Are the Dogs now the elephant in the room?

Six rounds have now seemingly raced by and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are firmly entrenched on the bottom of the table.

No wins, just 52 points for (with only nine tries) and 204 points against (conceding 34 tries).

Their prospects for winning a game any time soon don’t look that promising either, as they come up against Cronulla, Parramatta, St George, Canberra, Gold Coast and Penrith in the next six rounds leading up to the Origin bye rounds.

So, quite conceivably, they could be none from 12 and their points difference could be heading towards negative 300. Last year’s three wins for the season may become a goal rather than an unhappy memory.

Despite this, the silence coming out of Belmore is deafening, almost as if this result was both expected and acceptable.

Finishing 11th, 12th, 12th and 15th over the last four seasons, and now with the wooden spoon a real possibility for this year, I imagine Dogs fans would like some answers, some good news, and some realistic prospect of turning things around, and soon!

Even their wooden spoon rivals in the Broncos and the Tigers have each at least won a game, and have looked very competitive in a couple of others, but the Dogs’ opponents are now looking at them as a two-point gimme, almost as certain as the Origin bye.

Coach Trent Barrett looks like he’s stuck in neutral, and whether he’s to blame for the Dogs’ position or not, he’s certainly not helping. Oh, what he’d give for the 40per cent win ratio he had as coach of Manly.

On paper, Barrett’s recruitment as coach looked okay. He was replacing Dean Pay who couldn’t get the Dogs firing, he had three years’ experience as a first grade coach (including gardening leave), he was available, and he was coaxed out of the very successful Penrith system.

(Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

No doubt it was also thought that he could bring some of the Panthers’ talent with him, but only Jack Hetherington has been landed so far, and I doubt Penrith really ever wanted to keep him.

While on the subject of recruitment and retention, it looks to me like only the Dragons and the Tigers have less clue than the Dogs.

One, they signed Hetherington. Two, they signed an inexperienced halfback in Kyle Flanagan.

If Flanagan couldn’t look any good at the Roosters beside Keary and behind the Roosters’ pack, what were they expecting he was going to do at the Dogs?

Three, they signed representative winger Nick Cotric to play centre. Cotric now finds himself on the wing on $650,000 per year with few opportunities and just maybe, his representative career is over at age 22.

Four, they let centre Reimis Smith go and he hasn’t missed a game yet for the Storm. I could go on and talk about recruits Corey Wadell and Corey Allan, but suffice to say that they are just run-of-the-mill first graders.

Yes, I know, all teams go through unsuccessful periods, and every dog has its day (sorry!), but Bulldogs’ fans will be wondering not only when their day is coming, but also how long a period without success is acceptable.

It’s been often mentioned by hopeful Dogs fans that they’ll be having a clean out of their roster at the end of this year, and that this will help turn things around, but when you look through their list of 18 players off contract this year, there’s only a handful (Will Hopoate, Dylan Napa, Ofahiki Ogden, Nick Meaney and Sione Katoa) who have played more than three first grade games this year, so it’s quite likely that largely the same troops will be on deck again next year.

On the recruitment front, the Dogs have added both Josh Addo-Carr and Matt Burton for next year, but I’m not sure that JOC will see as much ball as he’s used to, and I really doubt that Burton will end up honouring his Bulldogs contract and leave the Panthers, particularly if he ends up playing out the rest of the year in first grade, which looks highly likely.

If they continue their poor run, they are also likely to get the short end of the stick when it comes to recruitment, and end up paying overs for any quality players.

Like most poorly performing clubs, it’s hard to put your finger on what’s really wrong at the Dogs, but whatever it is, it’s been wrong for some time now. Is it the coach, the players, recruitment, management, the culture or all of the above?

The NRL needs a strong Bulldogs team, with players who have some pride in the jersey, and Bulldogs fans should continue to register their disappointment until some positive signs of change emerge.

The club needs to publicly acknowledge the hole they’re in, and let their fans know how they intend to climb out of it.