The Panthers have buried the heartbreaking memories of their trip to Wollongong last weekend, thumping Canterbury 40-12 at Windsor Sporting Complex.
In front of a healthy Jersey Flegg Saturday night crowd, the Panthers put in an outstanding performance to reverse the result of their heavy loss against the Bulldogs at Belmore a month ago.
The tone was set early by the Panthers, forcing an error deep in Bulldogs territory in their first defensive set. A bullocking charge by Peter Taateo saw him score the opening try right next to the uprights.
The Bulldogs hit back when Daniel Corcoran touched down from a cross-field chip, with Jonah Glover converting to lock the scores at 6-all.
Sam Lane struck back for the Panthers when he won the race to a Joseph Nohra grubber on the right in the 16th minute, before Liam Ison broke through and set Luke Philp up for a try on the left in the following set. Nohra converted both to extend the lead to 18-6.
Multiple sets in a row attacking the Bulldogs line late in the half eventually paid dividends for the Panthers when Timothy Sielaff-Burns got to a Nohra grubber just before it went dead. Nohra continued his good form with the boot, curling the conversion around perfectly to open a 24-6 lead at half time.
They picked from where they left off before the break when Blake Moore put Ison into space with a slick inside ball before backing up to score near the posts.
The Bulldogs had plenty of chances to score throughout the second half, it took them until the 57th minute to score as the Panthers defence proved almost impenetrable.
Any fears of a late collapse were quickly put to bed as Moore plucked an intercept just inside his own half and raced away to score in the corner, sealing the win for the Panthers.
There was some late drama with the Bulldogs appearing certain to score directly from the kick off, only for the last pass to be knocked on, with both sides coming in for a bit of push-and-shove, before Nohra scored a runaway try of his own in the dying minutes to push the final score to 40-12.
