Moylan switch drives Penrith win over Dogs
PENRITH’S mid-season resurgence is in full swing after extending its winning streak to three with a 38-0 savaging of Canterbury.
Just one month after sitting second-last on the table, the Panthers ran in seven tries against a listless Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium yesterday to lift themselves to within two points of the top eight.
The win was their biggest in club history against the Bulldogs, while also handing the Belmore club their equal heaviest defeat under coach Des Hasler. At the heart of Penrith’s triumph was the move of Matt Moylan to five-eighth, with the usual fullback producing an impressive first-up display that included forcing an error in just the second set.
He also scored a try and had a hand in two others in arguably the side’s best outing of the year.
“For the day we had a focus about coming here and being able to do a job for 80 minutes defensively,” Panthers coach Anthony Griffin said after the match.
“For the team to see their captain fly out of the line like that and get an error ... that set the tone.”
Pressed on the likelihood of Moylan’s future lying in the halves, Griffin said: “He was great there today so I don’t see any reason to change it.”
Moylan credited his team- mates for helping manage the increased defensive workload in which he made 13 tackles for the game.
“I felt comfortable out there today — I think the guys defending around me really helped me throughout the week. Their talk today was massive,” he said.
In the other match yesterday, Manly skipper Daly Cherry-Evans nailed a clutch golden-point field goal to hand the Sea Eagles their second extra-time win over the Canberra Raiders this season.
Down 20-6 at the break, the Raiders levelled the game when captain Jarrod Croker kicked a penalty goal after fulltime but it wasn’t enough on an afternoon they lost two players to injury. AAP PENRITH 38 (M Rein 2 W Blake N Cleary C Harawira-Naera J Mansour M Moylan tries N Cleary 5 goals) bt CANTERBURY 0 at ANZ Stadium. Crowd: 11,283.
MANLY 21 (D Cherry-Evans J Taufua M Taupau D Walker tries M Wright 2 goals D Cherry-Evans field goal) bt CANBERRA 20 (J Rapana 2 B Austin tries J Croker 4 goals) in extra time at Lottoland. Crowd: 11,318.