If you wanted to sum up the Bulldogs squad in one word, it would be ‘forwards’!

For years, the Bulldogs have had one of, if not the strongest forward pack in the competition. It has served them well, with two grand final appearances in the last four seasons, and they made the finals the other years.

While 2015 didn’t end in a grand final appearance, the Bulldogs would have been a top-four side if it weren’t for that game against the Rabbitohs in Round 5.

Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Reddit Email Share

Known as Black Friday, that was the day Adam Reynolds had his legs destroyed by James Graham, who was then sent off, along with David Klemmer, after they abused the ref because he awarded Souths a match-winning penalty.

Not only did it badly harm South Sydney’s campaign, it badly affected Canterbury’s premiership chances as it meant they were without both Klemmer and Graham for an extended period of time.

Add injuries to players like Brett Morris and Tim Lafai, and Canterbury did not have a fun time at the start of 2015.

However, like all Des Hasler sides, they found form at the right time of year, and went on an impressive run to win their last five premiership matches, ending fifth on the ladder. They won their qualifying final in a tight match with the Dragons, before bowing out in their semi-final against the Roosters.

A young half named Moses Mbye showed amazing form while he covered for injury in the halves and centres. Following Trent Hodkinson’s departure, this youngster will now get a lot of first grade experience. Joining Hodkinson in the losses for Bulldogs are Frank Pritchard and Lafai, with the only two gains of note being Will Hopoate and Brad Abbey.

Will Mbye fire and lead Dessie’s Doggies to their first premiership since 2004, or will this finally be a year where a Hasler-coached side misses the finals?



1. Brett Morris

2. Curtis Rona

3. Josh Morris

4. Will Hopoate

5. Brad Abbey

6. Josh Reynolds

7. Moses Mbye

8. Aiden Tolman

9. Michael Lichaa

10. James Graham

11. Josh Jackson

12. Tony Williams

13. Greg Eastwood

14. Sam Kasiano

15. David Klemmer

16. Shaun Lane

17. Tim Browne

Strengths

Again, I could sum up this section by just saying ‘forwards!’ but that would annoy even me, so let’s actually discuss these forwards.

Aiden Tolman is one of the better workhorse forwards in the game, tackling hard, running had and giving his all every game. He isn’t flashy, but you need these guys in your squad.

Graham is the modern equivalent of Adrian Morley: a tough, angry Englishman, full of mongrel and big hits. He even offers some ball-playing ability. When he first came to the NRL, Graham was a bit of a hothead – what with the whole ear-biting incident in the 2012 grand final – however he has since wised up. There is a reason he is the Bulldogs captain, and has captained England internationally – he is quality and was missed sorely by the Bulldogs for a lot of last year.

Josh Jackson is another great player, coming off of his best season yet, winning the 2015 Daly M Second-Rower of the Year award. No matter if you think he deserved it or not (he didn’t – Pritchard had a better year than him), he has established himself as one of the game’s premier second rowers. Tackle breaks and momentum-turning runs are common in his game, and with his rumoured long-term re-signing, the Bulldogs will enjoy this young player’s game for a long time to come.

While Sam Kasiano may be trying his best to cosplay as a contestant on The Biggest Loser (seriously, it is like he puts on more weight every year), it doesn’t seem to have any effect on his game, in fact it just makes him harder to beat. He also has decent ball-playing skills, which gives the Bulldogs much-needed attacking flair, especially with their lacklustre halves combination.

Then we have Pritchard’s replacement, the highly touted youngster Shaun Lane. He made it into the 2015 NSW Cup team of the year, and handled himself well in first grade, despite being thrust in there suddenly due to an injury to Tony Williams (he actually played better than Williams ever has in the blue and white jersey).

Finally we have young, powerful, hard-running forward David Klemmer. Any player who has multiple appearances for Australia at the age of 22 has a bright future ahead, especially if he is a prop. Klemmer missed a heck of a lot of games for the Bulldogs, and his loss had a significant impact. The power and intensity he provides off the bench is crazy, and he has no problem dealing with older players who tell him to show some respect. Like Jackson, he has also reportedly re-signed with the Bulldogs, which is a huge boost.



People say the reduced interchanges are going to have a huge impact on the Bulldogs forwards’ power, but I doubt it. First of all, Michael Lichaa is an 80-minute dummyhalf, meaning they won’t need to waste interchanges on subbing him. Secondly, Tolman, Graham, Jackson, Lane and Williams all have put on 80-minute performances in the past.

The only player who will be affected by this change is Kasiano, but Des will just move some interchanges around. It might bring the pack’s potency down a little, but not by too much.

The Morris brothers are damn good – what they lack in terms of having necks they make up for in talent. They are State of Origin players, both are very good defensively, and prior to the rise of Semi Radradra, Brett was the best winger in the game.

Mbye had a few impressive performances at five-eighth last year. While he will grow into a quality, off-the-cuff player in a few years, it may take some time for him to find some consistency.

