Thanks Nancy, talking about under 7's the last 7 minutes of last nights game sums it all up. I guess that's what inexperience and lack of concentration does, plus throw in a couple of rubbish ref calls and it will turn a game. The youngsters will learn that you can't put the cue in the rack, even with a couple of minutes to go.

Glad you came over ODF :)

LOL Nancy, so true. 

Im still coming to terms with the impact Blake Austin had in the end. He single handedly gave them a sniff with his try, and then made the huge break downfield to setup BJ's try in the corner.
And this is a bloke looking for a club next year.
If it werent for our SC woes, id be screaming for him to be signed as a bench utility. He has very good footy nous and can play the damien cook style hooker role in short stints on back end of h as halves.

So true...serious problems with those 2 together that cant be rectified it would seem...but who knows. Harper would come under serious consideration...hope he isn't our kicker tho lol.

Bulldogs fans would be even more deflated if we don't hold onto Lewis and Martin. Seem to be good types of players who fans warm to and get good publicity for the club as a bonus. I know i'll be very disappointed if we loose them. As much as I respect their service and abilities, I dont think we should sign the twins. We need the money for the rebuild and have to foster youth.

Backs still a problem for the club atm. Chris Smith, Jack Nelson, Tualau, Toomaga all played well I thought so we have prospects.

Hooker is a a major concern. Woolford should get a run. And can the Club please announce the Top 30 so all the speculation can die down with who is available. The cut off date was 30 June so fans should have access to that information...not just the NRL.

Anna ....  do you know anyone that can cast a spell or something over BSG?    2 out of 8 is woeful.

If Blake Austin were cloned and he was running at himself he would never be able to make the tackle..is a poor defender. It will be an interesting game vs Souths who are essentially a heck of a lot like Canberra 

DOGS MUZZLE MORRISST George Illawarra almost signed their former winger Brett Morris from the Canterbury Bulldogs before the June 30 deadline to play out the remainder of the season.The deal was all but finalised for the rest of this season and next before the Bulldogs had a change of heart and refused to release him.The backlash over the mid-season departures of Aaron Woods to Cronulla and Moses Mbye to Wests Tigers convinced Canterbury to keep him at Belmore.Morris, 31, left the Dragons in 2014 after 170 games for the club. He is now on the lookout for a new club for 2019.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/whats-the-buzz-nrls-golden-oldies-slater-to-call-time-and-why-bmoz-didnt-rejoin-the-dragons/news-story/36e96d4009f8137649677efdb4b7d899

i have no idea why playing there hasn't lifted the players. extremely dissappointing. fopr the two games why had the council closed off the road along the railway line,church side? Locals complaints, there is a weirdo lady that is near there, she probably did it

I reckon Pay still hasn't used the bench to best advantage. Had Priest on instead of Elliott at the end. Asap Austin came on, Pay should have had Brown on. Wasn't Brown supposed to be spelling Lichaa. If he doesnt trust Brown then pick someone else. Lichaa runs out of puff and ran more. Wasnt that part of the game plan? When Holland was injured, why didnt Pay address that?..you cant leave injured players on the field in 2018...especially if you have fresh players sitting on the bench.

Not being overly critical of Pay but Holland and Lichaa are copping a ruthless pounding on our media sites and really their play was affected by Pay's decisions (or inability to adapt to the opposition tactics) so when we say players inexperience, we need to include the coach.

It's one of the reason why I think we need to see how Lewis goes in the centers.

If you think positive and hope Cogger works, there mightn't be space for Lewis in the halves depending on where Foran's at. So the centers may be where he has to be and center may also be a place where he solves a problem for us, his defense will certainly hold I believe and I also believe he'd work well with and off edge runners.

If Cogger don't work, if Foran's busted, and Deano resists (which i think he would) fast-tracking Wakeham, well we know Lewis can fill #6.

That's being prepared for failure, not planning for it.

Oops :)
I find that hard to believe cos the Dogs want the money and would have tried to help out Brett as well.

I just want to reiterate that the best possible outcome we could have would be Cogger fits, Foran is fit and finds his role in the team with someone else running it for him (again hoping Cogger fills that) and Lewis excels in the centers.

That's what we should all be hoping for, and more importantly trying to work towards.

Unfortunately I'm doubtful the second part of the equation, Foran being fit, will eventuate. But then, OK, THEN, we make other plans. And even then the best outcome would Cogger and someone else, even a miraculously fast -tracked Wakeham wokring and Lewis performing in the centers.

And it's not that I don't rate Lewis as a half, it's just that I'd like the situation that we've got halves performing well enough to shift Lewis to the centers because I think he'd excel there as much as he will in the halves. I want me cake and I want to eat it too. He could be a rock solid defensive center creative in the ways best describe by HD aka MC as a Jamie Lyons type.

That's the best outcome, that's what we should hope works.

If it don't and it means Lewis in the halves well fine but now we got a center problem.

I don't know why it was closed pretty dumb move. They must have been expecting 20k each match.    

Zef ...Yes lets hope that all pans out... best case scenario.


Just wondering if Cogger/Foran a good pairing?


