GrogDog
bad attitude
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2009
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Here we go guys, another one for you.......
The Dogs are dead. The Dogs are buried. Can't score points. Can't keep pace. Front-rowers trying to play like halfbacks. Halfback kicking like front-rowers. No chance, they say. Want to hear it again, boys?
"Everyone's written us off ... and that's good," Josh Morris grins. "It gives us that bit more incentive and passion to prove people wrong.
Dogs o' war and all that, sure that can work to an extent. But just how does one of the game's best minds extricate his side from a slump – and slumber – at a time of year when they're usually doing anything but?
"I think sometimes it takes a bit for some players to respond and I'm sure all the boys will have copped something at some stage [in the past month]. They'll have the fire in their bellies and that can only be a good thing," Morris said.
"I think you can draw comparisons [to 2014 when the Bulldogs made the grand final from seventh]. We're a bit of a different side and there is a lot more experience there."
The Bulldogs' 2014 vintage lost six of their last eight regular season games. Shot ducks in September, they thought. They thought wrong. If not for the heavens opening on the Rabbitohs' drought they would have won it all.
Dogged determination: Josh Morris. Photo: Getty Images
This year? They're seventh again. Seemingly shot ducks in September. They lost three on the bounce on the eve of the finals. A bit like that bloke at Bathurst a few years ago who ran out of fuel on the final lap. And sheepishly exited stage left.
"[But 2014] comes up a little bit, more so for the fact we've just got to keep ourselves positive," Bulldogs prop Aiden Tolman said. "It just shows what can happen if you find a bit of form at the right time of year.
Defiant: Josh Morris says Canterbury are ready for sudden-death footy. Photo: Getty Images
"You only have to win this game and you're through to another game. We know we've got the ability – we're a great side when we're playing good footy. If we do that it will give us the best chance of winning."
Experience counts, especially now. The Bulldogs have it in spades. The Panthers will likely have it in spades down the track.
Optimistic: Aiden Tolman wants the Bulldogs to stay "positive". Photo: Getty Images
The whisper around Belmore is that Canterbury reckon three losses against hard nuts might not be such a bad stepping stone for a clash with the NRL's other great entertainers.
Especially when you compare it to the Penrith's Harlem Globetrotters-like beating of Manly, who not only looked like the Washington Generals but played as if their mind was there last week too.
"We've had some different opposition – some tough opposition – and I think that's been good for us," Tolman said. "It's finals time now and whatever has happened throughout the season is irrelevant. It's sudden-death footy every week for us and we've got to treat it like that."
And you reckon Hasler didn't see this coming.
Remember when he had the chance to fight Sam Kasiano's beautification of Corey Parker with his size 15 skates at the judiciary? The coach reasoned it wasn't a risk worth taking given the big fella could have missed the first week of the finals.
Guess what? He's getting arguably his most important man back at a time when they need him most. He is one bloke who can play like a front-rower and halfback. Try telling Big Sam the Dogs are already dead.
The Dogs are dead. The Dogs are buried. Can't score points. Can't keep pace. Front-rowers trying to play like halfbacks. Halfback kicking like front-rowers. No chance, they say. Want to hear it again, boys?
"Everyone's written us off ... and that's good," Josh Morris grins. "It gives us that bit more incentive and passion to prove people wrong.
Dogs o' war and all that, sure that can work to an extent. But just how does one of the game's best minds extricate his side from a slump – and slumber – at a time of year when they're usually doing anything but?
"I think sometimes it takes a bit for some players to respond and I'm sure all the boys will have copped something at some stage [in the past month]. They'll have the fire in their bellies and that can only be a good thing," Morris said.
"I think you can draw comparisons [to 2014 when the Bulldogs made the grand final from seventh]. We're a bit of a different side and there is a lot more experience there."
The Bulldogs' 2014 vintage lost six of their last eight regular season games. Shot ducks in September, they thought. They thought wrong. If not for the heavens opening on the Rabbitohs' drought they would have won it all.
Dogged determination: Josh Morris. Photo: Getty Images
This year? They're seventh again. Seemingly shot ducks in September. They lost three on the bounce on the eve of the finals. A bit like that bloke at Bathurst a few years ago who ran out of fuel on the final lap. And sheepishly exited stage left.
"[But 2014] comes up a little bit, more so for the fact we've just got to keep ourselves positive," Bulldogs prop Aiden Tolman said. "It just shows what can happen if you find a bit of form at the right time of year.
Defiant: Josh Morris says Canterbury are ready for sudden-death footy. Photo: Getty Images
"You only have to win this game and you're through to another game. We know we've got the ability – we're a great side when we're playing good footy. If we do that it will give us the best chance of winning."
Experience counts, especially now. The Bulldogs have it in spades. The Panthers will likely have it in spades down the track.
Optimistic: Aiden Tolman wants the Bulldogs to stay "positive". Photo: Getty Images
The whisper around Belmore is that Canterbury reckon three losses against hard nuts might not be such a bad stepping stone for a clash with the NRL's other great entertainers.
Especially when you compare it to the Penrith's Harlem Globetrotters-like beating of Manly, who not only looked like the Washington Generals but played as if their mind was there last week too.
"We've had some different opposition – some tough opposition – and I think that's been good for us," Tolman said. "It's finals time now and whatever has happened throughout the season is irrelevant. It's sudden-death footy every week for us and we've got to treat it like that."
And you reckon Hasler didn't see this coming.
Remember when he had the chance to fight Sam Kasiano's beautification of Corey Parker with his size 15 skates at the judiciary? The coach reasoned it wasn't a risk worth taking given the big fella could have missed the first week of the finals.
Guess what? He's getting arguably his most important man back at a time when they need him most. He is one bloke who can play like a front-rower and halfback. Try telling Big Sam the Dogs are already dead.
