Roosters take No.1 in epic showdown

Full time: A crazy intense contest comes to an end in a thrilling finish, the Roosters prevailing 12-6 to hand them top spot on the ladder.

80 min: The Roosters defence wins it! After the Panthers secure the ball off a short kick-off and then a set restart, they take it right to the final play of the game. The try their trusty left hand side but after a scramble and desperate offloads from Izack Tago and Isaiah Papali'i, Tom Jenkins fires the ball infield with a long pass and Hugo Savala leaps high to snare it and seal the win for the Roosters.

78 min: The champ has risen once again. The second most capped player in NRL history, Daly Cherry-Evans has crashed for over for a double! A few plays after Cody Ramsey flies high to secure the short dropout, the Roosters make space down the right and with a 3-on-2, he goes it alone and bounces over the try line. It's not sealed yet as Sam Walker hits the post with his conversion attempt. Roosters 12-6.

76 min: On last tackle, Mark Nawaqanitawase receives the ball flat-footed and puts a grubber kick through off the outside of his boot. Daly Cherry-Evans and Dylan Edwards are in a foot race for the ball and the Panthers No.1 almost goes over the top of it, the Bunker ruling he took it dead.

75 min: The home side is throwing everything at the Roosters on the try line going wing to wing trying to find a way through. The ball swing out left and replacement Blaize Talagi thinks he's spotted an opportunity, but he passes it straight to Mark Nawaqanitawase, who gets a handy offload away to Robert Toia and they start the set from their own 40.

74 min: The Panthers will get an opportunity here. Brian To'o goes on a jinking run off his wing trying to spark something and after stepping past a couple, Victor Radley comes in and gets him high. The Inflictor is put on report and the Panthers go into the red zone. 

70 min: A big captain's challenge for the Panthers. The referee decides to rule knock on against Isaiah Papali'i after a ball spills out the back of his grasp on the Roosters side of half way. It goes upstairs and while Siua Wong's hand was wedged in Papali'i's armpit, the Bunker decides Wong was simply removing his hand from the position instead of making a stripping action and the call is upheld.

67 min: Moses Leota gets over under the sticks! After going side-to-side in three consecutive sets, Lindsay Smith decides to do what Isaah Yeo would do and changes the course of attack, straightening up and then getting the offload to the Panthers front rower, who reaches down with one hand under the pressure of Victor Radley and Cody Ramsey. Nathan Cleary converts from in front. Roosters lead 8-6.

63 min: Strip for strip! The Roosters are working it out of their own end and Nathan Cleary steals the ball from the grasp of Victor Radley. Just a few tackles later, Radley gets his revenge via a one-on-one strip on Moses Leota.

62 min: Drama on the final tackle. The Panthers go on the attack and the ball ends up in goal in the hands of Cody Ramsey after Hugo Savala comes from behind the play-the-ball to knock the ball away. The replays show Nathan Cleary knocked on trying to get the ball away on last tackle under pressure from Victor Radley.

60 min: The halves are stepping up with some big bombs on last tackle forcing the outside backs into a contest. At one end, Dylan Edwards goes high above them to take a mark, and at the other Paul Alamoti bats the ball back from a Nathan Cleary kick but only as far as Sam Walker, who dashes up to the half way.

56 min: Once again we have a lull in proceedings with both teams completing their sets and a couple of Roosters and Panthers forwards getting a breather. But the tension breaks with Mark Nawaqanitawase making an error in his own end.

50 min: Awesome defence from the Panthers! The Roosters heap the pressure on the home side with a repeat set off a left foot grubber from Sam Walker, who traps Nathan Cleary in goal. In the following set, a Walker cross-field kick on last has Siua Wong claiming the ball uncontested, but three Panthers immediately swarm him to force the handover.

46 min: A try goes begging for the Panthers! They have an overlap down their right edge and it just needs to go through the hands, but Dylan Edwards just loses concentration and the ball goes to ground. Earlier, a penalty helped the Panthers out of their own end, with the Roosters surviving a Luron Patea line break and Scott Sorensen going awfully close in the lead-up.

41 min: There were a few too many errors in the first half from both teams and the Panthers don't start the second off well, opting to run the ball on last in their first set of the game. The ball finds Isaiah Papali'i who holds the ball in his left hand and pushes a pass forward and over the sideline.

Half-time: The Panthers and Roosters have delivered every bit of a finals type clash this evening and it's the Roosters going into the sheds up 8-0. The home side was all over them in the opening stages, controlling field position and possession, including enjoying five consecutive sets on attack. The Roosters maintained fantastic goal line defence to keep them away and them game turned for them as the bench started to make an impact and the Panthers began making errors. Daly Cherry-Evans scored against the run of play in the true turning point and from there the Roosters had the wealth of goal line attack. The Panthers defence showed up despite the pressure and the Roosters could only find another two points on the stroke of half time.

