Send-off sparks stinker of game 12-MAN ‘DOGS
JACK Hetherington’s hothead became explosive at Queensland Country Bank Stadium, leaving the Bulldogs at the mercy of the Cowboys and igniting a stale clash between wooden spoon contenders.
The visitors were left a man down for the final quarter of the game after Hetherington levelled Cowboys fullback Valentine Holmes with a careless swinging arm in the 30-18 loss.
It was an ugly incident that left Holmes visibly shaken on the ground, and referee Ashley Klein wasted little time before pointing the way to the dressing rooms.
Hetherington, who had earlier laid on the Bulldogs’ first try with an impressive offload, became the first player sent off this season – Sharks halfback Chad Townsend was the last NRL player sent off, in Round 17 last year for a late shot on Kalyn Ponga.
But the move appeared to inspire the Bulldogs, who landed two direct blows and appeared to be coming over the top of the Cowboys in the dying stages.
But it would prove a bridge too far for the visitors, with Mitch Dunn slicing his way to the line in a solo effort in the final minutes to seal the win.
For a winning coach, Todd Payten appeared far from happy with his team’s rollercoaster performance.
“That performance just indicates where we are really at as a team,” he said.
“We have moments and patches, but we have some decision-making errors that we still need to improve if we are to get any better.
“We were fortunate, even though the send-off was the right call, if they have 13 players on the field who knows what happens?
“The message at halftime was play through the middle, and when we did that we were effective. When we tried to play around them, it wasn’t effective. We have a tendency to get bored with what we are doing.
“I think we are trying hard but I don’t think we are being smart enough. We have spoken about playing the game the right way, spending energy to gain energy.
“We do that in patches and then there are other periods we are not doing it.”
BENCH PRESS
One area Payten was impressed with was his bench.
The Cowboys grew an extra leg with the injection of their forwards, including Dunn, who came on as a smaller body in the middle of the field and exploited the
Bulldogs’ wards.
Francis Molo (163m from 15 carries) and Corey Jensen (118m) both topped the metres for the Cowboys and provided a solid foundation through the middle third.
Rookie backrower Ben Condon, who punched out a 70-minute stint in just his fourth game of NRL, also looked impressive with the
tired
middle forball, almost making 100m and scoring another barge-over try from five metres out.
“I thought all of our bench was really good,” Payten said.
“They made a difference to the tempo of the game and they had some good involvements.
“Mitch Dunn did really well to play through the middle, which is not his best position.”
FLANAGAN FLEXES MUSCLE
The Roosters might have chosen young gun Sam Walker over him, but Kyle Flanagan sent a clear reminder as to why he is one of the more exciting young halves in the game.
The Bulldogs conductor was pulling all the right strings late in the second half
to pull his side back into the clash, despite being down a man.
Flanagan scored a try under the sticks after refusing to die wondering on a pokethrough from dummy-half Sione Katoa before backing up with a swift cut-out ball to give the visitors a two-on-one overlap before Tuipulotu Katoa crossed in the corner.
But it was too little too late for the Bulldogs who had squandered too many opportunities earlier to give themselves an advantage.
Winless coach Trent Barrett appeared flat-out frustrated watching from the sideline, with the silly errors leaving them 0-6 to start the season and appearing a long way off breaking through for that drought-ending victory.
“I was disappointed with a few of our errors. Really, really poor errors. They were individual errors, not really team-related,” he said.
“It put us under a hell of a lot of pressure in the end and then made it too hard on ourselves with 12 men.
“One of the positives you can take out it, they were gallant (at the end). But we shouldn’t have been in that position. We turned over too much cheap ball and failed to build any pressure at all when we were in the game at 6-6 at halftime.”
It won’t get any easier for the Bulldogs next week heading to Sydney’s south to face the Sharks, while the Cowboys will remain in Townsville another week to host the Raiders in what is becoming an annual Anzac weekend tradition in the garrison city.