Bryce Cartwright's week to forget got a whole lot worse at Campbelltown on Sunday afternoon when he sufered a suspected fractured leg in Penrith's 36-2 victory over the Wests Tigers.
While his teammates went about avenging the disappointment of their poor showing against the Dragons in round one, Cartwright left the field early in the first half after picking up the injury that now threatens to keep him out of action for the next month.
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Panthers bounce back as Tigers regress
Penrith have shown the attacking flair that has many tipping them as one of the most exciting sides of 2017, as they thrashed the Tigers 36-2 in Campbelltown.
It is believed a plate inserted in his leg from a previous surgery to repair a broken ankle may have been dislodged in contact, causing extra discomfort that led to Cartwright's premature exit from the game.
"He's got a plate in his leg from a previous broken ankle," Panthers coach Anthony Griffin said after the victory. "He's got a lot of pain over the top of that so the doctor wants to get a scan. There's a number of things it could be but until we get a scan we're not sure.
"I don't think [it's long term]. It's probably ... he's sore. He couldn't play with it obviously but the doctor just wants to get it scanned and make sure that on that joint whatever it is - there's no damage there."
The back-rower had endured an emotionally draining week that saw his reputation take a battering following the revelations of an abortion pay-out.
He was also well below par in the Panthers' shock loss to the Dragons at Kogarah in the opening round, with the latest setback only adding to his nightmare run.
"He was fine. There was never an issue over whether he was going to play or not," Griffin said of Cartwright's frame of mind leading into the match.
"He went in the game 100 per cent fit. He doesn't know how the injury happened either. He just got a whack or collision there somehow and it got to a point where he couldn't play."
However, the Panthers did well to erase the memories of their embarrassing opening-week showing, getting their premiership assault back on track with a strong performance in week two.
The Panthers were soft in defence against St George Illawarra, leaking easy points that raised question marks over their status as equal premiership favouritism in the pre-season. While they managed to rack up plenty of points against the Tigers, it was their resilient goal-line defence that would have pleased coach Anthony Griffin the most.
"Defence is attitude," Griffin said. "For some reason last week we approached that game and weren't ready for St George. That's everyone's fault. That's my fault, the players' fault - something went wrong last week but today we got it right."
The Tigers threw plenty at them, and while they shot themselves in the foot with repeated mistakes close to the line, it was largely as a result of their inability to find their way through the Panthers wall.
After an eye-catching performance in the opening round against South Sydney, Tigers halves Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses had an unhappy afternoon.
The pair failed to make an impact in an outing marred by errors and missed opportunities.
"In fairness to the Tigers, they probably bombed a couple they should have got there today," Griffin said. "It's the fact we just kept scrambling and kept throwing a jersey there every time they came at us. I couldn't have been prouder of them today as a team, especially opposed to last week. It was a really strong response."
An eight-minute flurry just before the break saw the Panthers turn the game on its head, crossing for three rapidfire tries through Dean Whare, Dylan Edwards and debutant Viliame Kikau after the score was locked at 2-2 at the 30 minute mark.
It was unlikely start to the second half with Penrith prop Leilani Latu leaping over Tigers winger Moses Suli to latch on to a Te Maire Martin bomb and take the visitors' lead to 24-2 with 30 minutes remaining.
Whare, who missed the majority of 2016 through injury, grabbed his second try of the afternoon soon after when he sliced through some soft defence to take his team to an unassailable lead. Nathan Cleary scored late to rub salt into the wound of the Wests Tigers.
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