Round 5, 2020: Parramatta 16 Penrith 10

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Eels v Panthers: Brown, Cleary back from bans

The battle of the west promises to be a cracker with Parramatta and Penrith both still unbeaten.

The Eels notched their fourth win in dramatic fashion against Manly last round to build upon their premiership credentials.

For the Panthers, a 26-0 drubbing of the Warriors would have added to their confidence after they drew with Newcastle the week prior.

A host of topline individual clashes are sure to have fans on the edges of their seats.

The Rundown

Team News

Eels: Nathan Brown returns at lock, bumping Marata Niukore to the bench. Ray Stone joins the interchange with Brad Takairangi and Oregon Kaufusi dropping out.

Panthers: Nathan Cleary's return in the halves means Matt Burton moves back to the bench, with Mitch Kenny out of the 17.

Key Match-Up

Eels halfback Mitchell Moses was lauded for his composure as he steered the team to a 19-16 win over Manly, his name even being tossed into Origin selection discussions by some pundits and fans. Nathan Cleary has been NSW's regular No.7 in recent years and he'll want to prove he's still the state's premier playmaker.

NRL.com

Eels power home to take honours in epic battle of the west

Former Panther Waqa Blake came back to haunt his old side and spark the Eels to a 16-10 win in the Battle of the West at Bankwest Stadium.

A barnstorming effort from Blake in the 62nd minute started a three-try onslaught in a five-minute period after the Panthers led 10-0 with a quarter of the match remaining.

The Fijian international broke the line again shortly to lay on another for Eels skipper Clint Gutherson to level the scores and bring the 507 fans allowed into the ground back to life after a sluggish opening 60 minutes.

The remarkable change in momentum, further aided by a tremendous run from Nathan Brown on the previous play, brought about Parramatta's third through Ryan Matterson two minutes from a Mitchell Moses kick which bounced horribly for Panthers fullback Caleb Aekins.

The Panthers had a chance to send the game into golden point on the fulltime siren but the Eels held on to secure their best start to a season since their premiership-winning season in 1986.

Earlier, the Panthers lost in-form forward Kurt Capewell two minutes into the clash with a suspected medial ligament knee injury as both sides were denied tries in the opening stages.

Eels winger Blake Ferguson was ruled to have pushed Stephen Crichton before a small push from Dean Whare on Dylan Brown at the other end of the paddock gave the Eels a reprieve.

Reagan Campbell-Gillard made his presence felt early against his former club with a monster hit on former teammate James Fisher-Harris but the Panthers repelled any further shots from the home side to deliver a 10-0 lead at halftime.

Momentum carried Brian To'o over the line after a loose pass from Aekins popped up for the Panthers winger to score out wide.

Cleary, who was returning from a two-week NRL suspension for his role in a breach of social distancing protocols in April, was forced to attempt the conversion with the TikTok song that landed him in trouble playing beforehand.

The sideline miss was his only blemish in an otherwise strong display.

The Panthers knocked back the chance for two points in front with four minutes remaining in the first period and were rewarded the following set with Cleary chiming in on the left edge to help send Josh Mansour over.

In a concern for the Eels, Kane Evans was placed on report for an alleged chicken wing effort on Liam Martin. The match review committee will on Saturday decide whether a charge will eventuate.