Souths have strolled to victory over a decimated Canterbury team, with Damien Cook proving the difference-maker in the Good Friday clash at Accor Stadium.
The Bunnies hooker managed a hat-trick of tries – the first by a rake in more than five years – and was the standout on ground in a 36-16 victory.
Jason Demetriou spoke after the game about the influence that his 9 had, and the kick-on that came from winning the forward battle comprehensively.
“He was very important,” said the Souths coach. “Liam Knight and Hame Sele were outstanding off the bench and played a big part in what Cooky was able to do off the back of that.
“There’s been a lot of talk about Cody (Walker) and what he’s able to do, and a lot of that is to do with what defences have been doing.
“We saw tonight that if defences are going to open up and leave space through that middle third, it’ll create space for Damien.”
Despite the comfortable win, Souths will still see plenty of room for improvement, but are now sitting at 3-3 and with some of their hardest fixtures of the year behind them.
The coach said that the movement was positive, with decent performances in games that didn’t go their way now turning into wins.
“Preseason didn’t lend us to being at our best and at the start we had was always going to be difficult,” said Demeteriou.
“I can’t commend these guys enough. We were beaten in golden point in Melbourne and an intercept try in Brisbane, then we’ve won three of our last four. We’re heading in the right direction.”
The Dogs were partly the architects of their own downfall – discipline was a major issue – but also very unlucky, losing forward Chris Patolo after a shocking head clash with captain Josh Jackson and Braidon Burns to a hamstring injury.
Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett has also endured a nightmare draw and said that he could learn a lot from those games, despite his team’s 1-5 record.
“In terms of competing with really good sides, we’ve copped a whole lot of them,” he said. “Manly away, Melbourne away, Penrith and then Souths. It’s the whole top four, so we know where we’re at.
“Take out Melbourne (where the Dogs lost 44-0) and we were competitive in all of them. But we’re coming into a block of six or seven where we can win. We’ve just got to find a bit more consistency and get through tough periods.”
Barrett wasn’t happy about his team’s inability to make the most of when they were good – the first quarter of the match – and then struggled when they were on the back foot.
“It was pleasing in the first 20, we’ve stuck it to good sides for periods, but not for long enough,” he said.
“I spoke pregame about putting 80 minutes together. You put four blocks of that first 20 together and we’re looking OK, but we’ve got to learn to do it, and learn to get through the tough periods.
“At the moment we’re not getting through them and we’re conceding ordinary tries that we just can’t.”
The game hinged on a crucial 10-minute period in which Canterbury conceded three tries with Jeremy Marshall-King in the bin.
The decision to sit the Bulldogs hooker down was entirely justified, with Canterbury clearly employing stalling tactics that irritated the officials. Josh Jackson confirmed that his team had been warned before the referee intervened more harshly.
With a man down, Bunnies enjoyed 14 of 15 sets and ran in a three try blitz that essentially ended the game before halftime.
“It was a really good 20 minute period, but the sin-binning didn’t help,” said Barrett. “We’ve got to show more resolve through those periods.
“There’s some tries then and in the second half that we should have stopped. You stop a couple and you’re still in the game at the back end.
“A lot of the missed opportunities when we had the ball – held up three or four times, forward pass, the Naden decision (from the bunker) – we’re not getting those go our way at the moment and we need those. Who knows where the game goes if we get them.
“The sin-binning was a tough one, but in saying that, you’ve got to roll your sleeves up and get through those periods. You’ll never play a perfect game of footy. Ever.”
It had been a strong start for Canterbury, with Kyle Flanagan producing a superb long pass for Brent Naden to get the Dogs on the board, but they couldn’t keep it up.
Their defensive tactics repeatedly drew the ire of referee Gerard Sutton, who waved six set restarts against them in the first 25 minutes. Eventually he lost patience with Marshall-King paying the price.
After surviving a bunker decision, Souths managed to get on the board via a dummy half dart from Cook. Moments later, Lachlan Ilias put Campbell Graham through a hole and he fed Cook to go under the posts again.
