Canterbury Bulldogs vs Penrith Panthers Preview
The Bulldogs are unlikely to threaten a victory against the unbeaten Penrith Panthers, but Canterbury are favoured in the handicap market. In a game tipped to be low-scoring, the hosts can stay within 17.5 points.
- Canterbury have covered in 5 of the last 10 despite winning just 2, as double digit underdogs they keep it closer than the market expects
- Away Favourites are covering at the worst rate of any team so far this season, just 47.9%.
- Penrith have allowed 40 combined points in 5 games, at some point the law of averages catches up, and a fresh Canterbury side at home is as good a candidate as any for that first crack
- Tom Jenkins has scored 12 tries in 5 games so far this season and the Dogs allowed 3 tries down their right side last weekend.
Head to Head
Penrith have dominated this head to head matchup in recent years. Since the start of 2019 they have met in 10 regular season matchups with Penrith holding a 8-2 record.
Last year they met twice in the regular season with each team taking one win each and then Penrith bundling the Bulldogs out of finals with a big 46-26 win.
Three straight and seven of the last 10 regular season games have gone Under the Game Total. Canterbury have covered in five of 10 despite not winning but were double digit underdogs in seven of the last 10.
Canterbury Bulldogs Need Work In Attack
Something isn’t right at the Bulldogs. We already knew there was work to be done on their attack but they are faltering hard.
Even though they reached 24 points last weekend against the Rabbitohs, it looked clunky and their usual stalwart defence capitulated allowing 32 points to their opponents.
Similar to the loss the week before to the Knights, Canterbury had a terrible completion rate against Souths, just 61%. It seems their confidence is shot and now it is affecting their decision making defensively.
Penrith Panthers Unbeaten & Dominant
The Panthers are scary, they might actually be a better team this year than any of the years they won the comp through their four-peat.
They have a points differential of 150 points which is more than all but one other team has even scored so far this season. Not only have they scored 26+ in all five games and 40+ in three straight., they have allowed a total of 40 points combined across five games.
As an extra point of note, four of those five teams they have played were top 6 in odds rankings to start the year and noted pointscoring teams.