Warriors 42
Panthers 20
KEY POINTS:
The Warriors need the Broncos to beat the Knights in Newcastle on Friday night so their finals hopes remain alive when they travel to play Parramatta next Saturday.
But they may be forced to make that trip without star fullback Wade McKinnon.
The No 1's penchant for showing his distaste for match officials has him cited for allegedly spitting at the touch judge who failed to rule a forward pass as Panthers wing Luke Rooney scored just after half-time.
That took some of the gloss off the win and the great atmosphere of the day as 15,214 came to farewell vice-captain Ruben Wiki, the last of the 1995 foundation Warriors Logan Swann and Mr Consistent Wairangi Koopu.
"Nothing happened," McKinnon said afterwards when asked what had passed between him and the touch judge. He also denied talking back to referee Ben Cummins straight after, Cummins having previously called McKinnon out and issued a warning about his approach that was delivered with skipper Steve Price present.
Price said he told McKinnon: "We need you to be fully focused on your job." He was satisfied that the fullback had then done that.
Cummins appeared to over-compensate with a leaning against the Warriors as the noisy home crowd rode him about a skinny 10m gap and Penrith's slowing of the play-the-ball.
The NRL does not take kindly to any dissent - and takes an understandably dim view of aggression towards its officials.
The fact that the pass leading to Rooney's try was clearly forward will not be considered in mitigation. When the review committee looks at the tape repeatedly today it will be interested solely in McKinnon's intent.
The last person to face a charge of spitting was Shayne Dunley, who was suspended for four weeks for launching a gob at opponent PJ Marsh.
If the match reviewers decide McKinnon's spit was deliberately aimed he will face a contrary conduct charge that will sideline him for longer than that, despite no spittle apparently landing on the touchie.
Going into the final round, the unfancied Bulldogs can do the Warriors a favour by beating the Raiders in Canberra. But a Broncos win over the Knights is more likely.
The Warriors started poorly yesterday, Jerome Ropati shown the touchline on the first kick-return and Penrith scoring after the turnover.
But at 15 minutes they started a spree of open, running football that got them over the Penrith line eight times within the next 25 minutes.
Manu Vatuvei was held up once but then scored a double at 18 and 20 minutes, Micheal Luck scored after Penrith gave ground through consecutive penalties - the second for talking back at Cummins about the first - McKinnon and Witt scored through good support play and right on the break Ropati was held up over the line.
At 30-4 the Warriors were never going to lose. But there was some disappointment they allowed the visitors to score wide twice before they again picked up their game.
The win leaves them in ninth spot, still ruing two losses to Souths and the poor performance against the Dragons last week. If they beat the Eels and secure eighth place on the table they will play either Melbourne, Manly or Cronulla away in the first week of finals. Coach Ivan Cleary admitted they had much work to do to improve their returns.
"We're going to have to find something we haven't shown too often this season," Cleary said of the Eels game. "With what we've done previously in Australia we have a long way to go."
Price said there was no need to change preparation this week because of the importance of the game, nor to change it for finals. "Getting back to what we've been doing well, focusing on what we do well," was the secret.
The points-scoring extravaganza yesterday came simply because they stuck to the basics and performed them well. "It's not bad standing at halfway and watching Wade McKinnon and guys score tries."
