The night was meant to be all about Nathan Cleary, his 200th game, and Penrith making it six wins from as many games to start the season.
Somebody forgot to tell Cleary’s opposite No. 7, Lachie Galvin, Jacob Preston, Sitili Tupouniua and the rest of the rejuvenated Bulldogs as they sprung one of the great upsets.
Yes, that’s right, Penrith are human after all.
The Dogs triumphed 32-16 against the Panthers – and every single fan decked out in the blue and white who made the effort to get to Accor Stadium on a Thursday night loved every moment.
Galvin and Preston terrorised the Panthers’ left edge in the opening 20 minutes, with the Dogs enjoying plenty of success trying to split Blaize Talagai and Casey McLean.
Halfback Galvin and some of his pass selections were top shelf.
He combined with Preston midway through the second half to send the backrower over for a try, then the pair teamed up to help Tupouniua to score the match-winner.
What made the victory extra sweet for the Dogs was the fact they did it without their inspirational skipper Stephen Crichton, who is out at least a month with a shoulder injury.
For Galvin, the playmaker who has been in the spotlight his entire short career, hopefully the outing against the premiership favourites will be a snapshot of some of the excellent things to come on a regular basis.
The Dogs raced out to a 16–0 lead after tries to Viliame Kikau, Jacob Kiraz and Sam Hughes. The big prop reached out from close range to plant the ball right next to the posts.
Canterbury’s momentum was helped by McLean being sent to the bin for a shoulder charge on Max King as he carted the ball back from the kick-off.
But when Panthers’ winger Tom Jenkins was finally able to open the scoring for the visitors, they camped down the Dogs’ end of the field the remainder of the half.
What made life easier for Penrith were a couple of dubious penalties, including a Tupouniua stripping penalty on Moses Leota, and Kurt Mann being pinged for a high shot on Scott Sorensen, even though the pair appeared to clash heads.
Fullback Dylan Edwards scored from the scrum as his opposite Connor Tracey misread the situation and kept charging across field.
Both teams struggled to hold the ball in the early exchanges after the break, and for a brief time, Penrith looked like they were getting on top.
But Canterbury refused to surrender, scored one try, then another, before a Burton penalty goal sealed the morale-boosting win.
Cleary was celebrating 200 NRL games and told Penrith officials he did not want a fuss made about the milestone during the week.
Some of his defensive displays were solid, while his pinpoint kick for Jenkins’ second try was the best passage of play in the game.
Jenkins’ double was his sixth in six games, with South Sydney’s Alex Johnston the only other player to scored 12 tries in the same amount of time.
There are concerns for Liam Martin and his left knee, with the representative backrower limited to two short spells. The Panthers head to Darwin next Friday to take on the Dolphins and remain the team to beat.
Canterbury meet western Sydney rivals Parramatta on the back of a ten-day turnaround.