Panthers forward Viliame Kikau to have scans on knee injury

Penrith could start the NRL season without Viliame Kikau after the bulldozing Fijian went down with a knee injury in the Panther’s 28-8 trial win over South Sydney.

The giant back-rower will have scans on Monday but the early prognosis was he suffered a grade one or two medial ligament tear, which could rule him out for two to six weeks.

Kikau was taken from the field in just the third minute after twisting his right knee awkwardly in a tackle at a wet and dreary Redfern Oval on Saturday. Panthers coach Ivan Cleary was upbeat and said he didn’t expect to lose Kikau for an extended period of time.

“He looks like he’s damaged his medial but I don’t think it’s too bad,” Cleary remarked in an interview.

“All we can do is wait and see.”

“He’s had a fantastic preseason. It shouldn’t be too bad. Unfortunately, we frequently have someone hurt during these events.” Following the offseason departures of Trent Merrin and Corey Harawira-Naera, the 23-year-old’s departure would leave a big void on Cleary’s left edge.

His absence would bring Hame Sele, Tyrell Fuimaono and Liam Martin into contention to start in the Panthers’ season-opener against Parramatta in three weeks.

A packed crowd of 4,111 braved the weather to pay tribute to Rabbitohs stalwart John Sutton, with the game serving as a testimonial match.

“It wasn’t too bad, it wasn’t like (the week of his 300th first-grade match) where I was tearing up,” Sutton said.

I was just excited to play some football in my first game back. It was fantastic to have so many people show up. I can’t say enough good things about the club’s members and supporters. They show up in the rain, storm, or shine.” Corey Allan’s impressive performance would have given Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett, who took over for the first time, hope.

The 20-year-old has bounced about between fullback and wing and now appears to be closing in on a backline berth.

Sione Katoa jumped out of dummy-half to score the Panthers’ first try after only five minutes, as he looks to beat Wayde Egan to the No.9 jersey.

With Dallen Watene-Zelezniak still out due to off-season knee surgery, Dylan Edwards made the most of his opportunity in the Panthers No.1 and seems ready to start in round one.

Some of the Rabbitohs’ top talents, including Sutton, Sam Burgess, and Damien Cook, had 20-minute runs, while Panthers half James Maloney was booed off after 30 minutes.

Just before halftime, the Rabbitohs scored two tries through Jacob Gagan to cut the margin to 12-8.

But Penrith tries to Tyrone May, Paea Pua and Brent Naden in the second half blew out the margin.