League: Panthers pummel Warriors

Panthers 36 Warriors 6

The Warriors have maintained that they haven't been concerned about making the playoffs - well, they can finally lay that one to rest after they were hammered by the Panthers in Penrith last night.

If there was still any doubt, the Warriors now have no chance of making the top eight on the back of a poor second-half performance when they leaked four tries in 13 minutes.

Going into the match, Ivan Cleary's side needed to win all of six remaining games to accumulate 28 points - generally regarded as the cutoff to make the playoffs - but they were strangely off colour last night in the six-tries-to-one loss.

They lacked the urgency and quality they have been playing with in recent weeks, when they sparked faint hopes they could slip into the top eight despite starting four points behind the pack because of the salary cap debacle, and they also coughed up a number of crucial errors.

But it was their defence, an aspect of the game they have prided themselves on, that was glaringly inept last night and they missed an incredible 52 tackles.

Rhys Wesser was the chief beneficiary, nabbing his ninth career hat-trick to help keep alive his side's chances of sneaking into the playoffs.

It was as if the Warriors realised their season was already over and Cleary will need to find some choice words to keep his side motivated for the rest of the season.

The New Zealand club has traditionally struggled against the Panthers, having lost six of the past seven encounters and have been winless at Penrith Stadium since 2002.

But they started well enough, scoring a try as early as the third minute, when Manu Vatuvei climbed high to gather a Grant Rovelli chip to the corner, but rarely threatened for the next 77 minutes.

The remainder of the opening spell was something of an arm wrestle punctuated by two Panthers tries.

The first went to Kiwis second rower Tony Puletua, who simply charged over from 10m out on the quarter mark, while the second was snaffled by Wesser, who dived on a kick put through by hooker Luke Priddis.

The Warriors had every right to feel a little hard done by considering it looked like a Penrith player had lost control of the pill in the play-the-ball.

At 12-6 at halftime, it was anyone's game. A 13-minute spell, however, soon settled the issue.

Wesser ghosted in for his second, after Michael Gordon had pushed off a dreadfully weak Vatuvei tackle and that was the signal for the floodgates to open, as Luke Rooney, Matthew Cross and then Wesser crossed again.

Both Jerome Ropati and Wairangi Koopu were denied by the video referee late in the match but both would have been little more than consolations.

It will be a painful loss for a young side who were starting to show signs of genuine improvement.

And it will also hurt the club's ability to lure back punters to Mt Smart Stadium.

Talk of playoffs will have to wait another year - let's hope it's more than just talk in 2007.

Panthers 36 (R. Wesser 3, T. Puletua, L Rooney, M. Cross tries, P. Campbell 6 gls).
Warriors 6 (M. Vatuvei try, T. Martin gl).
HT: 12-6.

* Back-up hooker George Gatis has signed on for another year with the Warriors after the club offered him a new deal.

The 28-year-old former Cowboy, who had been on a one-year incentive-based contract, had been considering a return to Queensland to take over the running of his fish and chip shop but said his father was prepared to continue at the helm for at least another season.