Panthers vs Bulldogs

The Panthers have again been hit hard by Origin call-ups but such is their depth that they still go in as favourites against the battling Bulldogs.

In the past four meetings between these clubs the Panthers have piled on 24 tries to the Bulldogs' three. Raymond Faitala-Mariner has been promoted to the starting side and Corey Waddell goes to the bench. No changes when the squad was trimmed to 19 on Thursday.

LIVE NRL: Koroisau looks to steer Panthers to victory without SIX Origin stars.

The Bulldogs have struggled to score points in 2022 and have the equal lowest points in the competition, tied with the Knights who have a game in hand. “That genuinely looks like the only way the Bulldogs look like scoring points, through the boot of Matt Burton and the speed of Addo-Carr,” Cronk said. “He is a great young player, we talked early in the game about the opportunity to blood some young players and he has been one of the best they have found this season,” Benji Marshall said. Burton kicked twice to Addo-Carr before scoring a try of his own with a slicing run, but Addo-Carr and the former Panther cannot do it on their own going forward. “That is the strength of Dylan Edwards, he makes the difficult look easy, and he did it last week with a ball to score a try against the Cowboys,” Fox League’s Cooper Cronk said. “This talks about the depth and the culture of the Penrith Panthers,” Cooper Cronk said.

The Panthers sit atop the NRL Rugby standings with 22 points this season as they face the Bulldogs on Friday.

Currently, the Panthers are leading the way in the NRL with 22 points this season and a near-perfect 11-1 record. As for the Bulldogs, they put up a good fight against the Dragons by scoring four tries and three conversions. The Bulldogs’ Jake Averillo scored two tries in the first half.

Penrith are 1-17. Canterbury have dropped Matt Dufty, with Corey Allan making his first 2022 appearance in Dufty's place. Luke Thompson is out with ...

Josh Jackson 12. Josh Addo-Carr 6. Corey Waddell 16. 22. Corey Allan 2. Matt Burton 7. Matt Eisenhuth 14.

Despite missing the likes of co-captains Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo as well as Jarome Luai, Brian To'o, Stephen Crichton and Liam Martin, Penrith had more than ...

The Bulldogs continue to struggle, even with a new coach - although their three games under interim coach Mick Potter have yielded their three best attacking performances of the year in terms of points scored. "Everyone did their job. It was in this corresponding time of the season in 2021 when the Panthers' undefeated season ended at the hands of the Wests Tigers - but they kept their nerve tonight.

Premiers Penrith overcame the absence of six Origin stars to hold off a gutsy Bulldogs team at BlueBet Stadium on Friday night.

"For me it is just a similar story to the past couple of weeks; poor discipline, particularly in yardage and decision making with the footy in crucial parts of the game was poor again tonight. Until we start learning how to control the footy and how to manage a game it is going to be very hard for us to win. We are probably fortunate that we have some guys who know what to do; Matt Eisenhuth and Charlie Staines have played a lot for the NRL team the last two years, Sean O'Sullivan has played well every team he has played for us but we can't fit him in the team so it is nice for them to get an opportunity. That is where we have got to be smarter and manage the game a bit better": Bulldogs captain Josh Jackson. It's a six week period and sometimes we are going to have the boys and sometimes we won't. [Viliame Kikau] has put together a stretch of games that is easily the most consistent since he has been here. - Matt Burton got the Bulldogs back in the game with a long torpedo kick that Edwards spilled and in the set of six from the ensuing scrum win he grubbered for Josh Addo-Carr to pounce and score in the 20th minute.

Follow here for Wide World of Sports' LIVE coverage as the Penrith Panthers host the Canterbury Bulldogs at...