Well it's taken eight rounds but the Bulldogs have finally become the biggest winners of the week after a sound 40-4 victory over the Wests Tigers.
I must admit I enjoyed looking for a Bulldog pic finally but I gotta say there's not many aggressive Bulldog pics out there. Most are placid, lazy and slobbery. But this one saved the day.
It was well documented that the Tigers had been quite depleted with injuries and many had predicted a big victory for the Bulldogs. But in football, what is supposed to happen doesn't always happen and so the Bulldogs had to attack this game to bring about this result and that's exactly what they did.
This result completely negated the 36 point loss to the Roosters as far as for and against is concerned.
The Bulldogs began the season with many of their stars missing and the luck of the draw saw them play all the top 4 teams one after the other. They were not ready to face teams of this calibre and suffered greatly. Now however, the Bulldogs are facing teams that they are competitive with and they are getting the wins they need to capitalise on. Next weeks game against the Warriors is a danger game as the Bulldogs have not fared too well over in NZ but with a few specialist Kiwi's in the team they will have some local support as well. After that game the Knights will be a step up in terms of difficulty but the Bulldogs will certainly be competitive.
It was good to see the impact that Sam Kasiano will bring when he is back to full strength and James Graham made a very big contribution in team confidence. The Bulldogs defence was solid but there is still plenty of work to do in cover defence. Sam Perrett continues to be a huge asset on the wing in his defence and brilliant attack. Barba was starting to find some holes and that spring in his step which will only build with confidence in the coming weeks.
When the Bulldogs start to beat the Top 8 teams then it may be time to finally look forward to the Finals Series but it is still early days yet. The testing round will be against the Broncos in Round 11.
As a supporter we are starting to breathe a bit better but a couple more wins will crush any doubts for 2013.
In addition to the Bulldogs game, the Bunnies triumphed over the Broncos 26-12 consolidating their claim for the title and then Saturday night saw the incredible upset of the year when Canberra became the first team to beat the Storm since 2012 when they won 24-20. Also that night the Eels came very close to beating the Cowboys but went down 14-10.
Everything tightened up on Sunday with two games being won by a field goal. The Warriors knocked off the Titans 25-24 and the Sharks pipped the Knight 21-20. However the TV game on channel 9 saw a predictable 30-6 victory to the Roosters but the Panthers did make a gallant effort yet they are still most likely to be the Wooden spoon favourites.
Monday night will wrap up the round with Manly and St George doing battle with the Eagles being favourites but the Dragons have a very good history with the Eagles so it is expected to be a very close affair.
I hope you enjoyed the footy this week and that your team won. If not, remember there is always next week.
J G S
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