Our News

Bulldogs return to the “Dogs of War”

15 Mar 22, 10:31AM 0 Comments

Written by Oliver Kellner-Dunk

Photo by Getty Images

Bulldogs fans have just about been waiting an entire year for this season to begin.

After a poor start to 2021 that resulted in a wooden spoon at year’s end, the club decided to start recruiting for 2022.

The hype around this season for the Bulldogs began in late 2020 when they announced the signing of Josh Addo-Carr and the big-name acquisitions would continue to be revealed throughout the following 12 months.

Sunday evening finally ended the wait as the blue and white faithful got to see their star recruits in a competitive NRL game for the first time.

Concerning signs were on display when the Cowboys took a relatively early lead that they were able to sustain for the rest of the first half.

Jayden Okunbor would score a converted try in the 51st minute to put the Bulldogs in front and then their defence shone through.

Every single one of the Bulldogs’ starting forwards made at least 20 tackles during the game with Luke Thompson and Max King putting in a huge effort to make 45 and 40 respectively.

 
Not only did the Bulldogs display a “Dogs of War” like defensive effort, but they did so despite four players going off through injury as Chris Patolo, Braidon Burns, Brent Naden and Jeremy Marshall-King all being removed from play due to head knocks.

Josh Addo-Carr showed that his speed is only one of the attributes he can bring to the table with his presence as a leader becoming quite apparent.

The winger was constantly communicating with and encouraging his teammates to not let up and maintain a high amount of effort throughout the game.

An example of this was on full display to viewers when Addo-Carr reacted to a successful captain’s challenge by revving up his teammates.

“Oi, let’s go. Do not f***ing break. Do not break,” he said.

The winger was constantly communicating with and encouraging his teammates to not let up and maintain a high amount of effort throughout the game.

While the Bulldogs did look a significantly better outfit than last season they did also let victory slip from their grasp, as Cowboys fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow crossed over for a potential match-winner with a little over two minutes to go but was deemed offside by the bunker upon review.

In round two the Bulldogs will have a bigger challenge to face that will be more of a litmus test than the Cowboys as they take on the Brisbane Broncos who are coming off of a win against last year’s runners up the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Be the first to comment on this article

Make a comment...

Our Valued Partners

European Championship logo X-league rugby league logo Cleveland Rugby League Brasil Rugby League Latin Heat Rugby League Logo Ghana Rugby League Serbia Rugby League Canada Rugby League Norway Rugby League Russian Rugby League Cameroon Rugby League Malta Rugby League Nigeria Rugby League Logo
Loading...