The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have suffered a 44-12 loss to the Dolphins at Suncorp Stadium.
The Bulldogs were hit with some adversity prior to kick-off with star five-eighth Matt Burton being ruled out of the clash due to an illness. This saw Sean O’Sullivan come into the halves in what was his first start for the season.
After an energetic start it was the Dogs who scored first with Jaeman Salmon barging through two Dolphins players to score under the posts. Captain Stephen Crichton converted, before adding another two points via a penalty goal seven minutes later to take his side to an 8-0 lead.
The Dolphins got on the board through Jamayne Isaako but Cameron Ciraldo’s men responded almost instantly. It all started with O’Sullivan, who split two Dolphins defenders with a double pump pass that put Sitili Tupouniua into space. Tupouniua offloaded to Connor Tracey, who through a pearler of a cutout pass to tryscorer Crichton to extend the Bulldogs’ lead to 12-4.
The Dolphins then hit back after Isaako scooped up a loose ball and ran down the other end of the field with the ball finding eventual tryscorer Selwyn Cobbo.
The Bulldogs were then forced to 12 players after Jacob Preston was sin-binned for what the refereed deemed was a late tackle on Isaiya Katoa. The Dolphins capitalised on their one-man advantage with Isaako crossing for his second of the night to take his side into the half-time break with a 14-12 lead.
With Preston still in the sin-bin for another five minutes, the Bulldogs needed to hang on to start the second half and they did that early on with Enari Tuala coming up with a try-saving tackle on Selwyn Cobbo. But the Dolphins eventually did cross with Isaako scoring his third of the night.
The Dogs bravely defended their own line for a chunk of the second half, but the Dolphins then struck via Jeremy Marshall-King off the back of a contentious disruptor penalty against Bronson Xerri.
They followed up with another three tries, scored by Bostock, Kodi Nikorima and Cobbo, to round out the game.
Dolphins 44 (Isaako 3, Cobbo 2, Marshall-King, Bostock, Nikorima tries; Isaako 6 goals) def Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 12 (Salmon, Crichton tries; Crichton 2 goals)
