Panthers overcome poor conditions, Bulldogs attack

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Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs v Penrith Panthers

The Penrith Panthers have improved to 2-0 after easily accounting for an average Bulldogs side by 28 points at a very wet Bankwest Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The game started with both sides looking relatively competitive, with Penrith scoring a try in the opening 5 minutes through Kikau, however a dry spell followed as a stalemate ensued for the next 35 minutes.

The Bulldogs looked to have gotten on the board courtesy of an exciting passage of play that started in Watene-Zelezniak retrieving a midfield bomb and ended with a pinpoint kick from Nick Cotric to find Corey Allan, however further inspection from the bunker revealed a knock on at the very start of the play. 

The Bulldogs defence did well to hold strong for most of the first half, however Penrith crossed the line with about 2 minutes to go. Jarome Luai scampered around the field before realising that he was out of options and put in a superb grubber to find Tyrone May. The Panthers went into the sheds with a 10 point lead. 

The opening stages of the second half played out much the same as the bulk of the first, with both sides failing to capitalise on ample opportunity and the Bulldogs defence bending but never breaking. 

However, Kikau eventually got over in the 59th minute, a try which didn't open the floodgates, but they definitely started leaking. Mitch Kenny put aside a period in which he made 2 simple errors in about 5 minutes to execute a dummy from dummy half which was bought by the Bulldogs and allowed Kenny to put Kikau over for his second. 

The Bulldogs finally got their first penalty of 2021 in the 70th minute of their second game, however were unable to capitalise on the field position as Kyle Flanagan's grubber went straight to Nathan Cleary, who sprinted 50 metres downfield before a high shot from Dallin Watene-Zelezniak landed Cleary in the HIA ward and DWZ in the sin bin. 

The Panthers took full advantage of the opportunity to attack against 12 men. Tyrone May grubbered and Nick Cotric made a rare mistake at the back, failing to take possession and Momirovski was there to score his first try as a Panther.

5 minutes later, it was Momirovski scoring again, this time through a solo effort that involved him beating 4 or 5 Bulldogs defenders.

The win for Penrith means they are the first side to ever not concede a point in the first two weeks of the season.

Next week, the Bulldogs will look to chalk up their first win of the season against the Broncos at Suncorp, while the Panthers will play host to the Storm.