Abbey was probably the second-best fullback in the Under-20s comp last year, behind Tom Trbojevic. The Bulldogs haven’t had a decent fullback since 2012, and Abbey looks like he will be a long-term fix to this solution, he just needs a year or two on the wing like Roger Tuivasa-Sheck to get used to first grade.

Curtis Rona is one of the better wingers in the comp. He was the leading try-scorer in the NRL for a while last year, before Semi came along. There is no reason he won’t have another great year.

Then there’s Hasler. The guy is a genius, and ‘In Des we Trust’ is a motto most Bulldogs fans live by. Now in his 13th year as a head coach, he has only missed one finals series, and that was in his first year, with an abhorrent Manly outfit in 2004.

Bulldogs fans getting impatient by the lack of a premiership from Des, calling for his sacking, are morons. A great coach can change the way his players play based on the side he has, and Des demonstrated he could do that in 2012 when he moved from Manly to the Bulldogs. However, he does have pressure on him coming into 2016 – with Geoff Toovey gone, it really is only him and Ricky Stuart left who have the ability to complain so hilariously in post-match interviews.



Will he crumble under the pressure, or will he find a way to top the hilarious ‘Voldemorts’ comment from last year?

Weaknesses

The Bulldogs got rid of the wrong half.

Josh Reynolds shouldn’t have got anywhere near NSW representation, in fact I am surprised he has been able to find a consistent starting spot in a first grade side. The guy will have one good game, then follow it up with three awful games where he does nothing except grub it up. He will be hit with a suspension, then the week before his return he will front the media, talk about how he let his brain explosions get the best of him, and that he will get it out of his game, before the cycle starts again.

How does anyone take him seriously anymore? Hodkinson is so much better than him it is ridiculous. And now the Bulldogs have two off-the-cuff, running players and no organising and kicking half.

The best halves combinations in recent times have worked because their playing styles are so different.

Mbye was in good form when partnered Hodkinson, who can organise a side and has a great kicking game. But when Hodkinson was down injured, Moses was in horrible form, because he was expected to be the controlling player. Hodkinson’s long kicking game is underrated, and the Bulldogs will miss it.

The Bulldogs also don’t even have decent options in the rest of their spine. Brett Morris has no ball-playing ability and doesn’t do enough for a fullback.

Lichaa is a promising young dummyhalf, but his 2015 form wasn’t too crash hot. This was only made worse for the Bulldogs when the man they axed in favour of Lichaa, good old Michael Ennis, won the Daly M Hooker of the Year award. In fact Damien Cook, who was Lichaa’s injury replacement, played better than Lichaa did. Lichaa doesn’t provide enough spark in attack, especially with the bad halves combination.



The spine is two non-dominant halves, a below-average dummyhalf, and a winger pretending to be a fullback. It might be the second weakest spine in the comp.

Then we get to Hopoate – or as many Parramatta fans called him last year, ‘Will Flopoate’ – who is the Dogs’ main signing for 2016. The guy was good in 2011, then he went on a Mormon mission, came back on a huge contract with Parramatta, and played awfully.

He wasn’t too bad in 2014, but he was depressingly bad in 2015. His performances at fullback were just sad, with disappointing kick returns and having bugger all involvement. His return to the centres didn’t result in decent form, and I have no idea why he was picked for Origin. After his Origin 3 performance, where he made seven metres the whole game, I don’t see him being picked for NSW again any time soon.

The problem with signing Hopoate is it forced Lafai out, and Lafai at his best is better than Hopoate at his best. Remember, Hopoate was outside Jamie Lyon for most of his early career, and Lyon is one of the best centres in the modern game. But when Hopoate wasn’t playing outside Lyon, he didn’t do much.

Finally, what happened to the Tony Williams of Manly? You know, the one who barged over opposition defenders, the one who rolled over the top of Billy Slater, the one who steamed through half of the Wests Tigers to score a try – the one who was actually good.

Ever since he signed with the Bulldogs in 2012, Williams’ form has plummeted. He doesn’t even pretend he is trying anymore. He doesn’t run onto the ball, and accepts tackles. He is one of the worst buys in history, he just eats up salary cap space and offers nothing.

Expectations

This year we are going to learn about how important a spine is to a side. You can have all of the forwards in the world and decent backs, but if your halves don’t complement each other, your fullback isn’t a true fullback, and your dummyhalf provides little spark in attack, you will struggle to score points, you will be disorganised, and you just won’t do well.

I should have put the Rabbitohs ahead of these guys, but it is too late for that, so I predict the Bulldogs will finish 11th. They will make metres and defend well, but they will struggle in most other aspects of the game.



Conclusion

The Bulldogs are set for a rough year. They desperately need to either put Reynolds at dummyhalf or ditch him and get a proper halfback who can control a game, because you cannot win a premiership without one.

They won’t be out of the eight for long. Brad Abbey will replace Brett Morris in a year or so, giving the Doggies an actual fullback, and Des being Des will sort out a halfback. But this year? No dice.

Des will miss the eight for the first time since 2004 – the year the Bulldogs won their last premiership.