Pay stands by his young halves despite Bulldogs' lack of bite

[Horse]

Author
Dan Walsh
Thu 19 Jul 2018, 11:33



Bulldogs coach Dean Pay has vowed to stick by young halves Lachlan Lewis and Jeremy Marshall-King after a listless attacking display against Parramatta dropped his side deep into a battle to dodge the wooden spoon.

Canterbury made all the running early in a 14-8 loss that saw their last-tackle plays and options pressing the Eels line bring them unstuck, consigning to a share of equal last on 10 competition points and their seventh loss in eight games.

At one point the Bulldogs opted to take a penalty goal while trailing by eight late in the second half, having never looked liked scoring for the previous 30 minutes.

While Pay could not fault his side's effort, he conceded the contest proved "painful to watch" at times with his young playmakers unable to take charge of Canterbury's attack.

"We had a fair bit more ball than them, we just didn't do enough with it," Pay said.

"We had a couple of young blokes there playing in the halves who were going sideways, we've got to dig into the line and create some opportunities for ourselves."

The Bulldogs are particularly thin when it comes to scrumbase options given Kieran Foran's season-ending toe injury.

While bench utility Nu Brown played the majority of his games at Cronulla at five-eighth before coming to the Dogs in 2018, Matt Frawley is Pay's only other halves option in his top-30 squad, with Josh Cleeland on a development contract and Newcastle's Jack Cogger joining the club in 2019.

As a result Pay backed his current pairing of Lewis - who re-signed on a two-year deal this week - and Marshall-King to bounce back and see out a season that could have the club finish with a wooden spoon for the first time since 2008.

"You can't just throw them out; we've got to stick with them and keep working hard," Pay said.

"They're going to get better but it's just a progression of where we're at."

In a further blow for Canterbury, prop Clay Priest suffered ligament damage to his elbow midway through the Eels loss and is facing two-to-three weeks on the sideline.

 

[CrittaMagic69]

How about you implement better systems you dud? Literally sideline to sideline every fucking week with the same shitty block play over and over, fucking hell.

 

[Mr Invisible]

In a further blow for Canterbury, prop Clay Priest suffered ligament damage to his elbow midway through the Eels loss and is facing two-to-three weeks on the sideline.

That's about the most he's done all season.... who is going to step up and give away his penalties in the game?

"We had a couple of young blokes there playing in the halves who were going sideways, we've got to dig into the line and create some opportunities for ourselves."

So what you do there Dean, is you say "Hey Mr Trainer, head out on the field, and advise JMK and Lewis to straighten up the attack.

I reckon our trainer and Pay must be like a divorced couple... they don't speak to each other on match day.

 

[habs]

Its the same shit I have heard and seen for years.

 

[doggieaaron]

How on earth pay keeps picking lichha,priest and eastwood shows how average pay is seriously wake up dean

 

[bowleggedwog]

How about you implement better systems you dud? Literally sideline to sideline every fucking week with the same shitty block play over and over, fucking hell.

Your pay bashing is getting old. You blamed Reynolds for years, yet hasler never once entered your mind. We all hate where we are at, but if you expected massive change after 4years of pathetic super coach misguided agenda than you have bigger issues than the bulldogs mate.

 

[CrittaMagic69]

Your pay bashing is getting old. You blamed Reynolds for years, yet hasler never once entered your mind. We all hate where we are at, but if you expected massive change after 4years of pathetic super coach misguided agenda than you have bigger issues than the bulldogs mate.

I was literally one of the first to want Hasler gone on here, stop making up shit.

 

[Matilida]

Lewis shows promise we should stick with longterm.

 

[Phalangist]

Lewis shows promise we should stick with longterm.

Lewis yes
But Marshall king is crap

7.lewis
6. Brown
That would be my halves pairing

 

[KiwiDog7]

Lewis was the only mofo chasing kicks

When that toe ahead hit the post and no other dogs player was within 10m I knew it wasn’t going to be our night

 

[speedy2460]

Bigger problems at the back. Hopoate is the slowest, most pedestrian FB in the game. I would experiment with Reimis Smith there
just to see how he goes. And Klemmer had the most forgettable game in months. He has totally lost interest. We are just lucky that JJ and Elliott played last night.

 

[KiwiDog7]

Bigger problems at the back. Hopoate is the slowest, most pedestrian FB in the game. I would experiment with Reimis Smith there
just to see how he goes. And Klemmer had the most forgettable game in months. He has totally lost interest. We are just lucky that JJ and Elliott played last night.

Disagree

Biggest problem is Lichaa

Then our halves

Then everything else

 

[bowleggedwog]

I was literally one of the first to want Hasler gone on here, stop making up shit.

The only shit is what spills out your mouth. You may as well work for the telegraph with your agendas. Im sure you were happy with lichaa at end of last year and king this year. So negative, why dont you just follow the team coming 1st every year to keep you happy.

 

[KLil]

Disagree

Biggest problem is Lichaa

Then our halves

Then everything else

The spine maybe..

 

[CrittaMagic69]

The only shit is what spills out your mouth. You may as well work for the telegraph with your agendas. Im sure you were happy with lichaa at end of last year and king this year. So negative, why dont you just follow the team coming 1st every year to keep you happy.

And this is why we have a massive loser culture with shit like this being spewed from our fans ffs

 

[Vlasnik]

Bigger problems at the back. Hopoate is the slowest, most pedestrian FB in the game. I would experiment with Reimis Smith there
just to see how he goes. And Klemmer had the most forgettable game in months. He has totally lost interest. We are just lucky that JJ and Elliott played last night.

Makes all the rumors about Klem and the knights even more believable doesn't it. Now we can say it's a one off game and the article of Brown chasing Klemmer which came out a day or two before the game was nothing more than a mere coincidence, but where there is smoke there is sure to be fire. Let's not forget not so long ago Klemmer was quoted in saying that he would be prepared to walk away from Canterbury if tapped on the shoulder. When I first read this I heard alarm bells. I was like Klemmer was telling other clubs that he could be availiable and Klem being his own manager maybe he wants to be tapped on the shoulder??? I don't know. Sounds like a conspiracy theory doesn't it???

 

[Art Vandelay]

Disagree

Biggest problem is Lichaa

Then our halves

Then everything else

Agree.
Telling sign was Lichaa continually passing to the forwards while we are in attacking position in the oppositions 10.
The halves need the ball as much as they can.

 

[KiwiDog7]

Agree.
Telling sign was Lichaa continually passing to the forwards while we are in attacking position in the oppositions 10.
The halves need the ball as much as they can.

I just cannot fathom at any level of Rugby League let alone at NRL that the halves do not own the attacking zone?

Lichaa continues to give the ball to our props

This is not a directive from Pay as he specified this issue after one of our many losses this year

This is just Lichaa preferring to give the ball to our props like it’s under 7s.

 

[bowleggedwog]

And this is why we have a massive loser culture with shit like this being spewed from our fans ffs

Yea that makes alot of sense doesnt it. Have fun following the bunnies.

 

[Mitch Connor]

Are we saying Lachlan Lewis is NOT Thurston reincarnate now?