League: Coach Lang praises his NZ players

SYDNEY - Penrith coach John Lang had plenty of praise for his New Zealand players after they brought down the New Zealand Warriors in their National Rugby League clash on Saturday night.

The Panthers, whose chances of finals football had already been extinguished, did their best to douse the Warriors' hopes of a top eight finish with their 34-26 win at Penrith Stadium.

Joe Galuvao, Frank Pritchard and Frank Puletua all had big games for Penrith and enhanced their chances of playing in the Tri-nations test series later this year.

"I thought Frank Pritchard was really good and I rated Frank Puletua's performance," Lang said after the match.

But he reserved his highest compliments for Galuvao.

"I thought Joey Galuvao had a real big dig. When we were doing it tough, he was making big surging runs down the right side of the field.

"He kept us in the game until we steadied the ship and went on with it."

There was some irony in the praise as Penrith have cast Galuvao from their ranks this season. He has signed an A$800,000 ($897,464) contract with South Sydney for the next three seasons.

"Joe is off to Souths next year, but there is a spirit among the boys independent of the changes."

He said Ben Ross, who is also being shed, had been carrying injuries since the State of Origin series, but had been determined to play every game he could before he heads to Cronulla next season.

Ross and Galuvao were released to free up funds for the Panthers to retain three promising juniors -- Garret Crossman, Ben Pomeroy and Ben Rogers -- but they have all since been poached by other clubs.

The situation, with 13 top-line players lost in the past 18 months, prompted Kiwis and Penrith stalwart Tony Puletua to speak out late last week about a morale issue at the club.

"I was disappointed to see us lose guys like Joey and Ben Ross," Puletua told the Sunday Telegraph.

"They are quality players who were contracted for a few more years.

"Management have made the picture clear to us. There are salary cap issues but it's sad to see most of our team disappearing."

The Warriors, meantime, have to get their season back on track. They impressed with their recent wins over the Roosters and Raiders, but their chances of making the finals nosedived against the Panthers.

They have to win their final four games -- against Parramatta, Melbourne, Newcastle and Manly -- before sitting out the last round with the luxury of two points for the bye.

Coach Tony Kemp thinks they can do it, but the side won't be able to leak holes in their defence like they did on Saturday night if they are to get there.

- NZPA