Embattled Penrith star Bryce Cartwright is a certainty to take his place in Sunday's NRL match against the Wests Tigers, coach Anthony Griffin has confirmed.
Panthers boss Phil Gould admitted during the week that Cartwright was in doubt to take on the Tigers following his controversy-plagued week off the field.
However, Griffin guaranteed Cartwright has held his place in the final 17.
"Bryce is good. Obviously he's not happy with the way he played last weekend, like we all are. But he's looking forward to his game tomorrow," Griffin told reporters on Saturday.
The Penrith second-rower will be looking to put a difficult week off the field behind him by improving on a disappointing performance in the team's round-one loss to St George-Illawarra.
Cartwright was criticised for missing a team-high seven tackles, but Griffin said the 22-year-old wasn't helped by the team's poor handling as a unit.
"We played last week with 40 per cent of the ball," Griffin said.
"Whether it's Bryce or anyone in our team, if you're constantly feeding the opposition ball and field position, you're doing more defence than what you're entitled to do."
Griffin also confirmed international winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak has fallen short in his bid to come back early from a knee injury, with youngster Dylan Edwards to start.
Watene-Zelezniak is expected back the following week, while versatile outside back Peta Hiku has avoided having surgery on a fractured eye socket and could be back early.
"The surgeon's quite happy for it to mend itself, so he's not going to be a month now, he might only be a couple of weeks," Griffin said.
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