They got their breath back a little as Patolo and Jackson suffered a nasty head clash, but that only gave Souths time to put on a set move, resulting in Blake Taaffe putting Alex Johnston in at the corner on the stroke of halftime.
Things went from bad to worse for the Bulldogs. They were forced into a total reshuffle in defence, with Burns forced off and Patolo already missing with a head knock. Their lack of organisation was ruthlessly exposed as Cody Walker put Johnston over again early on.
Canterbury then thought they had scored, only for the bunker to call back another Flanagan-Naden cooperation for the smallest of knock ons.
The resistance from the Dogs was admirable, but they were clearly tiring. Cook completed his trifecta by scooting in from the back of a scrum, before Canterbury hit back.
It was Josh Addo-Carr’s first try in blue and white – and Matt Burton’s first assist – though it would be hard to say that they celebrated it.
Isaiah Tass, on debut, plonked the footy down for a fairytale try, before Marshall-King grabbed a final score in garbage time.
William W
Roar Rookie
The next thing will be you BullFLOG fans will be blaming the Ref and the Rabbitohs for Braidon Burns doing his Hammy for the 7th time. Then you will blame the head knock to Chris Patolo and the cut to Josh Jackson on the Rabbitohs ball carrier. Why didn't Jackson go off for an HIA? He should have! If I was the BullFLOGS, I would be more concerned with their lack of discipline and those 38 missed tackles, 15 errors and the pathetic passing skills of their players. Before blaming the referee.
William W
Roar Rookie
RLFan… You seem to have no idea about the game. That was the game James Graham cowardly and illegally took out Adam Reynolds attempting to level up the game with a Field Goal. By the way… attacking the legs of a kicker is illegal in League! Adam Reynolds did his knee and was out for 8-weeks due to that incident. Reynolds being out for so long derailed the Rabbitohs’ title defence as the Rabbitohs went from 4 wins out of 5 to start the season to losing the next 3 games and 2 more whilst he was out! CORRECT DECISION By the way, there were 2 Refs that night, yes Sutton and also Gavin Morris. By the way, the Bunker decided to award the penalty and it was correct, not dubious so I suggest you try to learn the Laws of the Game. It was BullFLOGS fans throwing water bottles. Get over it
William W
Roar Rookie
RLFan... You seem to have no idea about the game. That was the game James Graham cowardly and illegally took out Adam Reynolds attempting to level up the game with a Field Goal. By the way... attacking the legs of a kicker is illegal in League! Adam Reynolds did his knee and was out for 8-weeks due to that incident. Reynolds being out for so long derailed the Rabbitohs' title defence as the Rabbitohs went from 4 wins out of 5 to start the season to losing the next 3 games and 2 more whilst he was out! CORRECT DECISION By the way, there were 2 Refs that night, yes Sutton and also Gavin Morris. By the way, the Bunker decided to award the penalty and it was correct, not dubious so I suggest you try to learn the Laws of the Game.
William W
Roar Rookie
All I can say about the play-the-ball speed is that in the stats of most games the Rabbitohs have played, they seem to be slower at playing the ball, this does equate to the Rabbitohs not holding down as long as their opposition on average. I was at the game and I have Sports Ears to listen to the ref. What I have noticed is the Rabbitohs are far more disciplined than most teams in the comp, when the ref says release they genuinely do so. Sure there are times they do hold a tad longer but every team does it. The lower team, the more they have to cheat to win. This has been happening for a hundred years.
RLFan
Roar Rookie
There was an incident in a Good Friday Souths/Bulldogs game several years ago (back when James Graham was a Bulldog), when Sutton gave a dubious penalty for Souths to win the game. There was almost a riot and some idiots starting throwing water bottles, one hitting Sutton as he left the field. He appears not to have forgotten.
