Source: SMH - Andrew Webster
Date: 02Apr21
The Bulldogs handed the keys to Willie Mason in 2000.
Not the keys to the Ferrari, or the Subaru WRX Impreza STI Version 5 for that matter, but Jason Hetherington’s smelly old locker at Belmore Sportsground.
“This is yours now,” Hetherington told him. “You better f---ing look after it.”
Mason was a raw but clearly talented 20-year-old, just making his way into the first-grade squad.
Hetherington was one of those typically flint-hard Bulldogs players, but his time was up with a final payday waiting for him in England.
That’s how Canterbury rolled then. That’s how they’d always rolled. It was a privilege to just have a locker let alone play first grade for the Bulldogs, who were still the toughest, angriest sods this side of Terry Lamb’s forearm.
“It was a big deal to get a locker,” Mason recalled.
Those were the standards they set at Belmore, the war-room in which generations of players were imbued with a certain way of doing business whether the team was running first or last.
They never wanted to let down the greats of the past, whose presence was always felt.
Canterbury-Bankstown Rugby League Football Club is now a shadow of its former self and the game is worse for it.
Their winless start to the season, including a 28-0 loss to Penrith and 24-0 defeat against the hapless Broncos, is a frightening reminder that once you dig yourself a deep hole in this game, it can take a long time to climb out.
Some reckon it will take a decade. Do the ever-bickering factions at the Bulldogs have that much patience? Is rather talkative major sponsor Arthur Laundy in it for the long haul? And will they all stand back and allow new coach Trent Barrett to unravel the mess?
We won’t trawl over all the sins of the past but the decision to import players, not breed them, has been a grave error of judgement. Very un-Bulldogs.
The salary cap has been out of whack for years with silly money thrown at the likes of Aaron Woods (who played half a season after signing for four) and Kieran Foran (who played 40 matches in three seasons, many of them injured).
More recently, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was signed from Penrith on fullback money – even if he’s best suited to the wing. Canberra couldn’t compete with the Bulldogs on Nick Cotric who has been signed on centre money – even if he’s also best suited to the wing.
England prop Luke Thompson arrived last year with a big reputation and on even bigger money – reportedly $800,000 a season – but is yet to show he was worth the spend. He returns from a four-match ban for an eye gouge next week.
Then there’s the handful of players in their top 30 who in days gone by wouldn’t have got a look at those lockers let alone hang their clothes in them.
With 15 players coming off contract at the end of this year, the club will be one of the most active in the player market.
But how many quality players will they attract, at what price, if the they continue to lose in the manner in which they have?
It’s not all bad, though.
Next year, Matt Burton arrives from Penrith. He kicks the ball so far you think he’s played at altitude. Josh Addo-Carr is also coming. He runs so fast he makes the others look like they’re in slow motion.
But what the Bulldogs really need is a hooker, which under the new rules has become the game’s most important position.
They went hard at Brandon Smith but he’s expected to stay at the Storm. The club is reportedly sniffing around Warrington’s Daryl Clark, a former Man of Steel in the Super League who the Dogs hope can be their Josh Hodgson.
These changes might be a sugar hit for both fans and the under-pressure board, whoever’s on it by 2023 after next year’s elections, but it won’t guarantee long-term success.
The man charged with turning it around is Barrett, who is quickly finding out how much work is ahead of him.
It won’t get much easier against Souths in the traditional Good Friday match at ANZ Stadium, then the Storm the following week.
“When I leave the joint – whether that be in three years, five years or 10 years – I want to leave it in a better place than when I got here,” Barrett told the Herald in a recent interview.
It might take that long.
They count success at Belmore in premierships. It’s in the woodwork. It’s in the lockers. But Canterbury appear to be years away from becoming their former selves.
Date: 02Apr21
The Bulldogs handed the keys to Willie Mason in 2000.
Not the keys to the Ferrari, or the Subaru WRX Impreza STI Version 5 for that matter, but Jason Hetherington’s smelly old locker at Belmore Sportsground.
“This is yours now,” Hetherington told him. “You better f---ing look after it.”
Mason was a raw but clearly talented 20-year-old, just making his way into the first-grade squad.
Hetherington was one of those typically flint-hard Bulldogs players, but his time was up with a final payday waiting for him in England.
That’s how Canterbury rolled then. That’s how they’d always rolled. It was a privilege to just have a locker let alone play first grade for the Bulldogs, who were still the toughest, angriest sods this side of Terry Lamb’s forearm.
“It was a big deal to get a locker,” Mason recalled.
Those were the standards they set at Belmore, the war-room in which generations of players were imbued with a certain way of doing business whether the team was running first or last.
They never wanted to let down the greats of the past, whose presence was always felt.
Canterbury-Bankstown Rugby League Football Club is now a shadow of its former self and the game is worse for it.
Their winless start to the season, including a 28-0 loss to Penrith and 24-0 defeat against the hapless Broncos, is a frightening reminder that once you dig yourself a deep hole in this game, it can take a long time to climb out.
Some reckon it will take a decade. Do the ever-bickering factions at the Bulldogs have that much patience? Is rather talkative major sponsor Arthur Laundy in it for the long haul? And will they all stand back and allow new coach Trent Barrett to unravel the mess?
We won’t trawl over all the sins of the past but the decision to import players, not breed them, has been a grave error of judgement. Very un-Bulldogs.
The salary cap has been out of whack for years with silly money thrown at the likes of Aaron Woods (who played half a season after signing for four) and Kieran Foran (who played 40 matches in three seasons, many of them injured).
More recently, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was signed from Penrith on fullback money – even if he’s best suited to the wing. Canberra couldn’t compete with the Bulldogs on Nick Cotric who has been signed on centre money – even if he’s also best suited to the wing.
England prop Luke Thompson arrived last year with a big reputation and on even bigger money – reportedly $800,000 a season – but is yet to show he was worth the spend. He returns from a four-match ban for an eye gouge next week.
Then there’s the handful of players in their top 30 who in days gone by wouldn’t have got a look at those lockers let alone hang their clothes in them.
With 15 players coming off contract at the end of this year, the club will be one of the most active in the player market.
But how many quality players will they attract, at what price, if the they continue to lose in the manner in which they have?
It’s not all bad, though.
Next year, Matt Burton arrives from Penrith. He kicks the ball so far you think he’s played at altitude. Josh Addo-Carr is also coming. He runs so fast he makes the others look like they’re in slow motion.
But what the Bulldogs really need is a hooker, which under the new rules has become the game’s most important position.
They went hard at Brandon Smith but he’s expected to stay at the Storm. The club is reportedly sniffing around Warrington’s Daryl Clark, a former Man of Steel in the Super League who the Dogs hope can be their Josh Hodgson.
These changes might be a sugar hit for both fans and the under-pressure board, whoever’s on it by 2023 after next year’s elections, but it won’t guarantee long-term success.
The man charged with turning it around is Barrett, who is quickly finding out how much work is ahead of him.
It won’t get much easier against Souths in the traditional Good Friday match at ANZ Stadium, then the Storm the following week.
“When I leave the joint – whether that be in three years, five years or 10 years – I want to leave it in a better place than when I got here,” Barrett told the Herald in a recent interview.
It might take that long.
They count success at Belmore in premierships. It’s in the woodwork. It’s in the lockers. But Canterbury appear to be years away from becoming their former selves.
