54m agoSat 13 Sep 2025 at 5:03amLive: Warriors vs Panthers at Mt Smart Stadium
7m agoSat 13 Sep 2025 at 5:50am
Strange déjà vu
Look at Baby Fish and Baby Nathan. (Getty)
It’s been seven years since Penrith was in a sudden-death situation in the first week of finals.
On that day in 2018, the Panthers were also facing the Warriors and, to make the coincidence even stranger, that night the Roosters also took on Cronulla.
It was a tumultuous year for the chocolate soldiers, with coach Anthony Griffin sacked while the team was fifth after 21 rounds and none other than current Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo took over for the last four rounds of the regular season plus two finals.
One of those was this corresponding fixture (although it was fifth vs eighth back then, and the Panthers were hosting), with James Maloney steering the Panthers to a 27-12 win.
There are six players left from that game playing this afternoon.
Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo remain with the Panthers, while Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and James Fisher-Harris have jumped across the ditch.
The Warriors have since lost and regained then-captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, who injured his knee early in that 2018 game, while Isaiah Papali’i has since become a Panther (after pit stops with the Eels and Tigers).
18m agoSat 13 Sep 2025 at 5:38am
What about the Wahs?
(Getty)
There’s been a lot of talk about Penrith, and rightly so as the four-time premiers in uncharted waters, but the Warriors have had a fascinating season of their own.
Coming in with so much hope after the off-season recruitment of James Fisher-Harris, then losing a lot of lustre with a woeful Las Vegas opener, only for Luke Metcalf to emerge as the form halfback in the first half of the season.
They were in the top four to start the penultimate round of the season, which is laudable considering season-ending injuries for co-captain Mitch Barnett (round 13) and halfback Metcalf (round 17).
They enter this game as the higher-ranked team on home soil, but as rank outsiders.
I can’t say it’s wrong, but there’s enough talent and tenacity in the New Zealanders to beat anyone in this competition.
27m agoSat 13 Sep 2025 at 5:30am
A friend turned foe up front
James Fisher-Harris’s departure to the Warriors was allowed on compassionate grounds by the Panthers, but there won’t be any compassion shown by his former teammates today.
Fish has taken his inspirational leadership to New Zealand and now Penrith is plotting the demise of their former talisman.
Watch for the first time he and former running mate Moses Leota come together.
38m agoSat 13 Sep 2025 at 5:19amLATE MAIL: Major changes for Panthers and Warriors
(NRL.com)
Neither team is 1-17 this afternoon.
After Penrith hooker Mitch Kenny was ruled out by a hamstring injury earlier this week, Luke Sommerton was named his replacement with Brad Schneider on the bench. But an hour before kick-off, Ivan Cleary has pulled a switcheroo, with Schneider starting and Sommerton benched. Tom Jenkins remains 18th man, with Paul Alamoti taking his spot on the wing after spending basically all season in NSW Cup.
The Warriors, meanwhile, have an extra change.
Kurt Capewell was named at centre to replace the injured Rocco Berry, but has shifted to the back row, while Leka Halasima will line up in the backs in jersey number 11. A massive test for the rookie.
There’s some action on the bench too, with Sam Healey coming in and Eddie Ieremia-Toeava making way, as Andrew Webster favours mobility over size.
43m agoSat 13 Sep 2025 at 5:14amWelcome to Sudden-Death Saturday
Hello and welcome to another day of NRL finals action.
Today we have a pair of sudden-death elimination finals — the Warriors hosting Penrith before the Rooster meet the Sharks in Cronulla.
It should be a tense evening, so let’s get straight into it.