Petero accepts penalty

Penrith skipper Petero Civoniceva will miss the next two games after pleading guilty to a reckless high tackle for his swinging arm on Bulldog Gary Warburton on Monday night.

Civoniceva will therefore sit out Saturday's home clash with the Sharks and the Panthers' first final the following weekend but will be free to return for their second final, provided they are still alive beyond week one.

The first player sent off in 2010, 10 minutes before the end of the game on Monday night, Civoniceva would ordinarily have been staring down the barrel at a four-week ban with an unsuccessful challenge.

But that spell off the field was taken into account and discounted from the final demerit points calculation, meaning Civoniceva has managed to reduce his suspension to just two games rather than a possible four.

Civoniceva does, however, have 90 demerit points hanging over his head meaning he'll be walking a tightrope when he does return as any further offence would automatically result in at least a one-week suspension.

Sitting third on the table ahead of their final-round battle with the 14th-placed Sharks, the Panthers can still finish second if they win this weekend and Wests Tigers go down to the Titans at Skilled Park on Friday night but could also slip back to fourth if they lose and the Titans win.