DEAN PAY
Scratch the surface of Dean Pay’s stunning press conference attack on the officials last week and it starts to look like cracks are appearing in the rookie coach’s grip on a side that has enough talent to be doing far better.
The off-season arrivals of Aaron Woods and Kieran Foran were supposed to herald a new dawn for a club that has been dogged by the controversial methods of their last coach Des Hasler and the sacking and resulting legal action that followed.
While many fans would be happier with how their side is attacking this year, the NRL will always be a results business and at the moment Pay isn’t getting enough of them from his side.
In fact, according to the Fox Sports Lab, the Bulldogs two-win start is the worst the club has had since 1996, which was the last time they managed just two wins in their first nine games.
A club with a history as proud as Canterbury’s won’t put up with statistics like those for long and if Pay’s side can’t turn things around with a win against the Eels on Friday night 2018 will become historic for all the wrong reasons, making it the club’s worst start to the season since 1964, when they failed to win a game in the first 10 rounds (nine losses and a draw).
If anything playing a side like Parramatta puts additional pressure on the Bulldogs to find a win given Brad Arthur’s side sits one place below them on the ladder in 16th, also having managed just two wins to start the season.
While Arthur has got the runs on the board to survive for a while yet, Pay is yet to prove himself as an NRL coach and times are starting to get desperate.
From foxsports