The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs’ finals dreams are well and truly alive after defeating the St. George Illawarra Dragons 44-14 at Allianz Stadium.
After going down to the Rabbitohs last week, the Bulldogs need to win all of their remaining games to give them the best chance of playing finals – and they kicked off that run with a convincing victory.
It was a strong start from the Bulldogs with Jaeman Salmon particularly impressing with a textbook tackle that forced an error along with some strong carries.
But the Dogs copped a significant blow in the seventh minute when Jonathan Su’a – who was a late swap for the injured Enari Tuala – was sin-binned for what was deemed to be a hip-drop tackle.
Cameron Ciraldo’s men dug deep though as Matt Burton and Jacob Kiraz both came up with try-saving moments – and the reward was just around the corner with Lachlan Galvin putting in a long-range grubber for Bronson Xerri to go over the line untouched. Captain Stephen Crichton converted the try to take his side out to 6-0.
The game fell into an arm wrestle for the next 20 minutes before the Bulldogs broke it open with back-to-back tries in the space of three minutes.
The first was scored by a barnstorming Burton with Galvin also playing a hand in the try. Then a rampaging run by Salmon laid the platform for Galvin and Preston to combine on the right edge with the latter scoring. Crichton slotted both conversions to take the lead to 18-0.
The Dogs weren’t done with the first 40 yet though with Kiraz scooping up a Dragons error before finding Burton in support and the superstar centre took off to bag a first-half double. Another Crichton conversion took the lead to 24-0 heading into half-time.
The Dragons got on the board first in the second half with Valentine Holmes pulling out some footwork to get around a couple of defenders before finding the line. Holmes converted his try to take the score to 24-6.
But the Bulldogs responded quickly through fan favourite Max King who crashed over from a smart ball from Bailey Hayward. While it initially looked like he was held up, a confident King declared he got it down – and was vindicated by a bunker replay.
They backed that up with another try four minutes later when Xerri made a linebreak down the left edge before finding Galvin on his inside and the 21-year-old half finished off a great team try. Crichton added the extras to extend the Dogs’ lead to 36-6.
An exciting passage of play then saw the Dragons march their way down the field only to be stopped by a desperate Burton, who was ultimately sin-binned for holding on for just a little too long.
The Dogs tried hard to hold them out but the Dragons were able to capitalise on the one-man advantage by running in two tries in five minutes – both scored by Mat Feagai. Both conversion attempts were waved away, leaving the score 36-14.
A great team performance was topped off with a well-deserved try to hardworking fullback Connor Tracey in the 74th minute. Crichton converted the try and then kicked a penalty goal in the final seconds to seal a perfect night on the boot, as well as a 30-point win.
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 44 (Burton 2, Xerri, Preston, King, Galvin, Tracey tries; Crichton 8/8 goals) def St. George Illawarra Dragons 14 (Feagai 2, Holmes tries; Holmes 1/3 goals)
