Canterbury- Bankstown Bulldogs enforcer Aiden Tolman believes the Bulldogs will need a stronger first half in order to beat the Sydney Roosters this Thursday night.
The Bulldogs went down in their season opener, while the tri-colours off the back of new recruits Michael Gordon and Luke Keary were too good for the Gold Coast Titans.
“We’re up against the Roosters this week who started off in good form. We need to be better with our starts and I though the Roosters start against the Titans on the weekend was outstanding,” Tolman said.
“I thought their back three particularly were really good. Their back three Kenny Dowall, Tupou were taking those tough carries that gets their forwards on their front foot and then their halves can come in to the game and that’s what they did. We need to limit their metres as much as possible.”
It wasn’t the result the Bulldogs hoped for in Round One, but Tolman did reflect on the conditions from Friday night at Belmore and mentioned it contributed to how both teams played.
“It was disappointing for the loss and we know we have some things to work on. We need to make sure our start is better this week and that we can limit their metres as much as possible. I thought the effort was there which is number one.”
“The conditions probably didn’t help the style both teams wanted to play but that’s footy, they’re a great team Melbourne, they defended well when they had to and they got away with the two points."
The Bulldogs will play the Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium at 8:05pm (AEST) this Thursday night.
