Penrith Panthers

The Panthers were held tryless for the first time since 2015 and were guilty of turning the ball over inside the Sharks' 20-metre zone early in the tackle count on several occasions.

A late try to former Rabbitoh Michael Oldfield with four minutes left got the Panthers level after the Rabbitohs controlled most of the second half, before the cool head of Reynolds slotted the one-pointer from 20 metres out to notch up the Bunnies' third win of the season.

Aspiring premiership contenders Penrith were motivated to earn a landmark victory in Melbourne but the Storm held them scoreless in the second half, continuously repelling the many attacks on their own tryline.

Anthony Griffin's men were impressive in the 80-minute performance, scoring seven unanswered tries and keeping the visitors to zero in a dominant showing before they turn their attention to competition leaders the Melbourne Storm next Saturday night. 

It was the second time in 2017 the Panthers kept a team try-less for a game, after their Round 2 showing against the Wests Tigers in Campbelltown. 

In a fairly-even contest between the two sides, a late four-pointer to Roosters fullback Michael Gordon secured the win for the visitors, but Griffin said his men were out of luck after a number of 50-50 calls failed to go their way and a strong defensive effort was trumped by the Tri-colours.  

With Josh Mansour and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak already ruled out for the opening stages of the season, Hiku played on in Saturday's loss to St George Illawarra despite copping a huge bump to the face early.

However it was revealed to be a fracture on Monday, and club doctors have ruled him out for a month.

After a short stint with the Penrith Panthers in the Holden Cup, Wellington and Stanton returned to the country to join the Hunters pre-season train on squad.

The duo were given the nod by coach Michal Marum in the final 29-man squad that was named this month.

Wellington, who will be making his debut for the Hunters, said he is looking forward to this season.

“It’s good to be back to be representing my country playing for the Hunters. I got a lot of experience over there, three years of experience.

The proud Dubbo product hopes to add to his one Country jersey gained last season for the final fixture in Mudgee in 2017 in front of friends and family and hopes as many clubs as possible follow Penrith's lead in taking a game to the bush each year.

"Obviously the City-Country game is massive out in the country," Yeo told NRL.com of the fixture.

The hosts controlled the contest from the get-go with bruising hits in defence, powerful running and an endless supply of offloads to set up a showdown with the Storm in Melbourne next Saturday night.

Things looked good for the Raiders as they raced out to an 18-0 lead before the Panthers showed their fighting spirit to close within six points, only to have their hopes of a comeback cruelled by two late Jarrod Croker penalty goals.

After an uninspiring first half at Hunter Stadium on Sunday, the Panthers and the Knights were locked at 6-6 at the break.

But Penrith dominated the second stanza, leaving the Knights to extend their club record losing streak to 15 games.

It also puts Newcastle into the top 10 on the all-time longest losing streak list.

The Knights enjoyed 60 per cent of the possession in the first half, but despite repeated opportunities they could not crack the Panthers' line.