Round 7
Bulldogs 18 l. Wests Tigers 34

2007 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Aus_NZ > National > First Grade Competition: NRL Telstra Premiership

Tigers slaughter 'brain dead' Bulldogs
Sun April 29, 2007
Wests Tigers rise in recent weeks has continued defeating a dreadful and at times disinterested Bulldogs side 34-18 in wet conditiions at Telstra Stadium.

The Tigers losing run to the season was clouded in some respects that they've met the top three sides in the opening four rounds and found all sorts of ways to lose the match against Parramatta. It was a case of the Tigers losing the art of winning and they received that when they edged out Cronulla in Golden Point in their last match.

Tigers coach Tim Sheens tactically out performed his counter part Steve Folkes and the Tigers exposed many of the Bulldogs on field problems whereas the Bulldogs attitude and off field problems also came to the fore.

The match was never in doubt for the 'visitors' when Dean Collis scored in the 5th minute and even though the Bulldogs leveled up five minutes later through Willie Mason the attitude and application of both sides was there for all to see and only one winner would emerge.

Collis scored his 2nd try in the 13th minute as he pushed for City/Country selection with the teams to be announced later tonight and Morris crossed in the 27th minute to push the Tigers lead out to 16-6.

The Bulldogs had to be the first score in the second half and bombed tries through Chris Armit and Willie Tonga in what is summing up their performance, season and the culture problems now sweeping through the club.

Brent Sherwin setup the out of form Sonny Bill Williams for a try in the 58th minute to get the Bulldogs back within 10 points, but Daniel Fitzhenry scored four minutes later to put the Tigers further at ease.

Hazem El Masri crossed in the 71st minute, however, the Tigers had that ability to respond whenever the Bulldogs scored the Tigers always had one in them and crossed through Chris Heighington in the 74th minute to seal a fine performance.

Each time the Bulldogs looked dangerous the Tigers were able to lift that bit extra to deny any opportunity for the Bulldogs. It all comes down to mental application, attitude and desire to win and only one side had those attributes. The Tigers form this season has been under-estimated due to the standard of opponents they have been playing. Only one side from this match will make the Finals this year and that side won the Premiership in 2005.

Folkes after the match said, "I think we made it easy for them. We gifted them four tries through schoolboy errors and unforced errors and we bombed a couple.

"I think you can pretty much guarantee there'll be changes.

"Our second grade has won the last couple of weeks - there's some pressure there.

"We need to turn it around very quickly and the only way I know how to do that is with hard work and we'll be doing plenty of that this week."

Sheens said, "The mental relief of the win, the bye, that was a four point win for us. And of course leading tonight - that first try for Dean Collis really lifted everybody to say 'well okay, yeah we're here, we can play'.

"Getting a result early is a good thing for our team. We don't get a result early we don't handle that so well.

"It's just a game, we're not going to sit back and gloat over that. We lost those first few games and that put a big dint in us. We've got a long way to catch up.

"It's a great performance, we'll enjoy it and then get back on with it. We can't afford to stop and pat ourselves on the back at this stage. If we'd won six games I would but we haven't."

The Bulldogs form and efforts this year have become predictable where they only lift themselves once every two or three weeks. Massive changes have to happen within that club and not exactly the coach has to be changed but other factors from playing and off field staff. The players lack that intensity of the consistent clubs to lift, the style of football they play is out dated and they haven't produced consistently good football since the 2004 Grand Final being disappointing in the last two and a half seasons.

Folkes has hinted there will be changes during the week and there has to be more than just player changes this week. Folkes is a proud, stubborn and loyal individual who when he played prided himself on consistency, mental application and 100% effort and unfortunately he's not getting that from his players. He has to shake up the place both on and off the field and begin restoring the Bulldogs culture that he came through as a player and in his early days as a coach. Folkes is the last hope for the Bulldogs to retain the great club they used to be in the 25 years from 1979-2004 when off field changes in 2004 saw the club being a gradual decline.

One Bulldogs player whose position shouldn't be in doubt is halfback Sherwin and he was always scheming and trying new things to keep the Bulldogs in the match. Sherwin has always been the common scapegoat for when the Bulldogs performed poorly, but on this occasion Sherwin needed some team-mates to support him out there.

During the week leading up to the match, there were people saying that Willie Tonga was a superior centre to Andrew Farrar and that the current pack was superior to all of the mid-1980's pack with the exception of Peter Kelly. That's including names such as Paul Langmack, Folkes, David Gillespie, Peter Tunks, Paul Dunn, Geoff Robinson, Brian Battese, Darryl Brohman, Mark Bugden and Billy Johnstone. After this match and the consistency of the current players - no one with the exception of El Masri and Willie Mason would go close to making the sides that played under Warren Ryan and even later on when Chris Anderson was the coach. The players back then may not have been full-time professionals, but their approach was that of professionals and pride in every on-field performance and one the modern day players should learn from.

Full credit to the Wests Tigers though who played a smart game, took advantage of the culture problems at the Bulldogs and played to their strengths. As the season gets older they will be one side who will get better each week and now they've got used to winning it will start to begin as a habit, as like their close losses in the opening four rounds and in tight situations in 2006.


O'Meley reaches 100 first grade games for the Bulldogs
Thu April 26, 2007
Source: www.bulldogs.com.au

Mitsubishi Electric Bulldogs prop Mark O'Meley will play his 100th first grade game for the Club tomorrow night against the Wests Tigers at Telstra Stadium.

O'Meley, 25, is in his sixth year with the Bulldogs after coming across from the Northern Eagles in 2002.

In his time at the Club O'Meley progressed from NSW to Australian honours and was part of the Grand Final-winning side in 2004.

Bulldogs Ring of Champions inductee Peter Kelly will present O'Meley with his game day jersey in the dressing room before the match.

The game between the Bulldogs and Wests Tigers kicks off at 7.30pm tomorrow night at Telstra Stadium.

News sent by: www.bulldogs.com.au

Tue April 24, 2007
• Williams returns, Sherwin remains at halfback
  

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