You could not ask for a better game of footy on a Thursday night.

It was a mammoth effort from both teams, but you could tell in the final five minutes that the Rabbitohs just wanted the win that little bit more.

Mitch Kenny was strong in defence for the Panthers, making 45 tackles, while Rabbitohs hooker Damien Cook put in 41 tackles.

Dylan Edwards dominated run metres with 182 which was matched by Alex Johnston on the South Sydney wing with 173. Johnston also had the most line breaks with four.

If I were to give a man of the match for both teams though, there’s no question about who it goes to. Latrell Mitchell was the standout by far tonight, and even though he made a few errors that cost the team in points, he was also the reason they won.

On the other side, Stephen Crichton was a try-scoring machine. Every Penrith point on the scoreboard tonight came from Crichton, and if he was auditioning for an Origin jersey this year, he just proved why he deserves it.