VENUE & TIME: Dairy Farmers Stadium, Saturday July 25, 7:30pm (AEST).
COVERAGE: Fox Sports 2
LAST TIME: Panthers 19 - Cowboys 18 at Dairy Farmers Stadium, Round 12, 2008.
WALKING WOUNDED: The Cowboys are in the midst of a hooker crisis with regular No. 9 Aaron Payne (shoulder/bicep) out for the season and now Anthony Watts suspended for a week thanks to his moment of madness at Leichhardt Oval last Sunday. Clint Amos would have been another hooker option for the club but he is out for the season with a knee injury. Travis Burns is the man to fill the vacancy for this crucial clash. Ash Graham (foot) and Luke O'Donnell (knee) remain on the injured list.
Petero Civoniceva (toe - season), Luke Lewis (toe), Lachlan Coote (shoulder - season), Frank Pritchard (hand) and Masada Iosefa (bicep) are all unavailable for the Panthers, but winger Shane Elford returns on a five-man bench from an ankle injury.
FORM: The inconsistent Cowboys have gone WLWLWL over the past six weeks with their latest effort being a disappointing 20-point defeat at the hands of the Tigers last Sunday. The loss saw them slip to sixth spot on the ladder and in danger of dropping out of the top-eight.
The Panthers secured a much-needed 27-14 win over the Raiders at home on Saturday night to push them one spot up the ladder to seventh position. They benefited greatly from a few questionable video referee decisions in the first half, but were still clearly the better side for the majority of the 80 minutes.
WHO'S HOT: Panthers winger Michael Gordon made a solid return from an ankle injury against the Raiders, but more importantly he improved his already remarkable 2009 goal-kicking stats. His five goals from as many attempts made it 36 goals from 38 attempts - a stunning strike rate of 94.7 percent.
WE THINK: It's been said during the week that the Cowboys could struggle without a decent No.9 feeding the ball off to Thurston, but the guy Neil Henry has chosen in the position (Travis Burns) will not take a backward step and has the skills to keep the Cowboys attack flowing. The Cowboys have been strong at home all year and if their win-loss run of late is anything to go by then a victory is on the cards for what shapes to be a crucial clash for both teams. The loss of some key forward talent through injury has stripped the Panthers of a genuine advantage in this clash. Cowboys by 10.
TEAMS
North QLD Cowboys:
1 Matthew Bowen, 2 Michael Bani, 3 Ty Williams, 4 Willie Tonga, 5 John Williams, 6 Grant Rovelli, 7 Johnathan Thurston [c], 8 Shane Tronc, 9 Travis Burns, 10 Matthew Scott, 11 Carl Webb, 12 Scott Bolton, 13 Steve Southern. Interchange: 14 Steve Rapira, 15 Antonio Kaufusi, 16 James Tamou, 17 Manase Manuokafoa, 18 Dayne Weston (one to be omitted).
Penrith Panthers:
Jarrod Sammut, Junior Tia-Kilifi, Michael Jennings, Brad Tighe, Michael Gordon, Wade Graham, Luke Walsh, Frank Puletua, Paul Aiton, Matthew Bell, Trent Waterhouse [c], Gavin Cooper, Nathan Smith. Interchange: Adam Woolnough, Tim Grant, Joseph Paulo, Maurice Blair, Shane Elford (one to be omitted).
Referees: Shayne Hayne & Matt Cecchin