Canterbury stood up to be counted at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night, overcoming Penrith 18-12 to book a place in next weekend's NRL grand final.
Captain Michael Ennis didn't return after halftime due to a foot injury and would have to be in extreme doubt for the showdown against South Sydney next Sunday, but his absence only made a gutsy Bulldogs dig deeper.
Even their halfback Trent Hodkinson was on one leg with a knee injury.
Penrith set up a thrilling finish when flying winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak cut the margin to six with eight minutes left, but in the end were left to rue three critical Jamal Idris mistakes.
The brick-wall blue and white defence led by inspirational Canterbury prop James Graham proved too strong, and the boys from Belmore remain on track to become the first team since the NRL's inception in 1998 to win a flag from outside the top four.
Two of the proudest and best supported clubs in the league, South Sydney and Canterbury, have only faced off in a grand final once before, way back in 1967 - a match won by the Rabbitohs.
Souths are chasing a first premiership in 43 years, but the Bulldogs, who finished the year in seventh, will be no less hungry having gone 10 years without a title.
Coach Des Hasler, who is about to embark on his sixth grand final as coach and second in charge of Canterbury, praised the courage of his players but was quick to put the pressure on Souths.
"I know one thing. We won't be favourites next week," said the master of the mind games.
"It was a real finals game. I'm very proud of the effort and they have every right to be pleased with their effort tonight. To make a grand final is a wonderful achievement for the playing group ... now we've got to go on and win it.
"The human spirit and team spirit really comes through."
Former Bulldog Idris had a forgettable night.
The big centre grassed a perfectly-placed cross-field kick shortly after the break which would have led to the Panthers equalising at 12-12.
Then a silly intercept let the Bulldogs off the hook and resulted in Canterbury extending their lead to two converted tries.
With four minutes remaining and Penrith deep on the attack looking to push the game to golden point, Idris was crunched by opposite number Tim Lafai and coughed up possession.
The Panthers never got another chance.
Coach Ivan Cleary was disappointed with a spree of penalties in the first half which put his side on the back foot and led to the Bulldogs going up 12-0 with tries to Graham and Josh Jackson.
But Cleary was proud of his team of underdogs, who defied the odds to get within a whisker of the grand final and have announced themselves as a club on the rise.
"It's a great success there's no doubt about it. We'll be much better for it," said Cleary.
Englishman Graham sensed his side was losing their grip on the contest early in the second half, despite being up 12-6 on the scoreboard, and decided to get in the face of Penrith linchpin Jamie Soward.
The intimidation tactics appeared to work as the Panthers bumbled several attacking chances, before Corey Thompson latched onto Idris' intercept pass and turned defence into attack for Canterbury.
Penrith forward Lewis Brown produced an extraordinary try-saving tackle on Sam Perrett.
But the Bulldogs weren't to be denied and on the next set after a drop-out, Greg Eastwood poked his head through the line and sent Dale Finucane over for the decisive try which put Canterbury up by 12 with 22 minutes remaining.
Soward dismissed Graham's insults.
"I couldn't understand him," he said.
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