Sammut is far from the best player to have worn a Penrith NRL jumper but you need a crowd-pleaser like him in every team.

He's been as flamboyant as anyone to have worn the colours.

The important thing was all of his Penrith teammates were enthusiastic and committed on Friday night and the team's attacking play was often equally flamboyant.

Penrith's 19-12 loss to the Bulldogs rated as the Panthers' most impressive defeat of the season.

Coach Matthew Elliott understandably lamented the young Panthers' failure to convert chances created by their strong attacking into points, but that was to be expected.

The Panthers were without the sizzle and finish of injured Origin centre Michael Jennings, the creative, cool head of the injured Origin man Luke Lewis and captain Petero Civoniceva's leadership.

And goal-kicking winger Michael Gordon is still out injured.

They were against competition co-leaders, the Bulldogs, who have been virtually shunned by Origin selectors.

Specifically, in Brett Kimmorley they have far and away the best NSW halfback in the NRL.

Bulldogs fans, if not Kimmorley, are thankful. Penrith fans are not.

Kimmorley was man of the match but all the Penrith men stood up.

Lots of good things happened on Friday night.

Frank Pritchard roved around, instead of being confined to the left corridor.

He made breaks close to the rucks and had players running off him, instead of running off others.

Halves Luke Walsh and Luke Graham were inventive on the field.

Not all of what they tried came off they made wrong decisions and the kicking wasn't always spot on but they were confident enough to back their skills.

The Bulldogs withstood a first-half Penrith blitz that should have yielded a lot more points.

Ultimately the Canterbury team won it through cool heads and professionalism.

There will be other games when the points will come.

The Panthers are still well in the hunt with 18 points, including this weekend's bye.

The next chance they will get to score points will be when they host Parramatta in the local derby on Sunday week.