40 min: Things have got a bit fiery at CommBank Stadium. After the following Roosters set ends in an error against Dylan Edwards, the Panthers fullback lets his frustration with his effort to prevent the Roosters from retrieving the ball and throws the ball away. The penalty goes to the Roosters from almost right in front and Sam Walker slots the goal. Roosters 8-0.

39 min: The Roosters are over! Robert Toia dots the ball down after a Tom Jenkins error in an aerial contest with Mark Nawaqanitawase. The Bunker review finds the Roosters winger only went into the contest with one hand, so is ruled to have been a disruptor, but only after he was escorted off the contest by Panthers centre Izack Tago.

35 min: After a long kick from Daly Cherry-Evans for field position early in the tackle count, the Panthers make an error in the following set. Sam Walker ends the next set with a grubber in goal for a repeat set, and then Connor Watson comes oh so close in the next set. On last tackle, Walker puts the kick across and it goes through the hands of a leaping Mark Nawaqanitawase and dead in goal.

30 min: The Roosters give the Panthers a sniff after a knock on through fresh man Connor Watson coming out of their own end. The home side builds the pressure with a set restart and up steps Sam Walker to intercept a Freddy Lussick pass a couple of metres out.

27 min: The game has settled down a bit after a frantic 15 minutes. Both teams have gone to the bench to try to give their tired forwards a rest. Naufahu Whyte was enormous for the Roosters with 73 metres gained in his first stint.

22 min: Daly Cherry-Evans has found a way through for the opening try of the game. The Roosters receive a penalty to get into good field position and almost find a way through, but just a few plays later, there doesn't appear to be much happening when DCE receives to pass from Reece Robson, but he fools everyone with a step off his right foot between Isaiah Papali'i and Liam Henry to waltz over and score. Sam Walker converts. Roosters 6-0.

18 min: Stand and applaud the Roosters. The Panthers set up camp on the try line for five straight sets - 24 consecutive tackles - thanks to repeat sets, set restarts and penalties, but the Roosters stand up to all of it with desperate goal line defence.

14 min: Nathan Cleary gets a high kick away from 40m out from the Roosters line and Paul Alamoti knocks it backwards in the contest with Billy Smith, the ball swings over the left wing to Tom Jenkins, who finds himself without any option other than to spin it back the other way to eventually find Cleary again, who passes wider to Paul Alamoti once again, who gets it on to Briant To'o with the try line in sight. Billy Smith does just enough to force To'o to put a foot into touch. The Bunker finds the ball touched and went forward off Smith in the initial contest with Alamoti, so we come back to a scrum for Penrith.

12 min: A crazy run of play as the Roosters scramble to defend their line! A Nathan Cleary swirling bomb is allowed to bounce by Cody Ramsey and Liam Martin goes high to grab it. Finding Isaiah Papali'i in support, the second rower offloads and the ball spurts out to the left, but Roosters centre Robert Toia is there to pick up the scraps.

8 min: The Roosters get another set restart in their own end and go deep into the Panthers half. The ball comes to Cody Ramsey and tries to get his head through a gap and gets an offload away but it's a tough one for Siua Wong to handle.

5 min: The Roosters earn a much-needed set restart late in the count but cough it up immediately on half way. The Panthers march into the attacking zone and spread the ball to the right, but the one-handed offload from Paul Alamoti strikes his winger Brian To'o in the head and the hand and the visitors survive.

2 min: The Panthers win the yardage battle early after a powerful set in defence followed by an entry into the Roosters half.

Kickoff: We're underway in the top-of-the-table clash on a clear night in Burramattagal.

Late Mail

Panthers: Gun fullback Dylan Edwards (shoulder) comes into the starting side 90 minutes before kick-off. Young gun Jaxen Edgar moves to the bench and Jack Cole drops out. The loss of Isaah Yeo (pectoral) sees Lindsay Smith shift to lock and Liam Henry join the starting side in the front row. Jack Cogger returns at five-eighth after missing last week's trip to Auckland to remain in Sydney with his pregnant wife.

Roosters: No further game day changes after skipper James Tedesco fell short in his bid to return from an ankle injury and dropped out of the squad in Wednesday's update. Cody Ramsey steps into the fullback role, with Rex Bassingthwaite coming onto the six-man bench. 

Numbers Game

• The Panthers have won 12 of their last 13 games against the Roosters.
• The Roosters are chasing eight straight wins for the first time since 2022.
• The Panthers have scored 142 points in their last four games against the Roosters.
• Roosters halfback Sam Walker has yet to achieve a win over Nathan Cleary at NRL level.
• Panthers winger Brian To’o requires one try for 100 NRL tries.