New recruit Michael Sullivan scored two tries in two minutes to help spark the Bulldogs to a 36-18 NRL trial match victory over Penrith at ANZ Stadium on Sunday night.

Sullivan made an almost immediate impact as he came off the bench in the 27th minute, barging over from dummy half in the 30th and then completed a 90m play from the first tackle off the re-start to grab his second try in the 32nd minute.

His arrival awoke the Dogs from their early slumber, levelling scores 12-all to end the first half after tries to Luke Rooney (14th minute) and Tony Puletua (21st minute) gave the Panthers a 12-0 lead, before a late onslaught resulted in a six tries to three win for the blue and whites.

Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes said snaring former Cronulla utility Sullivan from Warrington had been a deliberate ploy to add another attacking dimension to his team in 2008.

"If he can come on at the right time and give us some spark and puts us on our way to some points like he did tonight then that's why we got him," said Folkes.

Sullivan said he's still trying to adapt to the Dogs' playing style and warned he can only get better at his new club.

"It might look good on the scoresheet, but I felt a bit flat out there," said Sullivan, who was denied a hat-trick when dragged down short of the line in the final seconds.

"It's going to take a while to gel here at Canterbury, I'm not 100 per cent comfortable yet."

Penrith regained their lead just seven minutes after the break when their new recruit Brad Tighe used his stunning speed to complete a long range effort for a 18-12 advantage.

But from there the Panthers' night turned bad, livewire centre Michael Jennings walked off gingerly with a hip knock in the 55th minute and Penrith went on to concede four unanswered tries in quick succession.

Centre Andrew Emelio (56th min), Reni Maitua (61st), Leon Bott (66th) and Daniel Holdsworth (69th) all joined the tryscorers' list as Hazem El Masri completed a perfect night with the boot.

It was an embarrassing final 20 minutes for the Panthers, but coach Matthew Elliott said his concerns were almost immediate despite their early scoring.

"I thought the difference in ruck speed between theirs and ours was evident from the first set of six," said Elliott.

"They kept poking their noses through our defence. It was a good lesson for us tonight.

"We have got to prevent that. Teams will target our middle unit because they see us as a big team that has mobility issues."

The match did little to ease Elliott's halves concerns, as Joey Williams was patchy in his first game at halfback while five-eighth Luke Lewis is an injury concern after he dislocated his fingers in the 24th minute and they kept popping out when he returned to the field.

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