RLFan
Roar Rookie
There was a Good Friday game between the Bulldogs and Souths several years ago, when Sutton awarded a dubious penalty to Souths to win them the game. There was almost a riot and some idiot in the crowd starting throwing bottles and one hit Sutton. The Club were fined for the incident, but Sutton seems to have not forgotten. I think the penalty was against James Graham for a charge-down.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Yeah, I acknowledge it was a tactic from the Dogs and I’m not suggesting Souths were remotely as bad. So me using “level playing field” probably wasn’t the right terminology. I still stand by Sutton looking at the Dogs under a microscope - and maybe deservedly - but Souths were able to get away with slowing things down when they needed to, albeit far less frequently than the Bulldogs did There are successful teams who slow the ruck down week in, week out who don’t get the same level of scrutiny the Dogs did yesterday. I guess it sounds like I’m being a sook, but it does continue the ‘unconscious bias’ narrative that more people than just me have noticed Either way Barrett may need to look at the slowing down tactic as its clearly on the refs tip sheet PS nice Tintin reference :stoked: it’s Thompson. He’s been very good since he came to the Dogs but the last couple of weeks in particular. I’d love if he could stay but not at the sort of money he’s on. Vaughan was also very good in his opening spell
LukeT245
Roar Rookie
Would like to see the stats. And some stats on penalties/set restarts against.
LukeT
Guest
Game was over after the sun bin and the forced backline reshuffle. Dogs aren’t good enough to survive those setbacks…yet. First twenty showed what they can do and I suggest they will improve as combinations gel, when they get past the god awful draw of weeks 1-5 and when Gerard Sutton refs someone else.
London Panther
Roar Rookie
Well done TB; fair analysis. One area I disagree is on the refs today. I have a soft spot for the dogs but I did think that the dogs were skating in thin ice for about 10 minutes before the binning; it did look premeditated that they were holding down. Was the specific binning incident the right incident to sanction; I’m not sure but I wouldn’t have been sticking my hand down there given the warnings!! I also disagree that Souths were doing the same; I was looking for the square up but they were getting off materially quicker than they have in other games. But apart from that I think the dogs are moving forward. I know it’s hard because he has chopped and changed his halves so much this year, but I thought it looked more fluent when Burton moved to centre with the HIA. The dogs looked more threatening; he had more time and looked more dangerous, and he also seemed to give more ball to the Foxx. Let’s face it; for a few weeks all he has been doing in the halves is kick it; he can wander infield on the 5th tackle and still give it a whack. I also really like the English prop (although I have a Tintin-esqe question of whether it is Thomson or Thompson) and thought he really put in today. Vaughn also went well.
RLFan
Roar Rookie
A genuine question. Have the Bulldogs every won a game when Sutton referees? Going back years, I can't remember one.
The Barry
Roar Guru
The no try call to Naden was one of those head in the hands, what else can go wrong moments but I thought it was the right call. He juggled it and I thought it touched the Souths player a split second before Naden regained it
The Barry
Roar Guru
The Dogs did try and slow the game down. But was that what Marshall-King was doing? This is a genuine question BTW. At the ground it looked like he got his arm caught in the tackle and it was the Souths player holding him in. Use the sin bin if you need to and probably justified, but I don’t think that was the incident to do it on It just wasn’t a level playing field with the six agains… there were plenty of times Souths slowed the ruck down too but seemed to get a lot more leniency. There was a set in the second half where the Dogs had made a half break and Souths lay all over the next three consecutive tackles… and crickets. Those things don’t show up in the stats… Anyway, the Dogs needed score more points when they were loading the pressure on in the first 20 minutes. Souths had 14 of 15 sets in the second 20 minutes and scored three tries. The Dogs never had that level of dominance, but more than enough ball to warrant putting on more than one try in that period Refs decisions - whether poor or justified - don’t excuse you from doing your job in defence. I wrote in the live blog, it’s one thing getting caught out wide when down to 12 men, but not right under the posts two minutes in The Dogs right edge looks like Swiss cheese and it hasn’t taken other teams long to