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Opinion
Everyone invested in the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs knows all too well that something has to change.
Fans of no NRL club would accept an average ladder position of 13.2 across the last five seasons, nor just five wins from their team’s previous 37 matches. Yet that is the statistical reality that the Bulldogs board and coaching staff are required to address and reverse in 2022.
Fresh troops have been assembled for the cause, one of the best thinkers in the game has returned to the club to guide it back to competitiveness, and off-field the club is in one of the strongest financial and administrative positions that it has been for years.
CEO Aaron Warburton has successfully set the standard, invested in new people across a wide array of both football and community-focused departments within the club, and a board of directors recently re-elected unopposed speaks of a new-found unity and common purpose that has not been evident at the club for years.
Of course, on-field performance is the litmus test and based on the pure credentials of the names that have been added to the roster, logic would suggest that there is certain to be a higher number in the win column come season’s end.
Thankfully for any new-look squads, NRL teams enjoy a fortnight of trial matches to iron out problems and bed-down combinations before the season-proper begins.
Canterbury fans sat tucked up on their lounges on Monday night as the rain continued to hammer the east coast of Australia, eager to see the debuts of Josh Addo-Carr and Matt Burton in blue and white, as a near-full strength team took to the field for the first time in 2022.
Josh Addo-Carr (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
A week prior, the team drew with Newcastle 16-all, yet the first trial is usually an experiment before things get a lot more serious in Week 2.
With hopes high, what fans witnessed was nowhere near what coach Trent Barrett had written on the whiteboard in the minutes leading up to the game.
Cronulla-Sutherland began in a flurry, looked polished, organised and disciplined, and secured a confidence-boosting 30-6 victory on their home deck.
Contrastingly, the Bulldogs resembled a group of men who met just some minutes before in the carpark and were asked if they might enjoy having a run around.
Canterbury’s performance reeked of a team keen to perform, one physically ready after a preseason injected with new players and ideas, yet one devoid of connectivity, communication and poise.
On show were the same fundamental failings that have plagued the team over recent seasons; a lack of direction and organisation in the halves, chaotic moments in attack where all shape and structure is lost, and a poor kicking game in the attacking half that has rarely produced repeat sets or created significant pressure on defences.
On Monday night, despite all of the quality injected into what many feel will be a competitive side in 2022, things looked all too familiar as clubs like Parramatta, North Queensland and Cronulla made real statements in the lead up to Round 1.
Some fans of the blue and white were exasperated, feeling nothing had changed with another season of mediocrity knocking on the door. Others took the ‘only trials’ approach, believing that such a freshly thrown-together collection of talent will require a far more significant period of time before gelling into anything resembling a top-eight contender.
The question for Bulldogs fans right now is in which of the camps they sit.
Internally, many will be asking whether such average trial form can be written off as mere teething issues for a highly talented squad capable of challenging for a finals spot. In short, was the loss to Cronulla a sign of things to come or just a smash and grab from a much more settled and prepared team?
The beauty of trials is that no one can be sure of the answer.
Can Canterbury fans simply shrug off two matches where their obvious limitations were yet again on display and feel confident that things will come together over the next fortnight, before a far better version of themselves turns up against the Cowboys?
Personally, I’d like to think so and something tells me that the best of the Bulldogs will almost certainly come in the second half of the season.
How good they are in Round 1, we will just have to wait and see.