Both are bottom-three, but there is nothing low-key about this iconic Western Showdown between old foes. The Eels seek to continue their upward trajectory to win 3-straight for the first time in two years. The Panthers, after a disastrous Bathurst trip, host the Eels in a vital match for the last-placed defending premiers.
Both welcome back their Origin stars. Mitchell Moses and Zac Lomax boost the Eels, while the Panthers welcome back their Big five - Dylan Edwards, Brian To'o, Nathan Cleary, Isaah Yeo - to make them warm favorites having dominated the Eels in recent seasons.
Team Lists
Panthers (17th) vs Eels (15th) Sunday, 1 June 2025, 4.05pm AEST at CommBank Stadium
Weather: Expected to be fine,
Ground: Expected to be good
Sportsbet: $1.56 Penrith $2.42 Eels
Referees: Peter Gough (on-field referee), touch Judge: Liam Kennedy (touch judge), Grant Atkins (Senior Review Official)
Panthers: 1. Dylan Edwards 2. Thomas Jenkins 3. Izack Tago 4. Casey McLean 5. Brian To’o 6. Blaize Talagi 7. Nathan Cleary 8. Moses Leota 9. Mitch Kenny 10. Lindsay Smith 11. Scott Sorensen 12. Liam Martin 13. Isaah Yeo
Bench: 14. Luke Sommerton 15. Matt Eisenhuth 16. Luron Patea 21. Daine Laurie
18th man: 17. Harrison Hassett
Cut: 18. Brad Schneider 19. Riley Wake 20. Preston Riki 22. Jack Cole 23. Paul Alamoti 24. Austin Dias
Head Coach: Ivan Cleary
Eels: 1. Isaiah Iongi 2. Zac Lomax 3. Sean Russell 4. Jordan Samrani 5. Josh Addo-Carr 6. Dylan Brown 7. Mitchell Moses 8. Jack Williams 9. Ryley Smith 10. Junior Paulo 11. Kelma Tuilagi 15. Luca Moretti 13. J’maine Hopgood
Bench: 14. Dylan Walker 12. Kitione Kautoga 16. Ryan Matterson 17. Joash Papali’i
18th man: 18. Matt Doorey
Cut: 19. Joey Lussick 20. Toni Mataele 21. Dean Hawkins 22. Samuel Loizou
Head Coach: Jason Ryles
All seven NSW Origin Stars are backing up.
Moretti starts, Tuilagi to the bench. Laurie comes onto the bench.
Dean Hawkins was finally cut, and didn't play in reggies.
Stats That Matter
• The Panthers have dominated recently v Eels - they have won 4 of the last 6
• The Panthers are winless at CommBank this year (0-3)
• The Eels have won 3 of the last 4 at CommBank
• Brian To’o: 10 tries in 13 games vs Parramatta
• Eels are chasing 3 straight wins for the first time in 2 years since 2023
By the numbers
Here are the season's overall attack and defence rankings (R1-R12).
| Scored | ppg | Conceded | ppg | |
| 1 | Storm (4th) | 33.8 | Bulldogs (1st) | 18.4 |
| 2 | Raiders (2nd) | 27.8 | Knights (14th) | 18.9 |
| 3 | Broncos (8th) | 26.2 | Warriors (3rd) | 19.6 |
| 4 | Bulldogs (1st) | 25.1 | Storm (4th) | 20.3 |
| 5 | Dolphins (13th) | 24.5 | Sharks (5th) | 20.7 |
| 6 | Sharks (5th) | 24.3 | Dolphins (13th) | 21.0 |
| 7 | Roosters (11th) | 24.2 | Rabbitohs (6th) | 21.2 |
| 8 | Manly (9th) | 23.5 | Manly (9th) | 21.8 |
| 9 | Cowboys (7th) | 22.8 | Raiders (2nd) | 22.0 |
| 10 | Dragons (10th) | 22.8 | Broncos (8th) | 22.4 |
| 11 | Panthers (17th) | 22.7 | Dragons (10th) | 23.9 |
| 12 | Titans (16th) | 21.0 | Panthers (17th) | 24.6 |
| 13 | Tigers (12th) | 20.6 | Tigers (12th) | 25.5 |
| 14 | Warriors (3rd) | 19.6 | Cowboys (7th) | 26.0 |
| 15 | Eels (15th) | 19.0 | Roosters (11th) | 26.0 |
| 16 | Rabbitohs (6th) | 16.5 | Eels (15th) | 26.2 |
| 17 | Knights (14th) | 13.9 | Titans (16th) | 31.0 |
The Panthers' premiership-defence is a shadow of itself.
