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It’s do or die time for the Bulldogs.
Forget about the supposed seven-week window needed to figure out Des Hasler’s future with the club. Forget about how many games they’ll need to win from now until late August to figure in the finals picture.
The only date the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs need concern themselves with right now is Thursday, 30th March.
For on that date they face the Brisbane Broncos at ANZ Stadium. Call me hyperbolical, but I believe this clash to be the most important fixture (with the exception of the 2012 and 2014 grand finals) they’ve had during Des Hasler’s time at the club.
For so long the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have earned a reputation as the club which, no matter the obstacles thrown their direction, will find a way to come back from the dead and stand tall even after everyone had written them off.
Of course, I could name a dozen examples – namely the three year period from 2002-04 which included both the loss of 37 competition points due to a salary cap scandal, as well as a rape allegation of which they were later acquitted. Yet somehow, they came out of the end of the tunnel all smiles, Premiership trophy in hand.
Because that’s how the ‘Dogs have always done it.
In order to succeed in rugby league, clubs and players alike must always learn to adapt, or perish. A look back through the Bulldogs’ 80-plus year history suggests this could almost be the club’s motto. The slogan which they’ve used to become if not the most successful clubs in Australian rugby league history, then at least among the most consistent. Not a whole lot of change takes place without Canterbury-Bankstown being aware of it.
rguably the most prominent example in the club’s history of their incredible ability to successfully readjust according to the changing nature of rugby league came in the eighties, when they quickly went from ‘The Entertainers’ and ‘The Enforcers’ under coach Warren Ryan. A team that had been known as one of the most entertaining teams in Australian rugby league were soon recognised for a style of football which could accurately be described as a dour, physical struggle.
By the end of the 1980s they’d qualified for four grand finals, winning three.
And so it goes.
In each decade since the 1980s the Bulldogs have won a Premiership. Granted, a team can win three titles in thirty years to achieve that feat, yet when you consider that the Parramatta Eels, who were head-to-head with the ‘Dogs as the most successful team of the 1980s, haven’t won a grand final since 1986, it is no small accomplishment.
During the same period in which they accumulated these Premiership victories came terrible times of turbulence which would have brought weaker clubs to their knees. But it only served to steel the Bulldogs’ famous resolve.
And once again, they find themselves in that exact position of vulnerability which they’ve encountered so many times before, having been at the wrong end of a 36-0 drubbing on the weekend at the hands of Manly at Brookvale Oval.
Sure, they’ve had worse losses in recent times as far as the margin goes. But I can’t recall if I’ve ever seen as insipid a performance from a Bulldogs side as I saw on Saturday afternoon.
And it goes beyond the typical rugby league nomenclature so often rattled off in press conferences and match reports; lamenting they’re ‘poor last tackle options’, and the fact they were too flat in both attack and defence. No, this goes beyond that.
When it comes down to it, moreso than failing to follow a pre-planned strategy for any length of time, the Bulldog’s didn’t play with any heart. And that’s the worst criticism a team can be given. Not only did they not play for each other, they didn’t appear to be playing for themselves either.
About the only semblance of passion came when David Klemmer inexplicably slapped Daly Cherry-Evans after the Manly pivot failed to hand the ball over to Klemmer after a Sea Eagles mistake.
Instead of using his frustrations to increase his intensity and lift his team, Klemmer resorted to slapping the opposition’s halfback in the face. Fittingly enough, even then Manly were able to get the last laugh.
Not only were they awarded a penalty, but during the post-match interview Cherry – Evans got a not to subtle dig in when he quipped: “He just wanted the ball. They’ve had a long day, and obviously didn’t get much of it”.
More than an opportunity to turn the club’s season around and – if the rumours are true – perhaps save the coach, their upcoming clash against the Brisbane Broncos is a chance for the Bulldogs to prove that not only as a team, but as a club they still posses the kind of willpower that has earned them the reputation as one of the toughest, most resilient clubs in rugby league.
As the old adage goes, it’s not how many times you go down that counts, but how many times you get back up. And if there’s one thing the Bulldogs have proven time and again in their illustrious history, it’s that they’ve always got back to their feet, and then some.
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