Cogger an organising half, with a pass and so far a mediocre short kicking game.

Foran an organising half, with a pass who isn't known for a long kicking game but creates by going to the line...that appears to be the main difference between them?


A running half is prima facie Foran's best partner? In our club thats Lewis or Wakeham?

Your thoughts?

The best combo is Lewis and Foran imo.  Lewis is a  better kicker than Cogger and tackler of course.  Lewis could be a running player whereas Cogger and Wakeham are not.  Of the 4 only Lewis can run, not that he is super quick but he is quicker than those 3.  Anyway they have to re-sign Lewis  asap.

I disagree ODF.... it was our experienced players that failed to close out the game

It was the experienced players that led to the mistakes, missed tackles & drop balls/one on one steals..... I felt the kids did bloody well


Once again.... Good Friday Souths game, Broncos game, Tigers game l, Dragons game and now Raiders game all lost when in the lead late in the game

Our team has no mongrel ffs..... no killer instincts


The pups will learn this.... it’s the old brigade that have no bloody idea

Nancy.... how good was it just to see Lewis kick the sh1te out of the ball for touch each time we got a penalty.... unlike Mbye

He would make us an extra 15-20m


It’s them little things that the new brigade are bringing to the table each week

I don't think he is to tell the truth, i think he can be, but I don't think it's his best game.

I'd rather him... well, firstly FIT of course... and if that happens, just playing for himself and his runners. I don't want him thinking about field position or the tackle after the next, I'd rather him just playing eyes up in the now with someone else doing all the planning and talking.

We asked him to run the team, and he will, but there'll always be someone more suited. And he'll always be more suited playing for himself and his supports without worrying about all the rest.

My only concern with Lewis as centre is the kicking side of running the team.

He could still do the penalty line kicks but the 5th tackle kicks (where we saw a 200% improvement on past player's efforts), the structure would need to change you'd think and they are inexperienced.

Cogger would need to nail that aspect of his kicking game to help the team.

Anyway, as fans we certainly have reason for hope now....amazing turn aound in application and energy.

It only seems like we are needing to refine and work on the 1%ers after loosing some players, rather than wholesale restructuring. (Still there is a lot of responsibility on the 2019 spine, centres and our bench and Pay needs to continue evolving with the team)...good signs for Bulldogs fans and they've shown enough for prospective outside players to think we are a team on the rise and a good Club to seek an opportunity with because the good bones are here.

Theres that other aspect Nancy pointed out...the defensive attributes of Lewis.

At best I cant see Foran's defence ever being top notch again because of his previous injuries. He may get game fit but its hard to see him as robust or hard tackling as he used to be. Therefore he would need a good defender halves partner...so far it hasn't been Cogger's biggest strength.

I remember Lewis was criticised for his defence early last year and he fixed that, so maybe Cogger will.

It seems we have options if Lewis re-signed so it's win win if we hold onto him.

Surely Lewis and Martin have shown enough for the Board to have faith in keeping them so get on with it guys.

You are forever talking down Foran. His commitment is there ...I was extremely dubious when he was signed but he has shown he puts his body on the line. The injury he has suffered was, as he said in the interview last night, the result of a freak training accident. As far as Lewis goes he has been particularly impressive and could certainly play centre.

Yes it was Villi.  Why players don't try to kick properly to gain ground is a mystery. 

I  think our poor record at Belmore is more about the team and than the ground.

If we were a genuine top 4 side we would win there more often...

I think it is a negative now because players can sense high expectations and don't want to let the fans down. In a close game that is added pressure which probably counts against us, but only marginally..

No reason to stop playing there, just don't expect miracles.

I was reflecting at lunch time on the fact that Hoppa, Holland and Olive are all poor defenders in the centres...

With JMoz probably going, my thoughts were, ok lets sign a centre who is a good defender.

The only name I could come up with was Lewis who is already at the club.

So I'm now 100% back on board with the option of him playing in the centres next year, it is an extra kicking option and he can add some variety to the attack.

The only minor doubt is him making yardage runs out of our end, guys like Holland and Olive are good at that, but as we have seen terrible defenders.

Forever talking down Foran? Don't think so. Just stating the obvious that it doesn't look like he will ever be as robust as he was. So therefore we will be nursing him somewhat and protecting him defensively to keep him as effective for us on the field.

I am talking about is recurring back, shoulder and hamstring problems.

 That has nothing at all to do with his freak training accident you mention. 



Of course Lewis can play centre. I never disputed that or doubted it. I was just suggesting perhaps his best position for the team (and the position he prefers to play) was in the halves.

If Cogger and Foran are top of their game, then Lewis if re-signed will definately have to play centre if he wants a fg spot...no question.

Interested in your thoughts HD on Lewis' kicking game in the centres?  In attack he could stand one man in to make the 5th tackle kicks? He does seem better than Foran and Cogger for kick options. Made some great kicks last night that landed close to goal line...2?  x 7 tackles but you get that :)

We could certainly try Lewis kicking while playing in the centres.

I'm not aware of any problem, except we might be throwing an extra pass to get to the kicker.

If the half inside Lewis can also kick, we have 2 options ... the defence can't focus on one.

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