comment By Nick Walshaw
Telegraph
September 17, 2007 12:00am
FORMER Canterbury champion Peter Mortimer last night said the Bulldogs must abandon their bully-boy style for attacking football or continue to fall short at the business end of the season.
Mortimer's comments came as Bulldogs players conceded their reputation as "finals specialists" was dead and buried in the wake of their 25-6 sudden-death loss to rivals Parramatta on Saturday night.
"I'm sick of it," Bulldogs star Willie Mason said post-match. "I just can't cope with losing the way we are any more. This is becoming a big problem for us."
The Bulldogs attempted, yet failed, to out-muscle Parramatta through the forwards - a one-dimensional tactic which has concerned Mortimer.
"The Dogs have to change their style," Mortimer told The Daily Telegraph.
"For years they have tried to muscle opposition sides through the forwards but it's not working these days.
"Sides that are winning these days are showing flair and are prepared to throw the ball around.
"Canterbury haven't had an impressive backline since Terry Lamb retired.
"That shows to me they are only trying to dominate through the forwards. Other teams have changed, the Bulldogs haven't."
Mortimer and brother Steve called on the club to consider changing their halfback, five-eighth and hooker for 2008.
"I wouldn't say it's the end of an era but the club certainly needs to look at hooker, halfback and five-eighth," Steve Mortimer said.
"The club needs to look around, even for some halves who aren't getting a run at other clubs and give them the chance."
Dogs players admitted their reputation as being a dominant force in the finals was over.
"People talk about the Bulldogs being finals specialists," prop Mark O'Meley said. "But that just hasn't been happening and Andrew Ryan told everyone a month ago that the time for talk was over, that we had to act.
"But we haven't done that. And it was the same last year. We had a perfect opportunity to win a premiership, to have a real crack, but once again we just didn't deliver."
Kangaroo great Gorden Tallis fired the first shots at Belmore last week, telling The Daily Telegraph the Bulldogs were slowly losing their intimidation factor and "living in the past".
"Over the past few weeks everyone has been talking us up but we just haven't produced. And, yeah, we have lost that tag," skipper Andrew Ryan said.
"I don't know if it's a problem between the ears or what but we just didn't turn up. Parramatta rolled straight through us in the middle of that ruck with ease."
Asked if the Bulldogs had lost their finals aura, Mason added: "I'm not sure about that . . . but we can't have one more year when we don't turn up in the finals."
Despite the concerns of his mates, departing hooker Adam Perry insisted it would take more than two finals flops to rid the club of a "culture" that had been built up since the 1980s.
"That aura will still be here come finals time next season," Perry said. "Having been here 11 years you realise this isn't something the club can lose in a week, a year, even in two finals series. The culture has been built up over years and years."
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Telegraph
September 17, 2007 12:00am
FORMER Canterbury champion Peter Mortimer last night said the Bulldogs must abandon their bully-boy style for attacking football or continue to fall short at the business end of the season.
Mortimer's comments came as Bulldogs players conceded their reputation as "finals specialists" was dead and buried in the wake of their 25-6 sudden-death loss to rivals Parramatta on Saturday night.
"I'm sick of it," Bulldogs star Willie Mason said post-match. "I just can't cope with losing the way we are any more. This is becoming a big problem for us."
The Bulldogs attempted, yet failed, to out-muscle Parramatta through the forwards - a one-dimensional tactic which has concerned Mortimer.
"The Dogs have to change their style," Mortimer told The Daily Telegraph.
"For years they have tried to muscle opposition sides through the forwards but it's not working these days.
"Sides that are winning these days are showing flair and are prepared to throw the ball around.
"Canterbury haven't had an impressive backline since Terry Lamb retired.
"That shows to me they are only trying to dominate through the forwards. Other teams have changed, the Bulldogs haven't."
Mortimer and brother Steve called on the club to consider changing their halfback, five-eighth and hooker for 2008.
"I wouldn't say it's the end of an era but the club certainly needs to look at hooker, halfback and five-eighth," Steve Mortimer said.
"The club needs to look around, even for some halves who aren't getting a run at other clubs and give them the chance."
Dogs players admitted their reputation as being a dominant force in the finals was over.
"People talk about the Bulldogs being finals specialists," prop Mark O'Meley said. "But that just hasn't been happening and Andrew Ryan told everyone a month ago that the time for talk was over, that we had to act.
"But we haven't done that. And it was the same last year. We had a perfect opportunity to win a premiership, to have a real crack, but once again we just didn't deliver."
Kangaroo great Gorden Tallis fired the first shots at Belmore last week, telling The Daily Telegraph the Bulldogs were slowly losing their intimidation factor and "living in the past".
"Over the past few weeks everyone has been talking us up but we just haven't produced. And, yeah, we have lost that tag," skipper Andrew Ryan said.
"I don't know if it's a problem between the ears or what but we just didn't turn up. Parramatta rolled straight through us in the middle of that ruck with ease."
Asked if the Bulldogs had lost their finals aura, Mason added: "I'm not sure about that . . . but we can't have one more year when we don't turn up in the finals."
Despite the concerns of his mates, departing hooker Adam Perry insisted it would take more than two finals flops to rid the club of a "culture" that had been built up since the 1980s.
"That aura will still be here come finals time next season," Perry said. "Having been here 11 years you realise this isn't something the club can lose in a week, a year, even in two finals series. The culture has been built up over years and years."
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