The Canterbury Bulldogs have pulled off the season's biggest upset as they subjected the Penrith Panthers to their first loss in 2026, with a 32-16 win at Accor Stadium.
Despite nearly scoring through Connor Tracey, the Bulldogs punished the Panthers for a rare Nathan Cleary error. The combination between Lachlan Galvin and Jacob Preston continues to flourish and had some joy down the right edge. A quick shift left saw Viliame Kikau touch down for the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs capitalised on a slow start from the Panthers. The visitors evening was made worse when Casey McLean was sin-binned for a shoulder charge to the head of Max King. From the ensuing possession, a shift by the returning Bronson Xerri shifting the ball to Jacob Kiraz to cross in the corner for a 10-0 lead.
Despite McLean returning from the sin-bin, pressure continued to mount on the Panthers defence. A crash ball from Bailey Hayward sent Samuel Hughes crashing over the line to charge over for the third try of the Bulldogs. Penrith weren't going to be rusty forever and a poor last tackle option gave the visitors easy field position and they hit on the scoreboard. A clever shift to the left edge split the Bulldogs for numbers and Tom Jenkins crosses for try number 13 on the season.
Penrith were charging back into the contest and Dylan Edwards decided to take matters into his own hands. From a simple scrum move, Edwards charged over and redeemed himself for a poor defensive effort with an individual try in the final 10 minutes. Canterbury hung on until half-time with some determined defence repelling the Panthers fast finishing attack to lead 16-10 at half-time.
Off a Sitili Tupouniua error in the Bulldogs first set of the half, the Panthers capitalised with a terrific kick from milestone man Nathan Cleary. The crossfield kick sat-up on a point for Jenkins who crossed for his double and his 14th of the season. Despite Penrith's possession domination on both sides of the break. The Bulldogs responded with a set of ruck infringements and time in the opposition 20m. A terrific short ball from Lachlan Galvin found Jacob Preston to score the Bulldogs response to retake the lead.
With both sides playing possession footy and coming up with cheap errors. The next score was going to be critical. Canterbury went back to their tried and tested formula on the right edge. Galvin played direct to Preston who spun out of a tackle to break away before linking up with Sitili Tupouniua to touch down. Some ill-discipline and 14 errors rued the Panthers and Burton added two penalty goals to secure a famous 16-point upset to kickstart Round 6.
There is some significant watches for the Panthers with McLean facing a nervous wait with the match review committee for his shoulder charge whilst Liam Martin was icing his left knee and played significantly reduced minutes to his season averages since returning from injury.