There’s been something in the water this weekend – after a 38-34 yesterday, a 36-20 on Friday and a 34-30 on Thursday, we got another tryathon on a scorching Sunday afternoon at Belmore, with the Bulldogs surviving a late comeback to run out 26-24 winners over the Wests Tigers.
In truth, it could have been twice as many: the Dogs bombed a host of opportunities in the first half and could have been even further in front than the 26-6 they held through the hour mark. Had it been 50-6, it would not have flattered the Dogs or been unfair on the Tigers, who had been horrendous.
And yet, with the game gone, Wests rose from the dead to make a contest of it. They had no line breaks at all prior to the hour, but ended up with five and very nearly won it. Three tries in five minutes was the purplest of patches for Tim Sheens’ men, but it couldn’t last.
No sooner had the contest become a contest again, the Tigers reverted to type and again forgot how to catch, pass and attack. It was five minutes of excellence amid 75 minutes of trash. One can only imagine how infuriating it is to support them.
“We made it hard for ourselves there,” said Dogs boss Cameron Ciraldo. “We played really well for 60 minutes but the last 15-20 we lost out way. We’re still a new team and learning on the run a little bit, but there were things in there that I was happy about that we improved from last week.
“We weren’t going to go from where we were started to being an 80 minute team straight away, but I’m happy that we’re getting better every week.”
Any discussion of this match starts with the conditions. It was 34 degrees at kick-off and felt higher, with the bulk of the Belmore crowd in the blazing sun. Whoever could best deal with that was likely to get the (melted) choccies.
In the end, Sheens’ men absented themselves from the fight. They seemed unable to build any pressure which empowered the Bulldogs to attack with impunity. It was devoid of any cohesion – fine, it’s Round 3 – but also smarts and simple game management.
In the set after their lone first half try, they coughed up a contact error. When they were gifted field position by a penalty late in the first half, Api Koroisau dropped it cold. Under the posts after an hour, Api threw a crash ball into Alex Twal and another opportunity evaporated.
“I’m pleased in one aspect in that we came back into the game after handing them a couple of long range tries,” said Sheens. “We didn’t play well first half but second half we got better and chased them and nearly caught them.
“Both teams had plenty of errors, but if you’ve ever been in the arena, then you’ll understand what I’m talking about out there. It’s not easy in those conditions.”
Canterbury actually had more errors than the Tigers going into the break, but it was the manner of the errors that mattered.
The Dogs had bombed four tries through slack passing, whereas their opponents were dropping the ball in yardage rather than trying to make something happen.
There’s a big difference here: Cameron Ciraldo clearly empowered his backline to take risks and move the Tigers defensive line around, and errors will come with added passing and offloading.
Both sides had completed lower than 70% through half time, but Canterbury had threatened the line in almost all of theirs where Wests barely asked a question. Ironically, when the Dogs put the expansive stuff away to see the game out, they looked their worst.
“We created heaps in the first half and through the discipline of being patient we killed ourselves a few times there,” said Ciraldo.
“We’re a young team and sometimes that means that you’re not going to get it right, but we’re not going to stop asking questions. We didn’t get it right with the last pass tonight but we’ll learn from that and be better next week.”
The Tigers’ attack is confusing to say the least. They hit nearly 50 red zone tackles in both their games before this, with a paltry four tries to show for it. Today, their best opportunities in the first hour came from a solo John Bateman chip and chase and their one score, a length-of-the-field intercept from Brent Naden.
As well as the Dogs defended and manipulated field position, when the Tigers got into good ball, they were awful. Adam Doueihi in particular had a bad one: the intercept that he threw to Paul Alamoti for a breakaway try stand out, but beyond that, there was several occasions where he played too slowly, telegraphing passes that made his side so easy to defend.
Luke Brooks wasn’t much better for an hour. His main contribution in the first half was a kick aimed at the post that missed, gifting a seven tackle set. In the second, he was meekly caught in possession on the last when something creative was needed. Suddenly, with the game gone, he sparked to life. There’s something in there with Brooks but good luck guessing where it might be found. They’ve been looking for nearly a decade.
Perhaps there is a bit of credit to Tim Sheens for the revival. He rejigged the backline, hooking David Nofoaluma, shifting Charlie Staines to the wing, Doueihi to the back and introducing the impressive Brandon Wakeham into the halves. Brooks, playing 6 now instead of 7, threw caution to the wind.
It’s all well and good that the Tigers fought back strongly, but for an hour, they were as bad as any team we’ve seen this year.
This was the coming together of last year’s Grand Final hookers, now transplanted into far less successful teams. As mentioned, Api Koroisau didn’t have his best game, but his opposite number was excellent.
Reed Mahoney did all the stuff you expect, topping his team’s tackle count and assisting their early shifts through crisp long service from the deck, but also overshadowed Api in his areas of strength, with deception and eyes-up play from behind the ruck.
Matt Burton’s try was all about Mahoney’s ability to spot when the marker and the A defender were too far apart, and the succession of breaks right down main street in the first half were all about the hooker. He’ll never garner the attention that Burton, Josh Addo-Carr and Viliame Kikau get, but he’s increasingly the key to this side’s success.
“He’s been brilliant every week and brilliant since day one when he walked into this joint,” said Ciraldo. “He’s a natural leader, the sort of guy you want to go to war with.
“Reed is leading from the front, every day, every meeting, every training session. I’m glad people are recognising what he can do on the field.
“He’s got the best dummy half pass in the game. He works really hard at that and it’s why he’s the best. That’s the way we want to play, we want to move the ball and play to our strengths.
“At times we’re doing and at times we go away from it, but Reed helps that a lot. He knows when to direct us back through the middle as well. The try for Burto there was perfect for Reed’s decision making.”
It comes after the NRL promised a crackdown on dissent towards the referees this week.
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