NRL Round 22 Preview and Prediction - Penrith Panthers v Wests Tigers @ Pepper Stadium

Penrith Panthers (9th) v Wests Tigers (15th) @ Pepper Stadium
 
Preview - It's the battle of the big cats in the Wild West as the Panthers host the Tigers on Sunday afternoon at Pepper Stadium. Lots of intrigue will surround ex-Panthers Coach Ivan Cleary returning to Penrith with the Tigers, to coach against his son, Nathan Cleary. The Panthers can ill afford to slip up, having won 6 of their past 7 games to get within differential of a Top 8 spot, having levelled on the same amount of wins as the Dragons. The Panthers weren't great last week against the Bulldogs, but were defensively sound in grinding out a 16-8 victory to keep hot on the Dragons’ heels. The Tigers finally got a reward for their increased competitiveness over the past couple of months with a comprehensive 26-4 victory over the Titans on the Gold Coast. The win was the Tigers’ biggest of the season, and kept them 2 games ahead of the Knights as they look to avoid the wooden spoon in 2017. 

History - The Panthers have already given he Tigers a hiding this year winning 36-2 back in Round 2 at Campbelltown Stadium. Late last season when the sides met in the corresponding fixture it was another big win to the Panthers running out 44-10 victors. The panthers have won 4 of their past 5 games against the Tigers. 
 
Penrith Panthers’ Scouting Report - The Panthers have named both Dean Whare and Matt Moylan on an extended interchange bench, with doubt surrounding whether they will both be fit to return from injury. This game pits Nathan Cleary against his father Ivan Cleary, the Coach of the Wests Tigers, so it will be interesting to see if the Tigers have anything in store to try and quieten the Penrith playmaker. 
 
Wests Tigers’ Scouting Report - The Tigers have named the same side which put in a really impressive performance on the Gold Coast last week. The Tigers have improved defensively in the last month as Ivan Cleary looks to overhaul a culture which has really struggled defensively over more than a few seasons. Malakai Watene Zelezniak will come up against his younger brother here after being let go by the Panthers half way through this season. 
 
Verdict - Panthers by 6-14 in a high scoring game

I think there is too much at stake here for the Panthers to drop a game against a side that are playing some decent football in the past month. The Panthers have a great record against the Tigers at Penrith, and I think they have the sort of creativity in attack that can cause the Tigers’ defence a lot of problems. Although the Tigers were good last week, they were helped a lot by the fact the Titans made 15 handling errors and really failed to put any sustained pressure whatsoever on what can be a suspect defensive team. The Panthers have learnt to grind out victories of late in low scoring games, however I’m tipping they find a bit of their attacking mojo this round and go close to scoring 30 points in a victory that won’t be easily achieved. Panthers to pull away in the 2nd half and win by a couple of tries.