NRL.com Stats has crunched the numbers to pin-point the area that each team must fix in 2018. For the Canterbury Bulldogs, finding space with their kicks and forcing repeat sets are areas that need fixing.

Canterbury's kicking game went to the Dogs when Trent Hodkinson left the club in 2016, but the true extent of their alarming slide came to the fore last year.

Between them first-choice halves Moses Mbye and Josh Reynolds forced just 10 line drop outs all season, with Mbye contributing just two from 23 games (19 of which he played at the scrumbase).

Mbye, Reynolds and alternate option Matt Frawley all found space with their long kicks less than 30% of the time, well behind NRL leaders like Corey Norman (45%) and Cooper Cronk (42%).

The addition of Kieran Foran and shifting Mbye to fullback makes plenty of sense considering the importance of short kicking in the modern game.