PENRITH have booked their ticket to a preliminary final against Brisbane after putting Canterbury to the sword in one of the highest scoring finals games to date.
Penrith’s ferocious line speed in defence proved a handful for the Bulldogs, who just couldn’t quite get the ball out of their own end.
The Panthers were clinical in the first half with a 100 percent completion rate which squeezed the life out of the Bulldogs attack.
There has been a lot made of coach Ivan Cleary’s decision to give Paul Alamoti an opportunity over Tom Jenkins, who was dropped back to reserve grade a few weeks ago, and it proved a masterstroke with Alamoti scoring a hat-trick.
Viliame Kikau showed some great hustle early to charge down Nathan Cleary’s kick and was rewarded with a penalty, after Ashley Klein ruled Panthers fullback Dylan Edwards made a play at Kikau without the ball.
Matt Burton was happy to take the penalty-goal to open the scoring.
Panthers were quick to respond with a backline shift that found Brian To’o unmarked out wide to touch down in the corner.
A shift to the right edge then saw Alamoti burst his way through three defenders to score in the 11th minute.
The Bulldogs hit back when Lachlan Galvin delivered a short ball to Jacob Preston who split the Panthers left edge, before drawing and passing back to Galvin.
Momentum swung again when some broken play through the middle of the field led to space out wide for Alamoti who beat his man, before drawing and passing to Cleary on the inside to cross.
To’o was next to score off another backline shift, this time attacking Canterbury’s left edge in the 28th minute.
The masterclass continued when Mitch Kenny dabbed a little grubber in behind the posts four minutes later and was grounded by Liam Henry.
Before half-time, To’o got on the outside of his opposite number and put a grubber kick back on the inside which bounced up perfectly for Isaiah Papali’i for an 8-36 half-time lead.
The Bulldogs showed some life coming out of the break, but it was cut short by a Cleary 40/20 eight minutes into the second half.
And when the hosts looked to have found some space attacking Penrith’s left edge, To’o plucked an intercept and ran 70 meters before being dragged down in the Dogs’ half. While the defence scrambled, swift passing saw Alamoti score in the opposite corner.
Momentum swung when a Luke Garner fumble put Canterbury on the attack and they capitalised with carbon copy of their first-half try, a beautiful short ball from Galvin hitting Preston on the hard line to cross in the 56th minute.
They struck again five minutes later through Bronson Xerri, who ran a similar line onto a Connor Tracey short ball, through the sliding Penrith defence.
Penrith wrestled back the momentum with another try to Alamoti off the back of another perfect backline shift.
The Bulldogs were able to cut the margin to 20 with a try in the right corner to Jacob Kiraz.
It was a 60-minute masterclass for Penrith, who leaked some points in the final 20.
Ivan Cleary will be sweating the fitness of Liam Martin and Casey McLean, who both left the field with injuries.
Next Sunday afternoon’s clash is set to be a blockbuster.
GAMESTAR: Paul Alamoti was a handful every time he touched the ball.
GAMEBREAKER: Nathan Cleary’s 40/20 in the 48th minute was a dagger in the hearts of all Dogs fans.
MATCHFACTS
BULLDOGS
1 Connor Tracey
2 Jacob Kiraz
3 Bronson Xerri
4 Matt Burton
5 Jethro Rinakama
6 Lachlan Galvin
7 Toby Sexton
8 Max King
17 Reed Mahoney
15 Sitili Tupouniua
11 Viliame Kikau
12 Jacob Preston
13 Jaeman Salmon
Subs (all used)
9 Bailey Hayward
10 Josh Curran
14 Kurt Mann
16 Harry Hayes
Tries: Galvin (16), Preston (56), Xerri (61), Kiraz (77)
Goals: Burton 5/5
PANTHERS
1 Dylan Edwards
2 Paul Alamoti
3 Izack Tago
4 Casey McLean
5 Brian To’o
6 Blaize Talagi
7 Nathan Cleary
8 Moses Leota
22 Mitch Kenny
10 Lindsay Smith
11 Scott Sorensen
12 Liam Martin
13 Isaah Yeo
Subs (all used)
14 Brad Schneider
15 Liam Henry
16 Isaiah Papali’i
17 Luke Garner
Tries: To’o (7, 28), Alamoti (11, 53, 69), Cleary (21), Henry (32), Papali’i (39)
Goals: Cleary 7/8
SCORING SEQUENCE: 2-0, 2-6, 2-12, 8-12, 8-18, 8-24, 8-30, 8-36; 8-40, 14-40, 20-40, 20-46, 26-46
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Bulldogs: Jacob Preston; Panthers: Paul Alamoti
Penalty count: 4-8
Half-time: 8-36
Referee: Ashley Klein
Attendance: 56,872