The Canterbury Bulldogs have kept their late season revival on track with a convincing 30-10 victory against the Wests Tigers in difficult conditions on Thursday night.
FINAL SCORE:
Bulldogs – 30
Tigers – 10
Round 24 of the NRL kicks off with the Canterbury Bulldogs hosting the Wests Tigers at ANZ Stadium for Thursday night football. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7:30pm (AEST).
The Bulldogs will be looking to build on last week’s victory against Parramatta, while the Tigers will be playing for pride as a finals appearance looks to be dead and buried.
Canterbury managed to turn their season around after a 17-16 victory over the resurgent Parramatta Eels.
The Bulldogs came off a month of losses to record the win and a strong return to form by origin halfback Trent Hodkinson has the Bulldogs well placed to make a run into the finals.
Bulldogs coach Des Hasler has been forced to make one change, as prop Lloyd Perrett is out due to an ankle injury, Pat O’Hanlon and Harlan Alaalatoa have been named on a five-man bench.
The Tigers will fumble and stumble their way into this match coming off four losses in a row.
Their form has seriously been down and with the added circus of the Mick Potter/Robbie Farah fiasco, things aren’t looking to good in Tigerland.
A win against the Bulldogs would be huge for the Tigers’ finals chances but a serious change in form and attitude will be needed to pull off the upset.
The Tigers have only one change, with second rower Bodene Thompson returning to the starting side in place of the injured Dene Halatau.
When these two sides met back in Round 20 the Tigers smashed the Bulldogs 46-18 at ANZ Stadium, laying on six second-half tries to nil.
Canterbury were left stunned by the young Tigers, with the loss kicking off their four-game losing streak.
Can the Tigers repeat their recent heroics against the Bulldogs and derail their season once again?
Or will Canterbury grind out a crucial win?
I am tipping the Bulldogs to be too strong for the Tigers.
Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from from 7:30pm (AEST).
If you are following the action live, be sure to share your thoughts on the match in the comments below.
Sportfreak
Guest
National Tennis League??
Greg trilby
Guest
Think the ntl will care that soccer is eating in to its heartland
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Bulldogs AWOL'd the second half.
Sam Atkinson
Roar Pro
Absolutely loved it Cheers
Blaze
Guest
Wow someone else that can count.... Totally different circumstances when considering the games and value of outcomes... Just give it up champ... No one cares.
Ryman White
Editor
Nice job Sam. Great to have you as part of the team!
james t
Guest
Both teams woeful dogs are gone for the year and will continue to slide come back des Toovey needs a waterboy :)
Old Bluey
Guest
9,000 people at ANZ watching 'the greatest game of all' and 17,000 at Parramatta watching the WSW football game last night. Don't blame the weather.
Sam Atkinson
Roar Pro
Thanks for tuning into The Roar for all you're live NRL commentary and scores. It was awesome to live blog my first NRL match for the Roar and hope to bring you some more action in the future. The Bulldogs clear winners tonight 30 - 10 over the West Tigers. Cheers.
Sam Atkinson
Roar Pro
No worries, Thanks for tuning in!
Sam Atkinson
Roar Pro
Man of the Match wen to Bulldogs forward Josh Jackson. Jackson had a huge game with 11 metres gained and 28 tackles, he was dangerous all night and terrorised the Tigers edges.
Sam Atkinson
Roar Pro
when you're , you're right. Very tough win considering the situation. The Bulldogs will be happy its over.
uPelican
Guest
Sam, thanks for the commentary
Sam Atkinson
Roar Pro
Around 9,778 at a very wet ANZ Stadium.
Sam Atkinson
Roar Pro
FULLTIME. The Bulldogs have won against a poor West Tigers side 30-10. It was a tough day in the office for the Tigers as they struggled with the ball for most of the game, a high error count and poor ball security was a huge concern for the Tigers who look ready to call it quits for 2014. It was an important win for the Bulldogs as they looked to secure a top 8 spot for the finals, the Bulldogs did just enough to win the match and will need to be a whole lot better when they face the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Sam Atkinson
Roar Pro
79' TRY to the big dog Aaron Woods, who looks all to happy to score a rare try. Paterson converts the try. Bulldogs 30 Tigers 10
jamesb
Guest
This game still going... What a boring game. Then again, a boring game is better then the footy show
Doug Graves
Guest
What are the crowd figures?
Sam Atkinson
Roar Pro
78' Thompson breaks through the Tigers scattered defensive line then kicks ahead for Josh Morris who was unable to ground the ball. If Morris scored it would have brang up 200 tries for the Morris brothers in the NRL. Morris has a big smile on his face after going so close, looks like its up to Brett. Bulldogs 30 Tigers 4
The Barry
Guest
It's been pouring the whole second half, they've lost Sam Perrett and Morris is on one leg. They're also missing kasiano, Pritchard, Stanley, Lloyd Perrett, Reynolds and Browne. I've heard about 15 times tonight how many injuries the tigers have...