Soward to fire Penrith’s popgun attack

Penrith five-eighth Jamie Soward says he and halves partner Peter Wallace need to fire up a popgun attack that has currently scored the equal least amount of points in the NRL.

Penrith’s clip of 16 points per game this year is, along with Manly, the worst in the competition and has left them just one win above last spot on the ladder.

And it’s gotten worse since star fullback Matt Moylan went down with a 10-week ankle injury against Parramatta in round 12, with the Panthers scoring just two tries in two games.

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s clash with the Wests Tigers, Soward said the team had made a conscious effort this week to spark their attack.

“Focus has just been on getting some more consistency in attack, some more fluency on the weekend,” he said.

“Last week we were close to scoring three to four tries but then we let in some soft tries (too).

“We’ve trained really well this week. Got another session this afternoon, and hopefully get some more things in order.”

Teenager Dallin Watene-Zelezniak has struggled to fill into the sizeable shoes left by Moylan, committing six errors over his past fortnight in the No.1 jumper.

Soward said he and Wallace needed to do a better job of getting the 19-year-old into the right spots in their set plays.

“He had some tough carries and he was in the game for the whole 80 minutes (against Canterbury last week),” he said.

“Maybe myself and `Wall’ need to back him up a little bit more and let him play his own game.

“Moyza’s out for another couple of months and we’re very happy that we’ve got a very good replacement in Dallin.

“We need to make sure we get him the ball when we need to.”

While the Panthers have lost hooker James Segeyaro for up to a month with a knee injury, winger Josh Mansour has been named for his first game since suffering the same injury round seven.

“It’s been a frustrating year for myself but I’m definitely excited to be back especially because we’re playing at Leichhardt. I always enjoy playing out there,” Mansour said.

“The knee is feeling great. I’m very confident in it – I wouldn’t be playing if it wasn’t.

“You always want to come back from an injury earlier than expected but with this injury – a pretty high grade tear in my MCL – the full recovery was to be expected.”

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