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Kennel Legend
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The Bulldogs’ 1995 Grand Final dream could have been a nightmare were it not for the intervention of coach Chris Anderson.
The Super League war threatened to tear the club apart earlier in the season as club and player loyalties were divided.
After the Super League war exploded, the players started to form their allegiances with whether they were staying with ARL or Super League and the Bulldogs were torn apart, more than any club.
Four of their main players — Dean Pay, Jarryd McCracken, Jim Dymock and Jason Smith — had all agreed to play for the ARL, once the Super League competition began, whereas the club itself decided to side with Super League, according to Paul Kent.
“It got to a point one night where Chris Anderson called all the players in at the Leagues club and basically sat them down and said, ‘guys, we’re staying here now until we sort it out.’,” Kent recalled.
“And they sat there together drinking and everyone got their differences and gripes out and everybody said their bit, until eventually everyone ran out of steam and things became a bit more rational.
And the Dogs finally got to that point where Anderson was able to have them put it all out on the table and by the end of the night, they’d all resolved their issues.”
Super League dominated every discussion at that time.
“All this coronavirus talk we’re stuck with now, it was very similar. Every football discussion was about Super League” Kent said.
Chris Anderson saved the Bulldogs season with an honesty session at the pub.Source: News Corp Australia
“So to try and get past that, Anderson said to the guys, ‘righto, every Monday night, we’re going to go and have a beer, or an orange juice if you don’t want a beer,’ but the one rule was, they all had to be there, they all had to have a drink together, but they weren’t allowed to talk about football. So they had to find other things to talk about.”
Bulldogs hard men Jim Dymock and Dean Pay make a tackle.Source: News Corp Australia
The players weren’t allowed to talk about rugby league, because their coach didn’t want them opening old wounds and he wanted them to find other things to bond over.
The players were able to get on with it and the rest was history.
The year 1995 was when the Bulldogs came good and went on one of the great semi-final runs of all time, going on to win the premiership.
Jim Dymock looks for a runner.Source: News Corp Australia
Craig Polla-Mounter gets a kick away.Source: News Corp Australia
Terry Lamb raises his arms in triumph.Source: News Corp Australia
Terry Lamb is held aloft by Steve Price and Jason Hetherington.Source: News Corp Australia
The Bulldogs with the 1995 Winfield Cup trophy and shield.Source: News Corp Australia
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...e/news-story/fc4ece2e271513e316dba5b19e632ac0