Baby Bunnies Fall Short
It was always going to be a tough ask to get the win. We were missing 9 of our best 17 and 14 out of our squad of 30. It was well over half our salary cap missing.
The Dogs coming off a embarrassing loss to the Knights were always going to come out firing. The non-selection of Matt Burton for Origin and the addition of Toby Sexton during the week meant that things were going to be a bit harder.
If we thought things were bad then they got worse. Firstly losing Michael Chee Kam the day before the game and then Hame Sele the day of the game.
Red & Green 17
Still there were 17 boys out there playing in our colours.
Signs looked good early. A try to our captain for the day Tom Burgess. Maybe it wasn’t going to be so bad. Then a simple error by us and straight from the scrum try to the Dogs.
Concerning signs for us. An easy try has to be said.
Then things get even worse. Taane Milne finds himself placed in the bin. Down on troops. Down to 12 men. In that time the Dogs put on 12 points. We managed to score one ourselves. That would prove to be a pivotal moment in the game.
The Bounce
The play I think that sums up the night for us is when we put a kick through for Tyrone Munro. He easily won the race to the ball, but just didn’t get the bounce he wanted. Things just weren’t going our way.
Some more errors and discipline issues and the Dogs were able to put on 2 more tries before the half put the Dogs up 24-12. It wasn’t looking great for us.
Second half and it wasn’t looking good for us. The Dogs were first to score and extend the lead to 16. It didn’t take us long to respond with a try to Blake Taaffe to get within 12 again.
Then a play that Blake wishes he had all over again. Once again Blake broke the Dogs left side defence open only to throw a pass to nobody. Not realising he actually was through. Hard to be critical of him though as he was by far our best out there.
The Calls
A few calls were really starting to go against us. Off the scrum the Dogs go out wide for Burns to get done for a double movement. Only thing was the ref decided to call us for being offside. Really? I mean the Bulldogs were offside so often yet that’s the one he wants to call.
Burton makes no mistake in extending the lead to 14. It’s hard to see how we win from here.
Although once again it didn’t take long for us to hit back. This time with that man Taaffe in the thick of it running off an inside pass off his halves partner from the Jersey Flegg premiership winning side. The lead was back to 8.
We were still in this.
Again we found ourselves attacking the line. Things were looking promising. We run it on the last. A pass from Ilias that Milne couldn’t handle. Burton picks in up and he’s away. Shut the gates. Or is it?
Shut The Gate?
Munro easily chases him down. Haven’t we missed having genuine speed in our side? Although in the end all in vain. The Bulldogs made us pay once again from our error. Surely that was game now?
Time was ticking away making it harder for us. It was under 5 minutes to go. Milne has the ball and puts the kick through. In a flash Munro was there to pick up his 3rd try in 2 games. A missed conversion from Hawkins and the Dogs lead by 10 with 4 to go.
The Try
What happened next is something that Tallis Duncan will remember for a long time. Straight from the kick off he breaks through the Dogs defence. Passes to Mamouzelos only to have it passed back to him. He was pulling away from the Dogs chasers. Try under the posts.
What was even better from Tallis was the awareness of the game situation. No celebration. Just get the ball to the kicker straight away. But what a way to score your first ever try in the NRL.
The lead was now 4. We had one more set. There was still time.
Once again we go to our right and once again we open them up. Munro with his speed gets us in great field position. Then we finally get a set restart for them being offside. It was now or never.
The Dogs were barely hanging on. Twice in the set Tom Burgess gets in the way of the attack and burns tackles. Finally we come to the final play. This time we go left. Hawkins has the ball. There is an overlap. With Taaffeoutside him and AJ unmarked it was on. Sadly Hawkins went for the kick and the Dogs clean it up. The kick needed to at least go in goal.
The Story
The Dogs looked like they were going to grind out the set and kick. Then the last we caught Burton. We were going to get one last play to win the game. Unfortunately the ref had other ideas. Penalty for offside. The story of the night.
In the end the young boys did us proud. It was a tough ask for them and those that filled in didn’t let anyone down. The likes of Munro, Duncan and Lovett all playing just their 2ndgame in the NRL stood up.
Blakes Best
Blake Taaffe had his best game in the NRL I have seen. It was great seeing him hit the line at pace and not jinking in his running. Was by far our best player.
There were very questionable calls out there. Not often JD will talk about the ref during the press conference. That tells you something right there.
It’s hard to be too critical when a side is depleted as much as we were. Although when a game is that close you look at moments in the game and wonder what if.
Errors, Discipline & Defence
Errors, discipline and our defence cost us the game. That is the 3rd time around this origin period where we have been depleted that we have lost despite scoring as many tries as the opposition. They are 3 games that could cost us big time come the end of the season.
Now we have the week off. Time for the boys to rest up and get prepared for our tilt at the title.
On The Road Again
It is then on the road for the next 5 games. Sunshine Coast to Tamworth, Perth, Cairns and finally Newcastle before we get another bye and finish off with our enemy the Roosters.
A positive stay on games we travel this year. We have won all 4 games on the road by an average score of 34-13. We will also be helped by the return of Latrell, Cody, Campbell, Cookie, Cam, Keaon, Arrow, Hame and Hosty. Hopefully our origin boys get through the game unscathed.
Going to be an interesting run in the home stretch. Something I’m looking forward to.
Baby Bunnies Fall Short.
By Josh Kemp for Bunnies TV.
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