The Penrith Panthers have confirmed they will put the sold out sign up on their first home game of the season this Friday against the Parramatta Eels.
The club said the final tickets were snapped up on Wednesday afternoon, with the battle of the west set to headline Round 2 in the NRL.
Penrith, who are the three-time premiers, are coming off a disappointing start to the season where they fell short against the Melbourne Storm without troubling the scorers, while the Eels were impressive in a blowout win over the Canterbury Bulldogs during the opening round.
In what has fast become one of the biggest rivalries, the two will be pitted against each other in Round 2 for what could be the final time in Penrith prior to stadium rennovations shutting down the venue for a period of time.
The stadium, which first opened in 1967, holds a capacity of 22,500 (although 21,525 was the advertised sell out crowd last year) and will be packed to the brim for Friday evening’s clash.
It follows a trend set by Penrith last year, with their 12 home games seeing every game having at least 16,000 in attendance, with six regular season games seeing crowds of more than 20,000.
Penrith’s home fixture against Parramatta last year, in Round 26, was one of those advertised full houses.
The men from the foot of the mountains also play Parramatta in the NSW Cup prior to NRL kick-off, with the reserve grade fixture getting underway at 5:45pm (AEDT), before the NRL clash starts at 8:05pm (AEDT).
