWRL Media, NRL.com
Penrith v Wests Tigers
Pepper Stadium, Saturday 4 April, 3.00pm
The Penrith Panthers are coming off back-to-back losses and are desperate to get their VB NSW Cup defence back on track against the Wests Tigers.
As vital as a victory is, Panthers coach Garth Brennan is instead emphasising the team's effort.
"The win is not the big thing," Brennan said. "The performance is the thing we are looking for. We haven't put 80 minutes together. I'm looking for the performance to be better."
The Panthers lost 24-8 against the Newtown Jets and fell 18-16 to the Newcastle Knights in consecutive weeks. Last week was particularly bitter as the Knights kicked a penalty goal on full-time after the Panthers rallied from 16-0 down.
It won't be an easy task against the Wests Tigers who lost their first game of the season 26-22 in their top-of-the-table clash with Mounties.
Brennan is confident all the signs are there for the Panthers to recapture their form and that it's just a matter of time before it starts to click.
"We've played well in patches in the last two weeks," Brennan said.
"The games we've lost have been close. Against Newtown, we were down to 11 men before the score blew out. And against Newcastle, we lost after the siren. We're not far away, we've just got to keep persisting, working hard and we'll get there. It's only round five and it's not panic stations just yet."
