The Bulldogs will win a competition in the next two or three years, I have no doubt whatsoever.
Can they win the whole thing this year, though? We’re about to find out.
Thursday night’s clash with Penrith is shaping up as a fantastic contest and one I’ve been thinking about with different scenarios that have given me a different winner four or five times already.
There’s going to be nothing in it between two great sides that play a similar style for obvious reasons.
Canterbury’s signing of Lachlan Galvin adds real X-factor to a style of play that is modelled on Penrith’s champion teams, with former Panthers assistant coach Cameron Ciraldo now in charge of the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs obviously have a big chance of winning the premiership this year. The question mark I still have though is around their spine and their halves.
Lachlan Galvin brings X-factor to the Bulldogs.Credit: Getty Images
Not just who plays in the No.6 and No.7, and how Toby Sexton, Matt Burton and Galvin all fit into the one side. That’s a big factor, too. But does this Bulldogs spine have the experience to go up another gear in the biggest games of the year?
When I look at Melbourne’s playmakers – Cameron Munster, Harry Grant, Jahrome Hughes and Ryan Papenhuyzen – you just know they’ve got another level on the biggest stage.
Munster’s man-of-the-match performance in Origin II when captaining Queensland for the first time was just the latest example of that.
For the Bulldogs spine, Thursday night will be a great test of how they perform when the whips are really cracking. This Penrith clash should be a high-quality arm wrestle between two very evenly matched sides.
We’ve got a dry weather forecast and strong winds as well, which will keep dew off the CommBank Stadium surface.
Wind also makes naughty kids even naughtier though, so we should have 34 players bouncing off the walls. That’s exciting.
Just how fit is Nathan Cleary?
All the focus is on Nathan Cleary, his groin injury and exactly how much it’s hampering him.
I’ll give you a tip: if he’s not Penrith’s goalkicker on Thursday night, it’s a real worry. The best kickers want to be taking the shots and winning big games. If he’s not doing that, then the injury is very much on his mind.
Nathan Cleary played in Origin II despite suffering a groin injury on the eve of the game.Credit: Getty Images
Nathan’s had significant hamstring problems in the past year, and he’s well aware of the impact overtraining has had on his body.
A lot of halves – Brad Fittler and myself included – have had groin issues at about 27, 28 years old that are related to a lifetime of kicking practice. My own injuries on that front lingered for 18 months to two years and required several operations before coming good.
How healthy Cleary and the rest of their NSW players really are after the Origin period will dictate how deep Penrith go in the competition. I don’t think they’re a lock for the top eight, because if Nathan does go down, of course they’ll struggle.
If he’s not playing, I think it’s a 12 to 14-point swing against the Panthers, because he’s just so influential with his organisation of the side, running and kicking game, general play and goalkicking as well.
There is so much Penrith in what Cameron Ciraldo has built at Belmore.Credit: James Brickwood
No team has won the premiership from outside the top four, and I don’t see this year being any different.
On Thursday night we’ll see two incredibly tough, fit sides with a similar, successful playing style. The Bulldogs have a little more ball movement in their play and offloads than Penrith, and I love watching their lightweight, tough forward pack play.
It really has been a recruitment masterstroke by Phil Gould, Ciraldo and the club in chasing players like Kurt Mann, Max King and Josh Curran that fit into their playing style and the DNA of Canterbury.
Young bull, old Bulldog
The one-on-one match-up I’m really looking forward to is Casey McLean on Penrith’s left edge opposite the man who used to play in that position, Stephen Crichton.
Every week McLean seems to grow in stature, particularly after learning a few tough lessons early in the year.
The try he set up for Tom Jenkins against the Warriors, with a big right-foot step, carrying the ball in his left hand and fending with his right, that was special.
Now he gets to do it against the best defensive centre in the game. There’s just no weakness in Crichton’s game at 24 years of age, while McLean is still working on some issues in defence. It will be a great battle out wide regardless.
It sums up what should be a cracking contest in front of what I’m tipping will be a parochial Bulldogs crowd invading Penrith’s temporary home ground at Parramatta.
With so many ex-Panthers – Ciraldo, Crichton, Burton and Viliame Kikau – knowing their defensive and attacking systems, and that crowd as an advantage, I think Canterbury will get home in a close one.
Joey’s tip: Bulldogs by four
First try-scorer: Marcelo Montoya
Man of the match: Jacob Preston
How to police worst tackle in the game
I’ve said plenty of times how much I absolutely hate the third man in or “cannonball” tackle, where a defender sweeps in at the legs of a ball-carrier after two teammates have already controlled him from the waist up.
On Sunday Roosters back-rower Siua Wong was taken out for the next four to six weeks with a knee injury in such a tackle, while North Queensland’s Karl Lawton will miss two weeks through suspension for it.
I’m not blaming any individual in these tackles, because every team is now training and playing this way with so much focus on winning the ruck.
Tackle techniques have changed from aiming to put an attacking player on the ground as quickly as possible to holding them up for as long as possible before then bringing them down to win the ruck.
Spearing in at the legs of a ball-carrier with a third defender is such an effective way of doing this, and this is how people get injured. One of the worst cannonball tackles we’ve seen left Liam Knight with a ruptured ACL a few years ago.
We’ve also now got attacking players backing into the defence, wary of that third man into the tackle, which then also brings the crusher tackle into the game as well. We just never had these wrestling techniques, and the flow-on effects, 20 or 30 years ago.
My solution? Trial bringing back a pocket referee, with no whistle and only the ruck to focus on. The head referee still controls the 10 metres, foul play and everything else in a game.
But the pocket referee – in bright, fluorescent colours so you can’t miss them – is monitoring the ruck and that potential third man in. Once they see two players in a tackle with a third man loitering, the pocket ref is screaming at him to stay out of it.
Refereeing is such a big job with so many facets of play and so much responsibility that it is now becoming too hard to stay on top of it all.
A pocket referee could also be used to blood new officials at the top level, share the load and, above all, get rid of these dangerous tackles from our game.
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Michael Chammas and Andrew “Joey” Johns dissect the upcoming NRL round, plus the latest footy news, results and analysis. Sign up for the Sin Bin newsletter.