work it out. On one of Johnston’s tries TPJ, Flanagan, Burns and Naden were playing a sliding defence but all turned their bodies inwards, which left them heavy footed. It never works like that and was like watching dominoes fall Faced with adversity and the Dogs went to water. Souths scored their three tries and had another two or three disallowed. It wasn’t near good enough Everyone getting caught up about 1-5 and heads must roll, etc needs to chill a little. We’ve played last season’s top four in those six games, and they’ll all be thereabouts this year too. As of now Storm, Panthers, Souths and Manly have won 13 from 16 this season The Dogs aren’t - and were never going to be - in the class of these teams this year. We need to see how we go against more realistic opposition before we start talking about who gets sacked or how we’re really travelling. So far we’re 1-1 against teams in (hopefully) our own bracket I’ve been super critical of the Dogs attack in the early rounds and still am, but there are (small) signs of improvement. A lot of that has coincided with Flanagan coming into the team. JMK is a big problem at dummy half. His service is terrible and slow and I think is a contributor to the lack of space we find out wide. I don’t know what the point of signing Josh Cook was if we don’t give him a go this season - particularly with Mahoney coming over next season I’d be happier if we seemed to be building some toughness or resilience through this tough draw, but we seem to be rolling over pretty quickly when things go against us. As Barrett says, we’re in games for block of 20 minutes but a pebble seems to start an avalanche pretty quickly. That’s exactly what happened today and you can’t blame that on the ref regardless how crook he might be
RLFan
Roar Rookie
I agree that there are signs of their attack improving, but defence wise the backs need strengthening. Any hope of them being competitive was gone when JMK was sin binned and the injuries and reshuffling of positions did not help. Also I thought the bunker disallowing Naden's try was harsh - sometimes I think they go out of their way to find some reason to disallow a try. It wouldn't have made any difference to the final result, but it was a nice kick from Flanagan and good follow through from Naden.
Danno1
Roar Rookie
Funny I think the Dogs are a fair bit better than last year in attack, they look like they're trying for more offloads and mixing it up a bit more. Their defence seems to have gone backwards. Part of the problem today was TPJ being on the field for longer than normal, he ran well, but is just not fit enough or mobile enough for extended periods on the park. Dufty was our most threatening in attack, but weak in defence, I still think he's more of a threat than Meaney was last year and finally I though Flanagan went OK, a lot better than any game last year. Final comment is it takes time for players to gel, even really good ones, Ben Darwin and Rugby League Digest podcast had a really interesting discussion on this referencing the Eels team of 1997. - highly recommended listening. The Dogs will need to play a lot more games together and get a feel for how everyone plays before they become a better attacking and defensive unit. Finally we have had an extremely tough opening 6 weeks with only 2 teams that weren't finalist last year. I would expect us to improve dramatically by week 18 this year and look a lot better moving into 2023. If 2023 is more of the same then Trent will be gone by week 10.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
Commiserations Dogs fans but... Even Josh Jackson conceded in the post-game press conference that the Dogs were warned by Sutton after repeated infringements. He also conceded that the Dogs need to improve their discipline. Neither Barrett or Jackson are blaming Sutton. They know that their ill-discipline is the issue. When is Trent Barrett finally going to come under scrutiny for the Dogs poor start to the season? The Dogs have had the best off-season recruitment drive and they should be performing much better with their new recruits. In the last 3 weeks the Dogs aggregate score has been 112-28. Almost 100 points differential. When is Barrett going to accept responsibility for that?
Caractacus
Guest
Souths have had a clunky start to the season especially in the halves, Cody Walker has been woefully out of form and it’s obviously going to take time for Ilias to find his feet but the signs are promising of it beginning to click. Cook was fantastic today, every time I watch him I’m willing him to run it more particularly when close to the try line, I’m sure he’d get plenty of four pointers if he did. Hopefully Latrell is back earlier than expected but even without him they should have enough to win most of their upcoming games.