Panthers march on to semi-finals

The Penrith Panthers have booked their passage into the second week of the finals series, ending the season of the New Zealand Warriors with a 27-12 victory at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.

The Warriors struggled to overcome a knee injury that forced skipper Roger Tuivasa-Sheck from the field in the 27th minute, as the Panthers lived up to their title as the comeback kings to fight back from an early 10-point deficit with 25 unanswered points.

Veteran five-eighth James Maloney, playing in his eighth finals campaign in the past nine years, orchestrated the victory to set up a week two showdown at Allianz Stadium against the loser of the Roosters-Sharks qualifying final.

"Having him is really valuable," Penrith coach Cameron Ciraldo said of Maloney.

"His experience out there. You just know he knows what to do in each moment. It's like having another coach out there. The whole week he's shown some great leadership qualities. I felt a couple of weeks ago you could see his intensity go up. He was rallying the troops. He's born for this time of year."

For the Warriors, it was a sad end to a season that promised so much but in the end delivered little more than the club's first finals appearance in seven years.

A loss on the opening week of the finals would have left the Panthers with egg on the face given their decision to punt coach Anthony Griffin just a month out from the finals.

However, rookie coach Ciraldo will live to fight another day as he aims to edge his side one step closer to the premiership that general manager Phil Gould said they were nowhere near winning under Griffin.

Asked if the Panthers could do something special this year?

"Yeah I feel like we can win next week," Ciraldo said.

"Hopefully we can win the week after that and see how we go."

Warriors coach Stephen Kearney said his team had cause to be proud of their season despite an early finals exit.

"It's important to recognise [our improvement]," Kearney said of the Warriors' season.

"It's a pretty disappointed dressing room because we didn't put our best performance out there. But we have made some progress this year, there's no doubt about that."

As has so often been the case throughout the season, Penrith found themselves on the back foot early after a careless offload from Viliame Kikau saw Shaun Johnson dash away against the run of play. Issac Luke burrowed over from close range in the ensuing set to give the Warriors an early 6-2 lead.

The Warriors' hot potato brand of football paid dividends soon after, with David Fusitua capitalising on some impressive lead-up work to extend the lead to 12-2.

The Panthers were staring down the barrel of an embarrassing finals exit, but a Maloney 40-20 in the 19th minute changed the course of the match.

Maloney's long-kicking game presented the Panthers with a golden opportunity to get themselves back into the contest, with Nathan Cleary's short-kicking game paving the way for Tyrone Peachey to dive on the loose ball and reduce the deficit to just four points.

The Panthers weren't done with there, as fullback Dallin Watene-Zelezniak busted through the middle of the field to link up with Maloney and give his side a 14-12 lead.

Then the night went from bad to worse for the visitors when Tuivasa-Sheck was carried from the field with a suspected medial ligament strain.