It would be way too early in the year to say their season was on the line against the Panthers on Thursday night, but the Bulldogs were definitely playing for credibility. And it showed in the opening minutes as they hit the Panthers edges hard and often.
The Bulldogs were primed to ruin Nathan Cleary's 200th game and answer the many critics who had lined up to write them off for the season. No one, not even their most fervent fans expected them to beat the rampaging Panthers, but plenty turned up to Accor Stadium hoping to see them at least put up a fight.
The Bulldogs crossed early, but were pulled back for an obstructive decoy run from Jacob Preston. Not long after that they cut through the right edge again, before the ball was spread to the left where Viliame Kikau galloped 12 metres to score, leaving black jerseys scattered in his wake.
Defensively, the Bulldogs were back to their best, harrowing the Panthers' ball carriers, hitting hard in numbers.
Panthers star centre Casey McLean was sent to the sin bin for a high shoulder hit to Max King's head. The Bulldogs spread the ball to the left again and some slick hands from Matt Burton to Bronson Xerri behind a Kikau decoy run saw Jacob Kiraz cross in the corner.
Barely 11 minutes had passed as Burton converted from out wide for the Bulldogs to take an unlikely 10-0 lead. It was the first time this season that the Panthers had trailed an opponent by a double-figure margin.
The game was very young, but the Panthers were clearly rattled. They were only slightly off their own game, but the Bulldogs were completely switched on and making the most of every advantage.
With the help of the usual arbitrary "six again" calls the Bulldogs applied the blow torch to the Panthers defence and in the 16th minute Sam Hughes stretched out the longest arm in rugby league to score the home side's third try.
With 14 minutes left in the half, the Panthers were given a "six again" piggy back down the field, before spreading the ball to the left on the last tackle to send try-scoring machine Thomas Jenkins over in the corner. Nathan Cleary converted to take his side to 16-6 down. The Panthers fans sensed a turning of the tide when their team received a penalty as Kurt Mann was put on report for a head clash tackle. Penrith were starting to look a bit more like Penrith.
A Bulldogs knock-on from a kick saw the Panthers pack a scrum 10 metres out and 10 metres in. Dylan Edwards took the ball at first receiver, stepped off his right foot and cut through as Mann and Connor Tracey overran the play. All the early blue-and-white domination was waning; the Cleary-led machine was clicking into gear.
The Panthers were taking good advantage of the captain's challenge, winning two vital decisions, one before the Edwards try and one immediately after. Instead of the Bulldogs being on the attack after a dropped ball, the bunker saw a very subtle strip and the Panthers again marched downfield.
With just over six minutes remaining in the half, Cleary threw a very uncharacteristic harbour bridge pass to no one. The Bulldogs attacked again, but the Panthers defence formed its more familiar impenetrable wall.
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Another break down the right by the Bulldogs was pulled back for a Marcelo Montoya forward pass and the Panthers were left with three minutes, two "six again" calls, a stripping penalty and a goal line drop-out to level the scores. The crowd rose to applaud as the Bulldogs held them out and the referee sent them from the field for oranges.
The Bulldogs had 40 more minutes to retain the credibility they had earnt in the first half. The Panthers, trailing at the break for the first time this season, had a half to ensure Cleary could really celebrate his milestone game. Most people felt that the 16-12 Bulldogs lead would not withstand a second-half Panthers fightback. Most people would be wrong.
The Bulldogs restarted with a dropped ball. Another "six again" call saw the Panthers with the early ascendency, before Jenkins soared into the smoke which drifted across from the showground's fireworks and came down with a perfectly placed Cleary kick to level the scores. Cleary's conversion was slightly less perfect, hitting the upright.
From the ensuing kick-off the Panthers were given another "six again" call to help maintain their momentum. But the Bulldogs held and received some "six again" help of their own before Lachlan Galvin combined with Preston to regain the lead.
As always, possession was playing a big part in determining the scoreboard, and that annoying "six again" bell was contributing to the momentum swings.
The Bulldogs centres were helping their forwards, taking on the hard yards up the middle. Max King, Sam Hughes and Harry Hayes were playing their part, and Sitili Tupouniua was having his best game for the club off the bench. What they lacked in size up the middle, they were making up for with incessant determination. On the edges, Preston and Kikau were continually causing mayhem with the ball in hand.
In the halves, Burton and Galvin were sharing the ball-playing and kicking duties. Galvin's combination with Preston continued to be one of the Bulldogs' most lethal attacking weapons.
A sloppy Burton play-the-ball saw Bailey Hayward knock on to kill another opportunity. But the Bulldogs continued to force uncharacteristic errors from some of the best players in the game, rebuilding their broken reputation as a defensive powerhouse in the process. With just over fifteen minutes remaining the Panthers rolled the dice on a captain's challenge again and finally lost.
As good as they were playing, the Bulldogs just couldn't kill the game off. As the clock moved into what was likely to be the longest 10 minutes of the Bulldogs' year, Preston again ran onto a Galvin pass near halfway before spinning out of a Blaize Talagi tackle to send Tupouniua over next to the posts. Burton converted to take the lead to 28-16, before he kicked two penalty goals to bring up the final 32-16 score line.
Panthers co-captain Isaah Yeo was philosophical following the defeat.
Rugby league is the ultimate leveller, it might be the best thing just to stop a little bit of that noise," Yeo said.
"People were talking about [us going] unbeaten through the season, that's certainly not the case now.
"Tonight we were a fair way behind, then it's just a different flow to the game to what it's been recently. That's not a bad thing, I think we'll be able to learn lessons from that."
There have been some incredible upsets this year, but none greater than what the Bulldogs pulled off on Thursday night. Against the unbeaten and some have suggested unbeatable Panthers, they came out hard early, and maintained that intensity throughout. They may have made enough errors to lose the game, but more importantly they forced enough errors to win it. The previously unflappable Panthers were knocked off balance and never regained their usual command of the field.
The Bulldogs fans celebrated into the night, knowing their team had regained some credibility and silenced the naysayers, at least for now.
