Bulldogs Stun Panthers With Statement Win

The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have bounced back in spectacular fashion from two consecutive losses by defeating the Penrith Panthers 32-16 at Accor Stadium.

Lachlan Galvin shone in his 50th NRL game with one try assist, four linebreak assists, over 100 running metres and 24 tackles.

Bronson Xerri – who was recalled to replace the injured Stephen Crichton – impressed at centre, while forwards Max King, Viliame Kikau, Jacob Preston, Jaeman Salmon, Sitili Tupouniua and Harry Hayes all made over 100 metres each.

The Bulldogs ran out in front of 23,984 fans ready to make an early statement against the undefeated Panthers - and they did exactly that by shooting out to a 10-0 lead.

A high energy start saw Connor Tracey get over the line in the first five minutes only for his try to be disallowed due to an obstruction. But that sniff inspired Cameron Ciraldo’s men and less than two minutes later a barnstorming Kikau beat four Penrith players to score the first try of the night.

Not long after, the Bulldogs found themselves with a one-man advantage after Casey McLean was sin-binned for high contact and they struck again with Jacob Kiraz scoring in the corner. With Crichton sidelined due to a shoulder injury, Matt Burton was on kicking duties and slotted this one to extend his side’s lead to 10-0.

The momentum was well and truly in the Dogs’ favour and they capitalised on that by going in again, this time via Samuel Hughes, who barged over next to the posts. A Burton conversion took the score to 16-0.

The Panthers, however, clawed their way back into the contest with back-to-back tries scored by Tom Jenkins and Dylan Edwards to narrow the gap to 16-12 at half time.

The points kept flowing for Penrith on the other side of the break with Jenkins scoring his second of the night off a cross-field kick from Nathan Cleary, who was playing his 200th NRL game. Cleary's conversion hit the post though and scores stayed at 16-all.

That was until Canterbury-Bankstown’s booming right-edge combination of Galvin and Preston struck again with the 20-year-old five-eighth setting up his second-rower for a try.

Preston then capped off a stellar performance by setting up the match-sealing try when he pirouetted out of a tackle to break into space and then find Tupouniua on his inside.

Burton nailed the conversion before putting the cherry on top with a penalty goal to seal the final score.