They tip the scales close to a tonne and now the Canterbury pack say they are on track to rediscovering their `Dogs of War’ attitude.
Desperately hanging onto an NRL finals berth in eighth, the Bulldogs acknowledge their last four regular round games have become must-win affairs.
After being up and down all year and failing to string together three wins after the first month of the competition, Des Hasler’s men are hopeful they’ve turned a corner.
Struggling to unlock the key to their best football all year, they say they found it with a back-to-basics approach in their 18-16 upset win over Brisbane last week.
Handling errors were their achilles heel in a four-game losing streak the previous month – in particular against Cronulla when they handed over the ball 18 times.
But they say they’ve corrected their blemishes which allows their monster forward pack to do the rest.
Against the Gold Coast at Central Coast this weekend, their nine forwards will weigh in at 994kg.
They have been dubbed the biggest forward pack in NRL history and their bench alone tips the scales at 462kg.
“He just wants us to run hard and just do the best you can,” said David Klemmer, who is the second heaviest of the pack at 116kg.
“There’s some big bodies so after a while you’ll make a big impact.
“That’s why he’s got those four on the bench. You’ve just got to try and break the line or do something for the backs.”
While the Titans are sitting in the bottom four, Dogs back-rower Josh Jackson said the side needed to take a September-come-early attitude to every game.
“It’s pretty tight around the eight at the moment,” Jackson said.
“Every game moving forward is pretty important. We do need to win and if we play like we did on the weekend (against Brisbane) we give ourselves every opportunity.”
STATS THAT MATTER
* Canterbury’s come-from-behind win against the Broncos was its first against a current top four side this season.
* The Titans have been one of the worst defensive teams this season conceding the second most points and tries and the equal most linebreaks.
* The Titans have been slow starters. In their past five matches they have been outscored 74-16 in the first half.
