Phil Gould, who dumped Ivan Cleary at Penrith, has urged the Wests Tigers to make the former Panthers coach the club's No.1 target.

The Roosters have surged clear atop the NRL ladder after downing the Penrith Panthers 14-12 in a thriller.

• Live

Follow full live coverage of the three NRL clashes on Saturday afternoon.

It's being billed as a potential grand final audition. East versus west in a battle that pins the hottest halves combination in the game against the most exciting two young play makers in the NRL.

The Penrith Panthers have opted to send Bryce Cartwright in for further scans, fearing the ankle injury to the backrower may be worse than originally diagnosed.

Jason Taumalolo's chances of claiming back-to-back Dally M Medals have been all but killed off after he copped a two-week suspension for a shoulder charge.

Bryce Cartwright's week to forget got a whole lot worse at Campbelltown on Sunday afternoon, suffering a suspected fractured leg in Penrith's 36-2 victory over the Wests Tigers.

Embattled Penrith star Bryce Cartwright is a certainty to take his place in Sunday's NRL match against the Wests Tigers, coach Anthony Griffin has confirmed.

Wests Tigers coach Jason Taylor will refuse to use the Tim Simona betting scandal as an excuse if his side can't beat the Panthers after reaching out to the deregistered centre.

Panthers officials will closely monitor Bryce Cartwright's welfare and concede the troubled star is no certainty to face the Wests Tigers, as teammates closed ranks around him.

Ah, Robbie. You've done it again. He's not even at the Tigers, but Farah's still getting under the skin of his old club.

Te Maire Martin left the Wests Tigers looking for an opportunity. He was the hottest young talent on the market, but there was no room for him at the joint venture club given the investment the club had made in Mitchell Moses and Luke Brooks.

• UPDATED

The Wests Tigers have made the stunning admission that they tried to 'look after' Greg Inglis as he battled through what turned out to be a season-ending knee injury last Friday night.

Penrith Panthers general manager Phil Gould has said the club was unaware of a $50,000 abortion pay-off made by Bryce Cartwright to a woman who claimed to be carrying his child.

St George Illawarra have caused a major boilover with a round-one thumping of one of the premiership favourites.

James Tamou knows if Penrith fail to live up to the hype, the first person the finger will be pointed at will be the high-profile recruit.

Nathan Cleary's introduction to rugby league was enough to turn most away from the game for life. At a local park in Auckland six years ago, a scrawny 13-year-old son of a gun picked up a football for the first time - taking on bearded men in an open age game that would be the making of a teenage prodigy.

After a massive 2016 season, the Panthers captain has served his apprenticeship and is ready to become one of the game's next superstars.

​Penrith coach Anthony Griffin has backed unlucky prop Sam McKendry to come back from what could be his second knee reconstruction in seven months.