Lewis helps Panthers crush Bulldogs 30-4
Penrith Mr Fix-It Luke Lewis led the Panthers to a crushing 30-4 NRL victory over a depleted and dispirited Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium.
Named in the back row but filling in at halfback after Jarrod Sammut was axed this week, the former winger-turned-centre-cum-utility ace scored a brilliant individual try and laid on another in a match more notable for the mistakes made by both sides.
Penrith made less, though, to post their five-tries-to-one win and have now beaten the Bulldogs in five of their last six meetings.
Brad Tighe bagged a double, with Lewis, Frank Pritchard and Michael Gordon also scoring four-pointers for the Panthers, while Gordon booted five from five.
For the Dogs, Matt Utai scored a consolation four-pointer.
The Bulldogs were always going to be up against it when they went into Saturday night's match without New Zealand representatives Sonny Bill Williams and Ben Roberts, while fullback Luke Patten was also ruled out with a back injury.
Williams failed to back up from last night's Centenary Test loss to Australia, while Roberts was ruled out of last night's match with a hamstring injury.
Penrith's Test contingent of Petero Civoniceva and Pritchard both took the field.
Lewis had provided the novelty factor of a rangy second-rower feeding the scrum early but he had soon vindicated coach Matt Elliott's decision to shift him to No.7.
With his side up 6-0 through Tighe's first four-pointer, Lewis shaped to kick, dummied and took off for a 40m solo effort in the 34th minute to help the Panthers to a 12-0 halftime lead.
After the tireless Civoniceva had put Pritchard over in the 55th minute to make it 18-0, former Kangaroo winger Lewis set up Gordon's 60th minute try with a deft grubber to put the match out of reach of the Dogs.
Many of the 10,257-strong crowd began filing out at that point after witnessing one of the Bulldogs' worst displays in recent memory.
Tighe scored his second with a 66th minute intercept and Bulldogs winger Utai crashed over in the 79th minute to prevent the whitewash.
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