Moylan banging on rep door

He’s talented and tough and Penrith fullback Matt Moylan is banging loudly on rugby league’s representative door after another match-winning NRL performance.

Moylan broke Manly’s heart in a Monday night thriller at Brookvale Oval.

With the Panthers trailing 10-8 with under seven minutes left, he dusted himself down after copping a high shot and kicked a game-tying penalty.

The Panthers star delivered the coup de grace a couple of minutes later, coolly potting a 39-metre field goal to secure a precious one-point win.

It was at least the third time he has kicked a match-winning field goal following successful efforts against Brisbane and North Queensland last season – not that he’s keeping score.

“I’m not sure (how many I’ve kicked), I’m just hoping they keep coming and I’ve just got to keep knocking them over,” Moylan said.

“I’m not keeping count. The wins are more important than keeping that field goal tally.”

Moylan said he had done a fair bit of field goal practice on the eve of the game.

“I probably kicked about 30 from about 40 (metres) out yesterday, but I didn’t hit too many of them. I probably only kicked about eight,” he said.

He also threw a cut-out pass for a try and tallied a game-high 201 run metres to ensure he kept his name before the NSW Origin selectors

Moylan said he would love to play Origin and if he didn’t make the Blues team for game one he hoped to get a call-up later in the series.

Penrith captain Jamie Soward rated Moylan’s performance on Monday as his best, while normally circumspect Panthers’ coach Ivan Cleary was also impressed with his fullback.

“He’s played the last couple of games with a fair injury to his hand as well, so he’s definitely a tough kid too,” Cleary said.

Moylan said his hand was improving every week and he hoped the ninth-placed Panthers could build on their first away win of the campaign.

Cleary hopes to have Peter Wallace, Dean Whare and Josh Mansour back for the Panthers’ next game, but talented young back George Jennings could be out for up to six weeks with a suspected broken leg.

Penrith have conceded just 18 points in their last two games, but have scored only 16 themselves.

“Tonight was our eighth halves pairing in 10 matches and it became nine during the game,” Cleary said.

“Coming with that you lose a bit of synergy, so our attack will only get better.”

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