Bulldogs Brave In Defeat To Panthers

The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have suffered a heartbreaking 24-10 loss to the Penrith Panthers at CommBank Stadium.

It was a tight contest from start to finish with penalty goals and a try in the 66th minute proving the difference, but Cameron Ciraldo’s men can hold their heads high after fighting right until the death.

After an extremely physical start it was the Panthers who scored first through Liam Martin with the second-rower finishing off a chaotic set from Penrith. Nathan Cleary converted to take his side to a 6-0 lead.

Minutes later a rare error from Stephen Crichton inside the Bulldogs’ 20 opened up a golden opportunity for Penrith but the Bulldogs’ gritty goal-line defence held on.

The Dogs soon found some space down the right edge with Matt Burton and Jacob Kiraz combining but the latter was taken over the sideline.

Penrith marched their way down the other end of the field and tried to strike with a grubber only for Max King to dive on it.

Crichton went for the short dropout, which was caught – and then fumbled - by Lindsay Smith, however the knock-on went unnoticed and Panthers again had another set down on the Dogs’ line… but were repelled once again.

The Bulldogs were finally rewarded for their grit in the 24th minute when a Lachlan Galvin double pump set up a rampaging Matt Burton for their fist try. Crichton’s conversion attempt was waved away, leaving the score 6-4.

Tension between the two teams reached boiling point late in the first half when a Burton and Dylan Edwards collision, sparked a melee.

In the midst of the chaos, Bulldog No.882 was unearthed when Cooper Toy was injected into the game for his NRL debut after Burton was taken from the field for a HIA. Toy – a specialist winger – went over to the left flank with the versatile Enari Tuala shifting to Burton’s right centre position.

The Panthers went into the break ahead 8-4 extending their lead through a penalty goal on the buzzer after the Bulldogs were pinged late for being off-side.

It was a mixed start the second half for the Bulldogs. Burton re-joined the contest after passing his HIA, but an unfortunate error from Connor Tracey – who had been immaculate in the first half – opened the door for Panthers to score with Martin crossing for his second of the night. Cleary converted to extend his side’s lead to 14-4.

After a high tackle penalty saw Cleary take that lead to 16-4 the Bulldogs needed to score next to keep their grasp on the game – and they did with the Galvin and Preston coming up trumps. Galvin threw a double-pump pass that fooled Penrith’s Jack Cole and sent Preston – who signed a four-year extension earlier this week – over for a try. Crichton converted to narrow the gap to 16-10.

But their joy was short-lived with the Panthers extending their lead through yet another penalty goal after Enari Tuala was pinged for an escort.

Two minutes later the Panthers scored to extend their lead to 24-10, but despite a comeback slowly slipping away in the dying minutes the Dogs never stopped trying wit Toy – who was a late switch for Tuala – coming up with a try-saving tackle on Liam Henry that forced an error.

The Bulldogs will now reset and get ready for their final Home game of the season on Thursday night against the Brisbane Broncos.