Penrith win as Moylan faces injury battle

Matt Moylan's troublesome hamstring sidelined him again late in Penrith crucial 24-16 NRL win over the Gold Coast.

Matt Moylan of the Panthers

Matt Moylan has injured his hamstring in Penrith's 24-16 NRL win over Gold Coast. (AAP)

Penrith captain Matt Moylan insists he won't miss any of the Panthers' run home to the NRL finals after battling a hamstring injury in Saturday's 24-16 win over the Gold Coast.

The Panthers moved one step closer to the playoffs in the see-sawing encounter, but the fitness of their star five-eighth remains a concern as he clearly struggled throughout the win.

The 26-year-old was taken from Pepper Stadium with 15 minutes to play after he scored a crucial 40m intercept try, after he also missed last week's win over the Warriors.

However he said he still expected to face Canterbury at home on Thursday night, despite the Panthers having a minimal five-day turnaround.

"I reckon I'll be sweet," Moylan said.

"I just didn't want to risk doing too much to it. The coaching staff thought it was a good idea to come off."

The result left the Titans barely clinging to life in the race for the eight, while centre Konrad Hurrell also suffered a serious hamstring injury.

But the win moved Panthers to level on wins with the eighth-placed St George Illawarra, who have a game in hand with a superior for-and-against record.

Penrith also have games against the lowly ranked Bulldogs and Wests Tigers in the next fortnight, but their attack will need to improve before a more difficult final month.

They trailed 6-0 early and coughed the ball up while attacking in the Titans' half six times in the opening half hour, as they looked to play far too lateral and expansive.

However the match swung on an error from Tyrone Roberts as he drifted across field and was hit by Panthers forward Corey Harawira-Naera in the 36th minute.

There was a hint of a double knock on, but the referees opted against using the bunker as Waqa Blake scooped up the ball and ran 60m to score the first of his two tries.

From there, the two teams traded second-half tries through Blake and Anthony Don, before Moylan's intercept and a Dallin Watene-Zelezniak four-pointer put Anthony Griffin's Panthers in control.

"I thought in the second half we just settled down and got into the grind and tried to execute our plays really well," Griffin said.

Roberts also crossed late for the Titans, but it will mean little to coach Neil Henry given they now likely need to win five of their last six games.

"The difference in the game was we gifted two tries," he said.

"You shouldn't be conceding points when you're in possession."


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Source: AAP



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