By Jake Bull
The Illawarra Cutters return home to host the Penrith Panthers at WIN Stadium, Wollongong on Saturday.
This is a must win for the Cutters after a recent run of form and they head into this clash sitting just inside the top eight.
On the other hand, the Panthers have had a successful season and sit at the top of the table with three other sides with not many rounds remaining.
Cutters Head Coach Scott Logan was disappointed with the loss but having lost three players to injury in the opening 20 minutes, was proud of the resilience of the players who were left on the field.
“We made too many errors at crucial times and we couldn’t sustain any pressure so we had to do a lot of work with three injuries in the first part of the game,” said Logan.
“It was disappointing but like I said to the boys it was a lesson in resilience and we just need to find a way to work harder when things go against us and not dropping our heads when we come up with an error.”
“We competed right to the end and managed to score some tries in the back end of the second half but the game was well and truly gone at that stage.”
The Cutters have named an almost identical team named last week with Heath L’Estrange coming in for Craig Garvey who has moved into the first-grade squad.
Also named for the home side are explosive forwards Luke Page and Russell Packer.
The visitors don’t have a team full of big names but they have a side of young talent.
However, there is some experience in the squad with Tupou Sopoaga and Ben Murdoch-Masila named.
