Round 18
Brisbane Broncos 18 l. Bulldogs 26

2008 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

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

Sonny day for Bulldogs
Mon July 14, 2008
Sonny Bill Williams showed why he is in the very top tree of Rugby League players yesterday with a dominant display as the Bulldogs upset the Broncos 26-18 at Suncorp Stadium.

In front of 37,683 fans Williams bounced back from a difficult year with niggling injuries and change of management to produce a display that makes him worthy as the most valuable player in the game today.

Broncos coach Wayne Bennett after the match said of Williams, "He was outstanding. No one probably tried much harder than he did all day. He was on the right side of the field, left side of the field, he was everywhere. He played himself into the ground."

Williams has been a one-man band for the Bulldogs this season when he's been on the field and his value to the Bulldogs is highlighted by that they only average 10 points per game when he isn't playing compared to their overall average of 19 points for the season.

The Bulldogs prior to yesterday had been in dreadful and embarrassing form losing eight out of nine matches with their only victory being against the highly placed Sharks, which Williams was the star of the show that night. Their previous three matches included a 40-point hammering by nortorious away strugglers Canberra, a comfortable loss against Newtown and surrending an 18-point lead against the lowly placed Souths to place the Bulldogs firmly in wooden spoon contention and no hope in sight until yesterday.

Williams needed support around him and yesterday the Bulldogs as a group stood tall and played with more attacking structure and used the value of Williams wisely.

Michael Ennis opened the scoring for the Broncos with an early penalty goal, but the Bulldogs scored the opening try when Arana Taumata showed excellent footwork and vision in a fine individual try from 30m out. Hazem El Masri converted from the sideline to push the Bulldogs out to a 6-2 lead.

Peter Wallace leveled up the scores when he scored in the 20th minute and Ennis converted to put the Broncos up 8-6. El Masri put the Bulldogs level with a penalty goal in the 32nd minute and the scores remained that way until the half-time break.

The Bulldogs are nortorious poor starters in the second half, but yesterday changed that with a great start scoring two tries in the opening seven minutes.

Daniel Holdsworth scored in the 43rd minute when he sliced through two defenders and showed great control when tackled just short of the line to use his momentum to get himself over the line. El Masri again converted from outwide to put the Bulldogs up 14-8.

Williams ran a great inside ball four minutes later and was too strong for Karmichael Hunt as he crashed his way over for a sensational try. El Masri was again online was the Bulldogs raced to a 20-8 lead.

Signs of choking as they've done in recent weeks began to tell in the Bulldogs outfit with tries to Ennis in the 54th minute and Sam Thaiday in the 68th minute put the Broncos right back into the match. Ennis converted his own try, but wasn't able to convert the Thaiday try and that moment kept the Bulldogs in the match.

Heka Nanai scored a crucial try for the Bulldogs in the 76th minute following good ball movement from Holdsworth and Ben Roberts saw Nanai crash over in the corner. El Masri needed to convert to seal victory and his kicking form was back to his vintage best landing an absolute bottler as the stunned Broncos crowd walked out disappointed.

Williams was deservedly man of the match in just about most people's eyes and his stamp on the match was highlighted by Bennett's comments that he was everywhere.

Another player to standout was John Kite in just his second top grade match. Kite came off the bench and made a tremendous impact showing excellent promise for the future. Kite has come up through the development systems at the Bulldogs playing all his junior football with locally based clubs St George Dragons (Clemton Park) and St Johns Eagles.

Brent Crisp has added stability to the Bulldogs fullback position since Luke Patten's career threatening injury, Roberts found form being used as an interchange hooker and Reni Maitua enjoyed one of his finest games of the season.

It's been a difficult time for Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes, who has been an outstanding stalwart as a player, trainer and coach since 1977 with the exception of the 1990 season. Folkes is in his final season and the Bulldogs are going through their leanest year since 1964, which unfortunately is not the ideal way that a player of Folkes' standing at Canterbury deserves to be remembered.

However, Folkes unfortunately deserved criticism as the Bulldogs attack lacked structure, selections left a lot to be desired and he launched a stinging attack on supporters for their support of Toyota Cup sensation Ben Barba referring to them as 'niff nuffs'. Yesterday though, the Bulldogs looked structured in attack and the balance of their side is slowly getting to be ideally shaped.

Folkes after the match said, "It's been really difficult for everyone at the club. Obviously, the expectation is that we're successful, and that hasn't been happening. It's just a real good reward for the players, because they've been turning up every day and working really hard. I'm really proud of the way they played against a pretty good side."

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs made it a fine day in Brisbane winning the Toyota Cup clash 33-16. Barba again enjoyed a fine match scoring two tries, four goals and one drop goal for a total of 17 points to push his season tally to 220 points from 16 matches - including 25 tries. Barba continues to impress and must be close to an NRL opportunity should form, injury or circumstances arise for his chance.

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Holdsworth, Armit and Maitua return for Bulldogs
Tue July 8, 2008
Source: www.bulldogs.com.au

Mitsubishi Electric Bulldogs key playmaker Daniel Holdsworth will return from a thigh injury against the Broncos this Sunday at Suncorp Stadium after today being named at five eighth.

Exciting teenager Arana Taumata has retained his place in the starting team and will partner Holdsworth in the halves with Ben Roberts moving to the interchange bench to cover the utility role vacated by Aaron Groom.

The Bulldogs welcome back experienced forward Chris Armit who has been out with a knee injury since round 11. Armit will join another young gun John Kite on the bench after his impressive debut in last night's golden point decider.

Hard working back rower Brad Morrin has been given a week to rest some niggling injuries, whilst Reni Maitua returns at lock forward after withdrawing from last night's clash due to a shoulder injury.

1 Brent Crisp, 2 Hazem El Masri, 3 Daryl Millard, 4 Tim Winitana, 5 Heka Nanai, 6 Daniel Holdsworth, 7 Arana Taumata, 8 Jarrad Hickey, 9 Corey Hughes, 10 Fred Briggs, 11 Sonny Bill Williams, 12 Andrew Ryan [c], 13 Reni Maitua. Subs: 14 Chris Armit, 15 Lee Te Maari, 16 John Kite, 17 Ben Roberts.

News Source: www.bulldogs.com.au

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