Half a chance to lock in spot
IN THE wake of their shock win over the Roosters, the Bulldogs are encouraging Trent Barrett to keep Kyle Flanagan at halfback for the remainder of the season, saying his return to the NRL side has helped those around him to flourish.
Flanagan didn’t play in the NRL trials and started the season in reserve grade while Barrett gave Jake Averillo and Brandon Wakeham chances at halfback.
But the Bulldogs have continued to improve in the weeks since Barrett promoted Flanagan back to the NRL side.
Now that the Bulldogs have finally snapped their six-game losing streak, Flanagan’s teammates are backing him to stay in the halves long term.
“I think the team does look a lot better with Kyle in it,” said Bulldogs big man Paul Vaughan.
“Hopefully, long term or certainly this year, he’ll cement that position there as our halfback.”
The Bulldogs’ spine of Flanagan, Matt Burton, Matt Dufty and Jeremy Marshall-King have played together for the past four weeks and Vaughan said the stability was getting results.
“We’re just trying to work together to build that strong unity there in the spine. Hopefully, we can keep on going,” he said.
Bulldogs superstar Josh Addo-Carr said it was no coincidence that Burton’s kicking game had begun to shine with Flanagan next to him.
“I feel like ever since ‘Flano’ has come into the team, ‘Burto’ has come to life,” Addo-Carr said.
The Bulldogs have a golden opportunity to win back-toback games for the first time since 2019 when they meet the struggling Canberra Raiders in round 9.
Addo-Carr said from here on in, every game was a must win for the underperforming Bulldogs.
“We’ve got to beat every team, every weekend,” he said of the task ahead.
“We need to sort our defence and with our attack, we just need to focus on what we need to do, the little things, and play with that energy that we played with on the weekend. It’s really contagious.”
While the 2020 Dally M medallist Jack Wighton will miss the game through suspension, Addo-Carr said the Raiders would still throw plenty at his side.
“They’re still a quality team, no matter who’s on the park,” he said.
“Ricky Stuart’s got a really tough side. Every time we play the Canberra Raiders, they’re always physical.”
Former Raider Vaughan said playing in Canberra would be a “good test” for the Bulldogs, who haven’t won there since 2015.
“Everyone knows how hard it is to go down there and win at Canberra Stadium,” he said.
“It’s going to be a good test for us. I’m sure all the boys will be looking forward to it because we need to start to get a roll on.”