It was worth the wait for Luke Thompson’s NRL debut despite the English hardman being placed on report in his first game for cellar-dwellers Canterbury.

In fact the ex-St Helens premiership winner’s shuddering shoulder charge on Brisbane enforcer Tevita Pangai only seemed to endear himself more with Bulldogs coach Dean Pay.

Thompson, 25, lived up to the hype when he finally ran out for the NRL cellar dwellers in Saturday’s 26-8 loss to the Broncos after an unconventional lead-up.

He was in quarantine for two weeks following his arrival in Australia before driving up from Melbourne to his new Sydney-based NRL club.

Yet Thompson showed no signs of rust on Saturday, steamrolling Pangai in his first run of the night before snapping Broncos monolith Payne Haas in half in defence in the opening stanza.

It sparked a wonderful niggling act between Thompson and Pangai that threatened to reach boiling point when the Englishman pulled off a brutal 37th minute shot on the Bronco that will no doubt come under the match review committee’s scrutiny.

Not that Thompson seemed concerned.

“I’ve watched him (Pangai) before. He likes to get under your skin a bit and carry on,” Thompson said.

“He wound me up a bit there, so I gave him a little clip – there was nothing in it, really.

“I like those battles in the middle.”

Former Dogs forward Pay clearly liked what he saw, describing the Briton as their “shining light”.

Even Broncos coach Anthony Seibold was a fan.

“Him (Pangai) and Luke Thompson had a good contest out there – you want to see a battle like that, I really enjoyed watching it,” he said.

Thompson hoped to follow in the footsteps of other UK bruisers Sam Burgess, James Graham and Adrian Morley who stamped their authority in the NRL.

“I’m really proud of where I come from, players like Morley and Burgess, I’ve been massive fans of them – they’ve had a real impact over here,” Thompson said.

“It was a real honour to be out there, putting the Bulldogs shirt on – I always followed the Bulldogs as a kid.

“I felt better than what I thought I would…just a disappointing result.”

The affable Thompson was arguably in finer form off the field following his stunning debut.

Quizzed by media about his Instagram entry where he had been snapped on his drive to Sydney posing next to Goulburn’s Big Merino, Thompson quipped: “They (Bulldogs players) said to me on the way up there was a sheep that had balls as big as yours, so I stopped to see it.

“Not quite as big as mine, (but) not far off.”