Match Details
Match Date	30th Apr, 2000
Opponent	Penrith
Result	Win 16-12
Coach	Steven Folkes
Captain	Ricky Stuart
Venue	Penrith Park (Penrith Stadium)
Crowd	11,684
Referee	Tim Mander

THE Bulldogs served up a veritable feast of attacking rugby league to defeat Penrith 16-12 at Penrith Park yesterday in a match privileged onlookers will long remember.

So terrific were the tries, so magnificent the movements, so colossal the clashes, that contributions from Anthony Mundine at his most magical and magnificent, would have been blink-of-the-eye cameos.

If only ... to use a technical term, this was a low game — low on entertainment, low on inspiration, low on individual flair and low on drama. Then again, perhaps not.

"That was our best and most consistent 80-minute effort this year," Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes said. "They went out to enjoy their football a little bit more."

Folkes had given his players licence to chance their arms more.

He thought things had been a bit too intense, so there'd been a lot of touch football at training to freshen them up after Tuesday's heavy loss to Melbourne.

"We could have won by 30," the coach said, and indeed the Bulldogs could have, if not for try-saving tackles and dropped last passes.

The feet-on-the-ground coach also gave his charges an admirable philosophy, which errant prima donnas could heed: "You do something that you like for a living, so enjoy it."

Yet the smartass question has still to be asked, was he at the same game? Still, coaches see games through different eyes and search for two points.

One try in the opening two minutes came from a Ricky Stuart chip-kick that Brad Clyde latched onto, the other was a pinch from dummy-half by hooker Jason Hetherington.

The word for the game was dour, and the most positive word was control. Half Stuart didn't have one of his great ones, but he's got enough experience — as have players like Hetherington and Clyde to still influence the flow of a game and make right decisions at crucial times.

You didn't have to look far to find why Penrith limited their chances yesterday. "The courage was there — we showed plenty of courage," coach Royce Simmons said.

Yes it was, three bags full, but so were the depressing statistics, three knock-ons from dummy half, six lost balls on the first tackle, 15 surrendered possessions within three tackles.

And still Penrith could have won. Heroic defence was complemented by five-eighth Ryan Girdler's attacking gifts, which almost over-came Canterbury control.

Girdler created both Panther tries from limited possession.

Penrith have now lost four straight games by small margins. They are giving commitment without confidence.

Source: The Australian

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