The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs Jersey Flegg team finished the regular season in 7th position after claiming 10 wins and 10 losses, before their campaign came to an end in week two of the finals against the Cronulla Sharks.
The club's elimination final win over the Parramatta Eels was arguably the side's best win of the season, while the two away wins in the regular season against the Penrith Panthers in round six and the Eels in round 24 standout as well.
The team was consistently strong in defence, conceding the least amount missed tackles and the second least amount of line breaks. This resulted in the Bulldogs being the second-best defensive team in the competition conceding only 63 tries for the season behind the Panthers who conceded 59.
The teams attack was consistent with their position on the competition ladder, averaging less than 4 tries per game, but in terms of effort and discipline – the Bulldogs were consistently good and very competitive.
A lot of the sides performances this year were an arm wrestle and a battle of attrition, which forced the team to rely on patience and at times forcing the opposition into making errors.
Having this quality always gave the Bulldogs a chance of winning every game, because of the competitive nature the group developed throughout the season.
Individually there were some strong performers through the season, but prop forward Kayne Kalache was a deserved player of the year.
He was by far the standout go forward man averaging 130 meters per game and his contribution in attack was huge thanks to his strong combinations with Blake Clayton and Brandon Wakeham.
Jersey Flegg Player of the Year: Kayne Kalache
Kayne's performances together with Elie El-Zakhem and Sam Radovu really set the standard for the rest of the team to follow.
They led from the front in effort areas, educated the younger players and they were very much the teams on field leaders by always setting the standard.
During the season, Brad Henderson used a significant amount of 19-year old players and in total, 24 of the 36 contracted players to the Flegg roster were first year players.
Others to perform strongly were Dalton Smith, whose line running was excellent, despite being limited to ten games for the season, while Brandon Wakeham was extremely consistent, finishing with 17 try assists and 21 line breaks. He was rewarded for his performances with two appearances in the ISP side.
Others to stand out included Javvier Pitovao, Blake Clayton, Frank Kuresa, Alex Seve, Peni Teaupa and Sua Aiiloilo.
Morgan Harper was originally named captain of the team, before he was elevated to the Intrust Super Premiership after playing his first seven games with the 20s side and by round 20 the club had used in total 35 players - 10 (20-year old's) 21 (19-year old's) and four 18-year old's who were elevated from the club's SG Ball team.
In summary, the development within the group this year was a genuine reflection of the club's recruitment to enable the improvement and level of knowledge the young kids need to progress to the senior groups and put the players who will continue in the Jersey Flegg program in a much stronger position than they were this time last season.
SEASON STATS
• Tries Scored: 80
• Total Points Scored: 454
• Wins: 11 inc finals
• Losses: 11 inc finals
• Draws: 0
• Line Breaks: 89
• Tackle Breaks: 657
• Tackles: 4134
• Try Assists : 51
• Run Metres: 24508
• Offloads: 124
• Position on table at end of regular season: 7th
• Players Used: 35
2018 Jersey Flegg Season Highlights
