"The Hardest Game I’ve Ever Played” - O’Meley Recalls ‘04 Prelim

On Sunday afternoon the Bulldogs have an opportunity to repeat and rewrite history by eliminating the Penrith Panthers – the defending Premiers – much like they did in the 2004 Preliminary Final.  

Front rower Mark O’Meley - a key figure of the side - recalled the epic battle nearly 21 years on.  

The Road to Redemption 

After a strong regular season that saw them finish second on the table just behind the Sydney Roosters on points difference, Steve Folkes’ side were primed to challenge for their first Premiership in nine years.  

While they hit a snag in the road in week one of the finals against the North Queensland Cowboys in their maiden post-season, a dominant 43-18 victory over the fledgling Melbourne Storm pinned them up against the defending Premiers.  

Before Nathan Cleary, Isaah Yeo and co, the mountain men boasted a side brimming with local talent and strike across the park, shocking the 2003 competition by taking out the Minor Premiership and Premiership double. 

For O’Meley, one of the most fearsome forwards of the new millennium, the match stands out as the hardest he’s ever played in his illustrious 15-year first-grade career.  

“We got beat by the Cowboys in the first week, where we were pretty complacent, and then beat the Storm who were still finding their feet at that time,” O'Meley explained.  

“Then we had to beat the Panthers. They were the most physical and brutal team. You had (Joe) Galuvao, ‘House’ (Trent Waterhouse), Tony Puletua, Luke Priddis, Joel Clinton. They were a massive pack who loved the grind and they’d play through you. 

“Our strength was playing through teams as well, but they were battle-hardened and had been the previous year’s Premiers. 

“There aren't many times in a game, maybe where you’re a kid where you feel like ‘Wow, I can’t keep up’. This prelim was one. Every run, every play the ball, every kick, every chase, the ball was in play for so long.

“It was the hardest game I’ve ever played in.” 

Corey and The Cavalry  

A big part of the attrition of the match can be attributed to the injury to Steve Price just two minutes into the contest. 

With their inspirational Captain sidelined, the Bulldogs were down to 16 men for 78 minutes.  

But in came the cavalry, headed by favourite son Corey Hughes, Kiwi duo Roy Asotasi and Sonny Bill Williams and tyro Reni Maitua.  

Asotasi provided the punch in the middle after Price went off, Williams produced the moment of the match with his brutal shot on Penrith’s Joel Clinton, Hughes kicked a booming 40/20, before Maitua scored a crucial try that put the Bulldogs ahead. 

“We lost Pricey in the first couple of minutes, so our middles got stretched out longer than normal,” O’Meley said.  

“I remember being back around our 40 metre line and Corey Hughes just kept yelling ‘Hang in, give me eight minutes, give me five minutes, give me ten minutes'. He kept riding us, got us some momentum and put us on the front foot.

“We were pretty lucky that we had a pretty good player on the bench who ended up captaining New Zealand in Roy Asotasi. Big ‘Ras’ came out, he had been in our system for a few years, and he was starting to establish himself.  

“Sonny had made a collective decision to go in and go after him (Joel Clinton). He was a great example of the kind of kids we had coming through. We had Johnathan Thurston, these kids who had been part of our system who had also gone through the recent controversy.

“They were frothing and buying into our emotion. We had felt like in previous years we were a contender, and in 2004 we had patches of that and then it clicked by the end of the year. 

“We stayed in that heavy grind, Reni Maitua scored and we came home.” 

Leaders Within Leaders 

On the flip side, the key men in the side also stood up when it mattered most.  

O’Meley, Willie Mason, Andrew Ryan and Tony Grimaldi headed up the forward pack, Luke Patten, Hazem El Masri, Matt Utai and Willie Tonga lit up the backline and Braith Anasta and Brent Sherwin steered the ship with aplomb. 

Anasta, who returned to the side after missing the Storm victory, sliced through to score the side’s first try. 

Then after Maitua’s touchdown, El Masri continued his whirlwind point scoring form, finishing the match with a whopping 22-point haul with three tries and five goals to his name.  

O'Meley proved to be a force through the middle, running a game-high 205 metres and making 27 tackles in a wholehearted 55-minute effort. 

“Pricey was our Captain, but in our era, we had a leadership group where we essentially had multiple captains,” O'Meley explained. 

“We had a lot of leaders and that’s what when Folkesy brought in the leadership group in the pre-season of that year. 

We built upon our culture and put accountability and responsibilities for individuals. If you don’t answer to your mates or stand up for them, you’re not there for the right reasons. That helped us through that tough period during that time.

“We had an arrogance knowing we could match it with anyone. We had a no-nonsense approach.” 

Full-Time Vindication  

After years of near misses, failed campaigns, controversy and 80 minutes of pure physicality, the Bulldogs had qualified for a long-awaited Grand Final berth. 

While they had their fair share of doubters, the 'Dogs of War’ were back to where they belonged, buoyed by the belief of their Blue and White army.  

One week later, they would go on to take out the Club's eighth Premiership, with Andrew Ryan leading at the helm. 

“We were tested in that game two or three times and it was our mateship and what we had built in the pre-season that got us through,” O'Meley said.  

“When Matty Johns interviewed me post-match, I said ‘The NRL can’t take this one off us’. I look back at it now and go ‘What was I thinking? Where are these comments coming from?’ but that was the motivation for us.  

“Our supporters believed in us, but I think the Rugby League community thought we’d fall short. We had been through a lot of controversy but the mateship we had and belief of the boys, that was our drive.” 

“I just remember walking straight off the field with my kids and knowing we had made the Grand Final.”