Penrith will host Canterbury in an elimination final at Allianz Stadium after climbing into sixth spot with a 36-6 thumping of the Manly Sea Eagles, whose season of woe has finally come to a close.
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Panthers thrash Sea Eagles
The Panthers warm up for the finals with a 36-6 thrashing of the Sea Eagles at Pepper Stadium.
The Panthers will enter the clash against the Bulldogs brimming with confidence after a fifth-straight win, set up again by ever-impressive halves Bryce Cartwright and Nathan Cleary, and fullback Matt Moylan.
Canterbury meanwhile enters this weekend's elimination final in its worst run of form this year having lost three straight, Friday night's 28-10 loss to South Sydney the latest blemish on their copy book.
The winner will play the loser of this week's qualifying final between Canberra and Cronulla.
Moylan steered the ship from the back and had the ball on a string whenever he chimed into the Panthers backline while Cleary proved again why he's arguably the NRL's best goalkicker slotting all six conversions including several from the sideline.
In the process he became the first player to rack up 100 points in the same year in both the NRL, and the Holden Cup.
Manly was lacklustre for the most part here playing with the air of resignation that has dictated much of the club's wasteful 2016, the Sea Eagles finishing the year in 13th spot.
In front of 15,411 fans who turned out for the inaugural Old Boys' day at Pepper Stadium, the biggest crowd here all year, it took the home side just four minutes to open the scoring.
Josh Mansour was on the end of a slick backline move and squeezed out a brilliant finish in the corner, satisfying the boys in the Bunker that he'd grounded the ball before going into touch.
Poor discipline kept marching Manly upfield and the Sea Eagles had their early chances to level the score, but kept coming up with errors or poor fifth-tackle options. Brayden Williame thought he'd scored in the corner but this time the Bunker boys didn't agree.
The Panthers made them pay laying on three tries in six minutes midway through the half, Matt Moylan shredding the Manly defensive line almost at will in a superb attacking performance.
That blistering six-minute period included a Dallin Watene-Zelezniak try from a play that began inside the Penrith half when Waqa Blake latched onto a Moylan pass and sizzled down the eastern touchline before finding his centre in support.
Mansour grabbed his second right on halftime, pouncing on a perfect Bryce Cartwright grubber placed in behind Sea Eagles winger Bradley Parker who had rushed up off his goal line.
Five minutes after the break they had another when Waqa Blake touched down in the corner
Manly had its chances throughout but kept finding different ways to butcher decent attacking positions, be it through poor handling, ineffective fifth-tackle options, forward passes and even an obstruction.
Eventually they found a way through when Daly Cherry Evans stepped through some ordinary defence to put Jake Trbojevic over under the posts.
Prior to kick off dozens of former Panthers did a lap of the stadium, passing under the eastern grandstand which now displays the names of the club's Hall of Fame inductees - Grahame Moran, Royce Simmons, Greg Alexander and Craig Gower.