They sang, they danced, they swore and they partied throughout.
The Bulldogs are back and the game’s most passionate fan base is well and truly along with them, turning out for the NRL’s Sunday evening graveyard shift and a comprehensive 20-0 disposal of a depleted Knights outfit.
A 6:15pm kickoff against an out-of-town side in the Olympic precinct is no-one’s idea of a marquee fixture, and is typically better suited to broadcasters than fans on the ground.
Canterbury’s fans didn’t care in the slightest, with a 24,113-strong crowd making for the biggest Sydney attendance so far this season and a thumping atmosphere more akin to Belmore Oval than Accor Stadium.
For context, only Suncorp Stadium and Las Vegas’s Allegiant Stadium have hosted larger NRL crowds this year. The attendance for GWS Giants’ thrashing of West Coast next door at Engie Stadium still read TBC hours after full-time.
No wonder the Bulldogs are eyeing a record 60,000-strong Good Friday turn-out against the Rabbitohs, which would smash the previous high-water mark of 51,686 in 2013.
Canterbury fans turned out in force to watch their team chalk up a fifth straight win.Credit: Getty Images
The blue and white faithful did have to wait 41 minutes for a four-pointer, though it wasn’t for lack of trying. Credit instead to a 14-man Knights side, which was down two men inside the first two minutes.
Marquee forward Jacob Saifiti went down not in the warm-up or once play began, but in between, apparently suffering a calf injury as he ran out of the Accor Stadium tunnel and onto the paddock.
Winger James Schiller joined him as a scratching 90 seconds later after he was left bloodied, dazed and failed his subsequent HIA from a head clash with Daniel Suluka-Fifita.
Their reshuffled defensive line held on when the Knights had every right to wilt.
Despite enjoying 60 per cent of first-half possession and 70 per cent of territory, the Bulldogs couldn’t crack anything more than an early penalty goal to skipper Stephen Crichton.
Stephen Crichton charges for the line.Credit: Getty Images
With the rare attacking chances they had, Kalyn Ponga asked the right questions linking with Bradman Best and chipping in behind the defence. Canterbury answered with scrambled defence of their own.
Crichton was floored by an ongoing nerve issue in his shoulder when he made incidental contact with Knights forward Adam Elliott. He eventually picked himself up and played on and once the second half began, the points did too.
Josh Curran was on the end of a bat-down from returning winger Jacob Kiraz, who was a regular aerial target lining up opposite stocky Newcastle winger Greg Marzhew.
Rookie Jack Todd charged onto his first NRL four-pointer after Phoenix Crossland was sin-binned for tripping.
When the Bunker denied Kurt Mann a try in his 200th NRL game, the NRL’s multicultural round was celebrated by the crowd with an outpouring of expletives from all around the globe.
The Knights were doing the same when Jack Hetherington withdrew with a shoulder concern, but still they clung on grimly.
But when Mann came again from short range, the milestone man with a three-week old black eye still lingering, they couldn’t stop him.
Canterbury are now 5-0 for the first time since 1993, with an NRL-best defence that has statisticians scouring the record books.
And the Dogs fans, after almost a decade of heartache, are understandably chuffed with it all.
NRL is Live and Free on Channel 9 & 9Now
