Ronayne scored a double at Apex Oval in round 14 of the Peter McDonald Premiership in the Raiders' 32-6 win over Panthers.

The Raiders skipper was understandably pleased with how his side performed during the match.

"It was a good win, they are a first-class team so it was a good win," he said.

"We just keep turning up each week and put on a show."

Panthers captain-coach Jake Betts said his side expected the game to be a tough one and it was what they got.

"It was tough, we always knew it was going to be tough coming to play Macquarie," he said.

"They are a quality side and they showed that today.

"We had a few blokes out and a few injuries during the game which made it a bit hard."

Things got off to a dream start for Ronayne as he crossed in the third minute of the match to score the Raiders' first points of the match off a clever short ball from Jai Merritt.

But the Raiders' defence slacked off for a moment and a short kick-off by the visitors was soon regathered giving them wonderful field position to try hit back.

Panthers did just that in the seventh minute as Charlie Hutchings scored a try in the right corner to level the score before Willie Wright nailed the sideline conversion to give the visitors a 6-4 lead.

Macquarie's middle forwards began to exploit some gaps in the Panthers' defence with Filisone Pauta making a break before Josh Nixon followed suit and raced away to score.

Returning to the side after missing last week, Corey Cox was brilliant for Macquarie and soon made a break of his own before linking up with Clayton Daley on the inside who raced away to score under the posts.

Blake Merritt made no mistake with the conversion as Macquarie led 14-6 after 27 minutes.

Things got even better for the Raiders as Ronayne grabbed his second of the afternoon before half-time, once again following some brilliant work by Macquarie's middle forwards.

On the stroke of half-time, Wright was sin-binned and Merritt slotted a tricky penalty goal to give the Raiders a 20-6 lead at the break.

Panthers had all the ball at the start of the second half but couldn't make the most of the opportunity after going close to scoring several times.

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This was before a cross-field kick was swooped up by Daley who ran the length of the field to score his second try of the day, with the conversion again being successful.

Just minutes later, Cox had a try of his own after breaking through several tackles to score under the posts with Merritt nailing the conversion to move the score to 32-6.

Over the last 20 minutes both sides had opportunities to score but failed to capitalise with errors and penalties robbing either team of tries.

Macquarie were awarded a penalty on the stroke of full-time with Merritt booting the ball over the sideline to seal the Raiders' fifth consecutive win.

After his side's win, Ronayne admitted his forward pack were hoping to have big games.

"That's one thing we wanted to work on this week was our forward pack going forward," he said.

"'Coxy' (Corey Cox) was good out wide after a week off due to suspension."

To start the second half, Macquarie's defence was brilliant and their skipper said it was a pleasing thing to witness.

"That first 10 minutes they had all the ball and didn't score a try," he said.

"It just comes back to the boys in the middle, our forwards and having those big boys out wide scoring points."

Saturday's win is Macquarie's fifth in a row and now puts them inside the top two along with Dubbo CYMS but Ronayne isn't getting too carried away just yet.

"Five in a row but we aren't getting ahead of ourselves," he said.

"We just turn up each week and go week by week.

"There is still a long way to go."

The speed of the match was rapid especially in the opening half and Betts felt his side had their chances to score but couldn't put the finishing touches on it.

"It felt pretty quick, a team would get a roll on then have half a chance then make an error,"

"It was just one of those games."

Looking ahead, Panthers now face a tricky run to secure a top-four finish but Betts knows it is up to them to control their fate.

"We got a tough week next week against (Orange) CYMS then into Lithgow the week after.

"We've just got to win those two games to secure a spot in the semi-finals.

"At the moment it's a bit touch and go, we don't really want to be relying on results."

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