Bulldogs
6
Match Complete
Rabbitohs
14
| 27 |  | A. Reynolds | ||
| 25 |  | A. Johnston | ||
| 22 |  | A. Reynolds | ||
| K. Holland | | 14 | ||
| O. Ogden | | 12 | ||
| 3 | | A. Reynolds | ||
| 2 | | C. Graham |
| 1 | Tries | 2 | ||
| 1 | Conversions | 2 | ||
| 0 | Penalty Goals | 1 | ||
| 0 | Field Goals | 0 |
The Canterbury Bulldogs will be out to cause an upset in their traditional Good Friday clash with the South Sydney Rabbitohs, who must find some improvement. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 4:05pm (AEDT).
On paper, this could be one-way traffic, but in reality, the Rabbitohs have been very poor in the last few weeks, and so it becomes difficult to know what they are going to dish up in this huge public holiday fixture.
While the cardinal and myrtle hold a four and one record heading into the game, they have been lucky to get away with some of their victories in the last few weeks.
Their loss against the Manly Sea Eagles a fortnight ago in golden point probably told us exactly where they are, with a mountain of errors and poor decision making in attack hampering them.
On either side of that game, they snuck away with wins over the Gold Coast Titans and New Zealand Warriors, but haven’t played well in either of those games. In fact, the only time they have played to their potential this year was against the Sydney Roosters in Round 1.
Improvement is a must, with Wayne Bennett’s side needing to get the basics right – their forwards handling the ball, creating time and space for the spine to go to work.
The Bulldogs, on the other hand, have been inconsistent, but then, that’s exactly what was expected out of them this year with a very youthful and inexperienced spine.
Last week, they were mauled by the Dragons at Kogarah, but before that, after a raft of changes following two awful performances to start the season, they had beaten the Tigers and pushed the Storm all the way in Victoria.
Those performances should fill the side with confidence, and if they can get back to that – defence will need to be where it starts – then they could well spring an upset.
Canterbury’s game must start on the defensive end of the park, where they were soft last week, but they also need to improve the speed of their attacking plays.
The work and combination of Jack Cogger and Nick Meaney will have a big say on this game, while they also conceded a number of tries off errors last week – something they must cut out if they hope to compete with Souths.
Prediction
It’s impossible to tip against the Rabbitohs, who simply must use this game to make a statement, however, there might be some sort of bounce back factor for the Bulldogs, so it would knock me over to see an upset.
Rabbitohs by 10.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this Round 6 fixture on Good Friday from 4:05pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.
Game information
Kick-off: 4:05pm (AEDT)
Venue: ANZ Stadium, Homebush
TV: Live, Fox League 502 and Nine Network
Online: Live, Foxtel app, Foxtel now, Kayo Sports, NRL Digital Pass, 9Now
Betting: Rabbitohs $1.33, Bulldogs $3.30
Overall record: Played 158, Bulldogs 81, Rabbitohs 73, drawn 4
Last meeting: Round 18, 2018 – Rabbitohs 24 defeat Bulldogs 6 at ANZ Stadium
Last five: Rabbitohs 4, Bulldogs 1
Record at venue: Played 28, Rabbitohs 16, Bulldogs 12
Referees: Henry Perenara, Tim Roby
Squads
Canterbury Bulldogs
1. Nick Meaney, 2. Jayden Okunbor, 3. Kerrod Holland, 4. William Hopoate, 5. Reimis Smith, 6. Jack Cogger, 7. Lachlan Lewis, 8. Aiden Tolman, 9. Jeremy Marshall-King, 10. Ofahiki Ogden, 11. Josh Jackson (c), 12. Corey Harawira-Naera, 13. Rhyse Martin
Interchange: 14. Michael Lichaa, 15. Danny Fualalo, 16. Adam Elliott, 17. Chris Smith, 19. Christian Crichton, 20. Marcelo Montoya, 21. Raymond Faitala-Mariner, 22. Fa’amanu Brown
South Sydney Rabbitohs
1. Alex Johnston, 2. Corey Allan, 3. Kyle Turner, 4. Dane Gagai, 5. Campbell Graham, 6. Cody Walker, 7. Adam Reynolds, 8. George Burgess, 9. Damien Cook, 10. Tom Burgess, 11. John Sutton, 12. Sam Burgess (c), 13. Cameron Murray
Interchange: 14. Junior Tatola, 15. Mark Nicholls, 16. Ethan Lowe, 17. Liam Knight, 18. Connor Tracey, 19. Bayley Sironen, 20. Rhys Kennedy, 21. Jacob Gagan
Mycall
Guest
I'm getting sick of hearing that bs phrase. Winning is the sign of a good team. That is all. A team that wins because they are playing well certainly isn't the sign of a bad team is it. But a team that plays well but loses is not a good sign and obviously a team playing ordinary and losing is even worse.
