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Canterbury star Kieran Foran is sweating on scans of the same toe he injured in 2018 which cut short his campaign.
The Bulldogs' tough week continued in Wollongong as they blew a 12-point lead to lose in the final minute to St George Illawarra.
Dean Pay parted ways with the club at the start of the week - and now their highest-paid player could be shuffled to the sidelines after picking up an injury in the first half.
Foran had a head injury assessment after a high shot from Tariq Sims late in the first half. He passed it, but was clearly struggling as he tried to avoid a rushing Corey Norman. Foran was seen a few plays later clutching at his left boot as he got a kick away.
"I pivoted off my left foot and, as I've done that, I felt my left toe,'' Foran said.
"I had surgery on that toe in 2018 after I had snapped a few ligaments. I'll get a scan tonight, but it didn't feel good.
"I'm hoping I'm wrong with the toe and it's not as bad as I'm thinking. But it's pretty sore. And I found it was a similar feeling to when I did it in 2018. That was what worried me the most. I could be wrong.''
Foran is off-contract and, prior to the WIN Stadium setback, was happy to entertain a one-year deal to stay with the Bulldogs as a show of appreciation for splashing the cash on him during three injury-plagued seasons.
His experience and composure was sorely missed late in the game as Canterbury failed to thwart the Dragons' fightback. Marcelo Montoya tried to take a Lachlan Lewis cutout pass, knocked it on and Norman raced 40m to seal the result.
"I thought we put in a massive effort, but we kept putting ourselves under pressure, either through dropped balls or six-agains,'' Foran said.
"It eventually takes its toll on you. Had we mounted a bit more pressure down their end, we would have been right. It was hard to watch from the sidelines.''
Late in the game, interim Dogs coach Steve Georgallis must have thought he was about to celebrate the club's second win of the year in his first game in charge. The team song, which has been sung only once this season, was printed in large font on an A3 piece of paper in the hope it would be belted out.
But Dragons halfback Adam Clune's long run down field put Matt Dufty in for his second to level the scores, then Norman pounced on Montoya's error. Montoya motioned to the sideline straight afterwards that he had struggled to see while Norman sat on the southern fence and applauded himself, evoking memories of a similar celebration by former Dragon Mark Riddell.
Canterbury are this week expected to appoint Trent Barrett as their head coach for next season.
He would have liked most of what he saw from the Bulldogs but, for a moment, he must have wondered if he was better off waiting for a vacancy at his beloved Dragons as Paul McGregor's side looked set to lose.
The Dragons raced out to a 10-0 lead inside 10 minutes, including Dufty's first in just 58 seconds.
McGregor was disappointed with a 15-minute period in the first half when the Dogs scored three tries to go into the break with a 20-10 lead.
"But you take the win and those two points are priceless,'' McGregor said. "The pleasing thing is when we needed points, we found 18 points in 15 minutes.''
The Dogs must regroup for a Sunday road trip to Newcastle while the Dragons prepare for their Shire grudge match against Cronulla.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/ca...own-in-defeat-to-dragons-20200718-p55da6.html
The Bulldogs' tough week continued in Wollongong as they blew a 12-point lead to lose in the final minute to St George Illawarra.
Dean Pay parted ways with the club at the start of the week - and now their highest-paid player could be shuffled to the sidelines after picking up an injury in the first half.
Foran had a head injury assessment after a high shot from Tariq Sims late in the first half. He passed it, but was clearly struggling as he tried to avoid a rushing Corey Norman. Foran was seen a few plays later clutching at his left boot as he got a kick away.
"I pivoted off my left foot and, as I've done that, I felt my left toe,'' Foran said.
"I had surgery on that toe in 2018 after I had snapped a few ligaments. I'll get a scan tonight, but it didn't feel good.
"I'm hoping I'm wrong with the toe and it's not as bad as I'm thinking. But it's pretty sore. And I found it was a similar feeling to when I did it in 2018. That was what worried me the most. I could be wrong.''
Foran is off-contract and, prior to the WIN Stadium setback, was happy to entertain a one-year deal to stay with the Bulldogs as a show of appreciation for splashing the cash on him during three injury-plagued seasons.
His experience and composure was sorely missed late in the game as Canterbury failed to thwart the Dragons' fightback. Marcelo Montoya tried to take a Lachlan Lewis cutout pass, knocked it on and Norman raced 40m to seal the result.
"I thought we put in a massive effort, but we kept putting ourselves under pressure, either through dropped balls or six-agains,'' Foran said.
"It eventually takes its toll on you. Had we mounted a bit more pressure down their end, we would have been right. It was hard to watch from the sidelines.''
Late in the game, interim Dogs coach Steve Georgallis must have thought he was about to celebrate the club's second win of the year in his first game in charge. The team song, which has been sung only once this season, was printed in large font on an A3 piece of paper in the hope it would be belted out.
But Dragons halfback Adam Clune's long run down field put Matt Dufty in for his second to level the scores, then Norman pounced on Montoya's error. Montoya motioned to the sideline straight afterwards that he had struggled to see while Norman sat on the southern fence and applauded himself, evoking memories of a similar celebration by former Dragon Mark Riddell.
Canterbury are this week expected to appoint Trent Barrett as their head coach for next season.
He would have liked most of what he saw from the Bulldogs but, for a moment, he must have wondered if he was better off waiting for a vacancy at his beloved Dragons as Paul McGregor's side looked set to lose.
The Dragons raced out to a 10-0 lead inside 10 minutes, including Dufty's first in just 58 seconds.
McGregor was disappointed with a 15-minute period in the first half when the Dogs scored three tries to go into the break with a 20-10 lead.
"But you take the win and those two points are priceless,'' McGregor said. "The pleasing thing is when we needed points, we found 18 points in 15 minutes.''
The Dogs must regroup for a Sunday road trip to Newcastle while the Dragons prepare for their Shire grudge match against Cronulla.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/ca...own-in-defeat-to-dragons-20200718-p55da6.html
