The Penrith Panthers have returned to the top 5 of the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup off the back of a comfortable 40-16 victory over the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in perfect conditions at BlueBet Stadium.
The Panthers were boosted by the inclusions of Jaeman Salmon, Matt Eisenhuth and Tom Jenkins, as well as the return from injury of Jack Cole, who contributed 20 points on his own from two tries and six goals.
It was a very stop-start first half as both teams struggled with their discipline, however the deadlock was broken in the 17th minute when Trent Toelau found Matt Stimson with a perfect ball in the 17th minute, with Cole converting.
They made it a quick double-blow, scoring again three minutes later when another great Toelau pass put Cole through. He again converted, pushing the score to 12-0.
The Bulldogs clawed one back in the 26th minute, with Fa’amanu Brown crossing under the posts.
Defence dominated the rest of the half, with the Panthers leading 12-6 at half time.
The Panthers started the second half on the right note, forcing a repeat set in the 43rd minute, with John Faiumu slamming the ball down for a try in the following set. Cole converted to push the lead to 18-6.
They went in again five minutes later when Tom Jenkins muscled his way through the defence to score in the right-hand corner. Cole landed the sideline conversion to extend the margin to 24-6.
The Panthers began to flex their attacking muscles in the final 20 minutes, with Cole extending the lead further in the 61st minute when he dummied and beat the defence to score his second try of the afternoon. He then added his fifth conversion to push the score to 30-6.
Another great ball from Toelau in the following set put Isaiah Iongi into space, before he offloaded for Jesse McLean to score in the corner.
The Bulldogs scored a pair of consolation tries in the final few minutes to cut the margin back to 34-16, however it was the Panthers who had the last laugh, forcing an error from the restart that led to Salmon touching down in the corner on the siren.