For five years (2020-2024) they leaked between 11.90 to 16.42 pg. This year it's almost 25 pg.
That's their worst in 15 years, since 2008-09 when they were bottom-four defensively.
Pain and Promise
Here are snapshots of the seasons of both teams.
| The Eels | Score (pg) | Concede (pg) | ||
| R1-2 | LL | Blowouts | 12.0 | 44.0 |
| R3-5 | LLW | Life | 14.3 | 22.3 |
| R6 | L | Blowout | 12.0 | 50.0 |
| R7-12 | WBLLWW | Rising | 26.0 | 17.2 |
| The Panthers | Score (pg) | Concede (pg) | ||
| R1-6 | WLLLLL | The Fall | 22.0 | 28.3 |
| R7-12 | WLWDBL | Rising | 23.6 | 20.2 |
For both, it's been a tale of two seasons.
The first six weeks saw both hit rock-bottom. But since then, both have improved over the last six weeks.
Since round 7, the Eels are 2nd in defence and 7th in attack, while the Panthers are 4th in defence and 9th in attack. The ladder since then, would see the Eels fifth and Panthers seventh.
Last Week
The Eels looked electric in a 30–10 demolition of Manly — and they did it without Momax. It was their most complete performance of the season, possibly years.
Despite less possession (49%-51%), they dominated in the key areas with and without the ball — more go-forward (1884m to 1777m), more linebreaks (5-3), fewer errors (8-9). That's three wins from the four games they've had fewer mistakes than the opposition.
Meanwhile, the Panthers were poor. Missing their big five, were dominated 25-6 by the Knights - the worst attacking team in the comp.
The Panthers missed 50 tackles and were sliced open by Fletcher Sharp and Dylan Lucas (line breaks 9-2 to the Knights). Possession slipped away (46%-54%). They lost the metre battle (1751m-2125m). Their ball control was shaky (79% completions vs 85%, 10 errors to 8). Throw in more penalties conceded (8-7), and it was lights out.
Where is that ruthless, high-speed grind that made them four-time premiers and will it return? With five Origin reps, once they get cohesion with their young guns, it could. In a sense, cohesion and consistency with so many youngsters and changing players has been part of both the Eels and Panthers' issues this year.
The passion of the plentiful Eels' young guns has been a highlight of their big win last week and the Ryles rebuild. Is it all coming together and will we see continued resilience and consistency?
Final Word
Penrith will be desperate to reassert their authority after last week's stumble. Expect them to come out with intent, looking to remind everyone why they’ve been the benchmark for five years.
The Eels, meanwhile, are hunting redemption. After years in the doldrums, they’ve shown signs of life — and nothing would spark a revival like knocking off the reigning premiers.
There’s pride, points, and plenty at stake. Don’t blink — this one could erupt.
The Eels celebrate last win's big win over Manly with gutso.
Replies
Joey John's thinks that Iongi might intended the pass for Lomax and not Samrani. Yeah that could be the winning play.
It was definitely for Lomax. He say Jenkings jam on Samrani so he throwed the cut out pass to lomax.
The possession stats definitely changed in the 2nd half and Clearys taken control.I thought we'd come home over them but we look like the ones who've run out of gas.
He took control because his team rolled through the middle, he played off the front foot that second half.
They ate metres though the middle third the second half, it killed us.
We had to manufacture momentum alot harder on your halves.
We need some middles badly.
Completely agree. They've won we're going 60-70 a set. We were struggling badly for metres.
There little men you saw Edward's especially and Cleary continually turning it back inside.Id like to see Iongi target runs in and around our fowards I think that's his next evolution.
Great game I hate that we lost but we just didn't take our opportunities.
I mean Jack Williams in the first half
Iongi hitting Samrani in the chest there's the game right there.
Our errors to in tight games just put to much unwanted pressure on us can't have it.
We are growing but we are experiencing the pain of doing so.
Yup. Perfectly summed up.
Yeh totally agree and that comes with inexperience. Awesome effort and it sucks we lost but Cleary pulled out a master class today, all their origin players stood up and we got pretty close and created more chances, we are definitely heading in the right direction
Huge gap between Cleary and Moses
It's why there was no question he was 7 for the blues.
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