Fight left in old dog just yet
AT last, Canterbury’s attack clicked.
The Bulldogs enjoyed their best performance of the season with ball in hand to send Manly’s finals ambitions into a tailspin at ANZ Stadium yesterday with a 30-16 victory.
Remarkably it was the first time the Bulldogs have reached 30 points in a match since July 2016.
The club’s first-half woes even subsided as they went to the break scoring more than 10 points for the only time this year.
Coach Des Hasler insisted it was their control, and not the structures or tactics that changed and resulted in a stunning upset which reconfigures the finals picture.
“I would probably say the two key points were control and execution,” halfback Moses Mbye said.
‘We managed to go set for set better than we have in the past.
“If you just give sides at this level possession of the football you’re going to get punished and unfortunately that’s what we’ve been doing throughout the year.
“Today we kicked to the corners, we went set for set with Manly and the result showed for itself.”
Without injured five-eighth Josh Reynolds, Mbye returned to the halves while Michael Lichaa started at hooker.
It worked, as the Bulldogs’ backline was dangerous against the Sea Eagles’ lacklustre defence, which lacked the sort of aggression needed for a team on the hunt for the top eight.
Mbye and fullback Will Hopoate spotted an apparent deficiency in Manly’s left edge, and they crossed three times through that channel.
Hopoate also had three try assists in one of his best games of the season as the Bulldogs rallied some momentum to take into the final two rounds of the season against the Gold Coast and St George Illawarra.
“We can go with that into next week,” Hasler said.
“It’s more a reward for the effort. We’ve been working pretty hard.”