Knights v Panthers: Bradman's back; Edwards, Martin return

After pushing the Melbourne Storm to the limit in Round 14 the Knights get a shot at another tall poppy when they host premiers Penrith on Sunday afternoon.

The Knights had climbed to seventh on the ladder on the back of four straight wins but have dropped back to 13th after successive losses to the Storm and Bulldogs.

Such is the closeness of the competition that Adam O'Brien's men sit just four points behind the fourth placed Dolphins and a win over the Panthers followed by a guaranteed two points from a Round 16 bye could catapult them back into the eight.

The Panthers are nestled comfortably in third on the back of their win over Manly in a high-scoring shootout that again showcased the club's remarkable depth with fill-in fullback Daine Laurie running for 343 metres and breaking nine tackles and young five-eighth Jack Cole laying on two tries in another composed display.

With byes coming up in Rounds 16 and 19, the Panthers get a chance to recharge their batteries and set their sights on yet another top-four finish and a tilt at a fourth consecutive premiership.

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Team News

Knights: A late change sees a game day switch at hooker with Phoenix Crossland named to start and Jayden Brailey reverting to the bench. Back-rower Kai Pearce-Paul is officially out with toe injury and his place in the starting side is taken by Dylan Lucas and Jack Hetherington joins the bench. Blues hopeful Bradman Best returns from injury in the centres, while Fletcher Sharpe has unseated David Armstrong as Adam O’Brien’s fullback following his strong performance on debut in Round 14. After falling short in his bid to overcome a knee injury last week, Daniel Saifiti is good to go from the bench. Mat Croker is 18th man.

Panthers: No further change on game day sees Matt Eisenhuth drop off the bench and Trent Toelau join the side after the NRL granted the club an exemption to have the rookie join the squad based on their injury toll. Liam Martin joined the run-on side on Saturday in a huge boost for both Penrith and the Blues. There were several other changes on Saturday for the premiers after both Jack Cole and Mitch Kenny withdrew following quad injuries picked up at training. Brad Schneider now starts at five-eighth with Luke Sommerton coming in at hooker for his first game since Round 1. Back-rower Luke Garner is also out injured. Mavrik Geyer is 18th man.