Former Penrith fullback Rhys Wesser returned to haunt his old team with a starring role in South Sydney's emphatic 38-4 NRL trial win over the Panthers in Coffs Harbour on Saturday night.

The 2003 premiership winner tormented his ex-teammates with a brilliant debut performance with the Rabbitohs, scoring a try in the 12th minute as South Sydney ran out nine-tries-to-one winners.

In wet and atrocious conditions, South Sydney dominated the contest and scored consistently in each quarter of the game with Fetuli Talanoa finishing with a double.

South Sydney's other star recruit of the offseason, outside back Colin Best, also marked his debut with a try while New Zealand World Cup hero Issac Luke, Jamie Simpson, John Sutton, Shannon McPherson and Shaun Corrigan all crossed for four-pointers.

It was a strong performance by Souths, with five-eighth Sutton and halfback Chris Sandow controlling the tempo of the game throughout.

They were always expected to overpower the Panthers as South Sydney fielded close to their strongest side with Roy Asotasi and Craig Wing the only big names left out of the squad.

Penrith, on the other hand, had split their squad into two with the other half of their team going down to Parramatta 34-12 in a clash at Griffith.

Winger Junior Pia Kilifi scored for the Panthers in the second quarter but it was otherwise tough going at Coffs Harbour.

Despite the scoreline Panthers coach Matt Elliott was satisfied with the performance, knowing he will put a much stronger outfit together for next week's NRL trial against Parramatta at CUA Stadium.

"They had close to their best outfit and we had 12 guys who had never player first grade level before and it looked that way," said Elliott.

"It was not a disappointing performance by any stretch but it was good to learn lessons for an individual level.

"Their guys were rolling forward and we did not ... their halves were very and our guys never had an opportunity."

In Griffith the Eels dominated the game from the outset, pouncing to a 20-0 lead at the end of the first two quarters.

With Kiwi Test stars Krisnan Inu and Nathan Cayless both playing, the Eels were expected to outgun the Panthers who were fielding a team filled with under 20s players and a handful of experienced stars off the bench.

Former Manly halfback Jeff Robson put in a solid first-up performance for the Eels, combining well with five-eighth Kris Keating as both players scored tries in the opening half.

Forward Todd Lowrie also crossed in the first half, as too did prop Tim Mannah.

But after controlling the first two quarters, the final half was a much closer contest with the Eels just outscoring Penrith 14-12.

Emerging youngsters Greg Nichols, Nathan Gardner and Jeremy Latimore scored for the Eels while Luke Clydesdale finally put the Panthers on the board with a try in the third term and Tim Glasby added a second for Penrith in the final stanza.

"I'm happy with the team, and I'm happy that we seem to have got out of it unscathed as well," said new Eels coach Daniel Anderson.

"We looked threatening every time we had the ball, especially when we built a bit of pressure. And we had to defend a number of sets on our line, which we did very well."

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