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
Let's look at Souths back 5 Joe 1. AJ (left winger playing FB) 2. Allan (FB playing on the wing) 3. Turner (Back rower playing centre) 4. Gagai (right winger playing right centre) 5. Graham (centre playing right wing) Enough said. And Souths are still one golden point loss of being undefeated after 6 games. Imagine what Souths will look like when they get everyone playing in their correct positions? And they are down a marquee player with GI retired!
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
OK Geoff. But Ricky Stuart complains about a lot more than I do you must admit. ???? (just pretend it’s a wink, I’m having formatting issues).
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
Meaney looks very sharp to me. If he came to Souths right now I would give a shot at FB and move AJ back to left wing. Souths big problem at the moment is that they are playing a right winger at right centre and a back row edge forward at left centre. Souths need to sort this out fast! Campbell Graham's natural position is centre and Mawene Hiroti is fast and can cover wing, centre and FB and can kick goals. Admittedly he is only 20 years old but Cam Murray is just 21 and Campbell Graham is only 19 (20 yrs in June). Give Meaney some time, he is still developing but has plenty of potential and seems to be improving each week.
stevesyd
Roar Rookie
Well, it's not 2 points
Rellum
Roar Guru
They gave in to Gould and Johns last years. I can't see them having the will power to try it again.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Bit worried about Meaney - he has some skills but doesn't seem physically up to first grade - bit like Brad Abbey
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Guess we all see things differently Papi depending on whose side we are supporting - I thought Souths were over the top with their milking and you thought the Dogs were over the top with holding players down
steve
Guest
100%.....its a style of refereeing that suits both the Roosters and Storm down to the ground, All the media whinging about the sin bin last year has ruined the game.
Ben Lewis
Roar Pro
Pretty annoyed at the extent to which the referees allowed the Bulldogs to slow down the ruck. I shudder to think what the Storm and Roosters rucks will look like. If the NRL is fair dinkum about increasing the speed of play, I would argue that blowing penalties to stop defenders slowing the ruck to a snail’s pace is better for the game than putting the whistle away in order to “let the game flow”.
Mon
Guest
Nope. Souths get the two points with plenty of rounds remaining to improve and gel under their new coach. Burns to come back in too. Comfy still in the top four. Doesn’t matter how you win them at this point of the year. What do the dogs get??
Steve
Guest
Awful game tbh...the refs allowed the Dogs to slow the ruck down to a snails pace....for crying out loud bring back the sin bin.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Cheers TB. Unlucky mate.
Hard Yards
Roar Rookie
The Dogs can take a lot more from this game than Souths.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Thanks Scotty...
The Barry
Roar Guru
Congrats on the win...a scrappy two points is wat better than no points...!!!!
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
But NOT that many times without a warning and losing a player to the sin-bin, surely? The Dogs were given far too much latitude for far too long otherwise Souths would have scored 30 points. Still, a brave effort from a team coming last on the ladder down a player for almost half the game.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Cheers Chris.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Thanks for joining me this evening on The Roar for our live coverage of the 2019 NRL season. Hopefully you enjoyed the coverage. I'll be back at 7:55pm (AEDT) for the Melbourne Storm and Sydney Roosters in the grand final rematch, so be sure to join me then. Bye for now.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Thoughts on the game Roarers?