Canterbury disappointed after Tigers win

Trent Hodkinson admits Canterbury spurned a great opportunity to crank up their points differential in the second half of their 30-10 win over Wests Tigers on Thursday.

Leading 24-0 at halftime the Bulldogs failed to build on their strong opening after the restart against an injury-ravaged Tigers outfit who had conceded 112 points in their past two matches.

Des Hasler’s side went into the game with a -5 points differential – the worst of any team in the top eight – and the NSW halfback revealed there was a feeling of frustration in the Bulldogs’ change room after the game.

“It was game of two halves, in the first we put some points on them but in the second we slowed down a bit,” Hodkinson said.

“There are little bits we are disappointed with. You want to keep going and we came in at halftime and spoke about hopefully running away with it, protecting the lead and not jumping in our shells.

“We are struggling a bit with our for and against at the moment but if we keep winning it will look after itself.”

The Bulldogs face in-form South Sydney next Thursday in what’s shaping as a mouth-watering clash at ANZ Stadium and Hasler has already started the mind games by declaring Michael Maguire’s men are the “outstanding” team in the NRL.

Hodkinson kicked the winning field goal to seal a 15-14 win when the sides last met in round seven and is expecting another difficult encounter against a Souths team who are aiming for a sixth straight win when they meet North Queensland on Saturday.

“They are the most in-form team in the comp and we are going to have worked hard all week in training to improve the things we didn’t do well tonight,” he said.

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