Monday, CUA Stadium, 7pm

Referee: Matt Cecchin

The supreme test for the Panthers. They are ninth going into this round, one point outside of the top eight, and in the last two rounds they are away to the Warriors and at home to Manly. So it doesn't get any easier for them. They really need to win this game, but what chance are they are against odds-on premiership favourites the Storm? We could point to the fact they are playing at home, but they haven't been dominant there this season. Penrith have won four, drawn one and lost five at CUA. The bottom line is that the Panthers are going to have to play out of their skin and the Storm are going to have to drop a notch or two to make it a contest, because if the Storm bring their best form it will likely be too much for the Panthers to handle, even with the home-ground advantage.

Penrith can't win by playing the percentages. They are going to have to score plenty of points to put themselves in the game, because they don't defend nearly well enough to hope to hold Melbourne to a reasonably low total. If the passes stick, Penrith can score tries through the likes of Michael Jennings and other flyers, but if they come up with too many turnovers they will be inviting the Storm to run all over them. Melbourne deserve hot favouritism.