Round 10
Bulldogs 20 l. Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 30

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

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

ABC interview with Folkes following Bulldogs loss to Sharks
Mon May 21, 2007
Source: www.bulldogs.com.au

Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes spoke with ABC Grandstand following their 30-20 loss against Cronulla.

ABC:
With the Dogs coach Steve Folkes. Steve, a game you got back into on a couple of occasions but just couldn't come up with the win at the end.

Folkes:
Yeah, it's a symptom of probably every game we've played this year but we just can't maintain our consistency for 80 minutes. We play really well in patches, we defend well, we attack well but then there's also patches where we don't do either particularly well and the way the game is, the closeness of the competition you need to be able to string 80 minutes of good consistent solid football together and tonight was another example of us not being able to do that.

ABC:
When you got back to 12-10, some dropped ball close to your own line, that certainly turned out to prove costly, the Sharks taking some advantage of that.

Folkes:
Yeah and that's been a bit of a pattern and I don't know what it is. We work hard at training, they don't make those sort of errors at training, I just don't know what the reason is and it's extremely frustrating because I'd like to know what it is so we can work it out.

ABC:
In saying that though there was some pretty play from the Bulldogs, particularly in the second half when you got right back into the game.

Folkes:
Yeah exactly but it's not good enough these days, you need to be doing that for 80 minutes. It wasn't only the dropped ball today, we fell off a lot of tackles that we shouldn't have, some sets we defended really well on our line and other sets it was like they had spiders on them. It's not a good position for us to be in but we believe in what we're doing so that's a positive I guess, we need to keep working really hard and we'll do that and we'll turn it around.

ABC:
Sonny Bill Williams' performance today, how would you assess that?

Folkes:
He was senstional. He was by far and away the best player for us. Just his effort and his work-rate and in there were some fair touches of brilliance aswell. He was really disappointed in his game last week and he has certainly made amends today.

ABC:
Is that the best game he has played this season?

Folkes:
It would be close. He has had a couple of pretty good games, today I think for effort it was probably his best game because he played the full 80 on the back of playing 80 on Monday and he was inspirational. Unfortunately the other guys, not everyone took a leaf from him.

ABC:
You said not everyone, is there some other players though you want to single out for their performance this afternoon?

Folkes:
Luke Patten tried hard as always, Corey, it's not an effort thing, everyone's trying their butts off. For some reason we're just not able to convert field position into points and we're not allowing ourselves to maintain enough pressure on them for long enough periods.

ABC:
Is is starting to become a real concern, I think we've spoken the last five or six weeks, there has been a lot of win-loss, win-loss but now it's back-to-bak losses.

Folkes:
Yeah, we're falling behind. It's not a position we're used to, it's not a position we're comfortable with and I can assure everybody that we're working as hard as we possibly can to try and turn this around. We need to turn it around fairly quickly obviously because we're giving them too much start.

ABC:
You said you've got to turn it around fairly quickly, is it a real crunch game against the Cowboys on Friday night then?

Folkes:
Every game has been a crunch game for the last three or four. Again the NRL has graced us with a Sunday-Friday turnaround which I think we've had three of those already this year which I think is a bit unfair but we need to go up there and be confident. When you lose you tend to get a bit down on yourself and you start second-guessing yourself and doubting yourself maybe so the guys need to remain confident, believe in what we're doing and if we do that then we can go up and give the Cowboys a run for their money.

ABC:
Bad luck today Steve and thanks as always for talking to Grandstand Rugby League.

News source: www.bulldogs.com.au

Link: ABC Rugby League Website


Roberts and Emelio win recalls
Tue May 15, 2007
Source: www.bulldogs.com.au

Four changes have been made to the Bulldogs side that lost to the Storm last night.

* Andrew Emelio replaces Trent Cutler on the wing.

* Daniel Holdsworth moves from five eight to the second row replacing Andrew Ryan who is on Origin duty.

* Ben Roberts fills the five eight position.

* Brad Morrin comes onto a five man bench.

The Bulldogs team to take on the Sharks this Sunday at 3pm at Telstra Stadium is:

1. Luke Patten
2. Hazem El Masri
3. Daryl Millard
4. Willie Tonga
5. Andrew Emelio
6. Ben Roberts
7. Brent Sherwin
8. Jarrad Hickey
9. Corey Hughes (c)
10. Chris Armit
11. Sonny Bill Williams
12. Daniel Holdsworth
13. Reni Maitua

Interchange:
14. Adam Perry
15. Lee Te Maari
16. Kane Cleal
17. Jon Green
19. Brad Morrin
(one to be omitted)

Corey Hughes will take on the captain's duties with Andrew Ryan away.

News sent by: www.bulldogs.com.au

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