Griffin says Bulldogs are best my a mile

Coach Anthony Griffin says Brisbane will have to beat a side which has reinvented how rugby league is played when they confront a Canterbury outfit riding a 10-game winning streak on Sunday.

“They are the best team in the competition by a mile,” conceded Griffin, before the Broncos headed south for a clash that could well define their 2012 NRL season.

Griffin doesn’t believe the club’s season rests on Sunday’s result.

But he knows if his players don’t have a decent crack at the Bulldogs the task will become increasingly harder with games looming against heavyweights Melbourne and Manly.

The Bulldogs have been in season-best form in the past month putting their opposition to the sword early with a ruthless brand of play which Griffin said had reinvented them, or at least redefined them under former Manly premiership-winning coach Des Hasler.

Hasler has the two best line-breakers in the competition in dynamic fullback Ben Barba and strike centre Josh Morris along with the freakish Krisnan Inu – all working off a pack which plays differently to any other in the league.

“The last three weeks their games have been over after the first 20 minutes,” said Griffin.

“They’ve probably changed the way the game is played or certainly the way the Bulldogs used to play,” said Griffin.

“They’re very disciplined with it, they get into shape very quickly and they’ve got some confidence there in the two blond haired blokes Aiden Tolman and James Graham.

“Everything they do seems to launch off that structure.

“It’s different to the normal team that you play that tried to come through you in the middle third.”

Griffin said despite three consecutive losses, winning had not been the focus of the week.

“Our focus is on being better than we were last week,” he said.

“We’ve been far away (from a win) the last three weeks and we have to go out and get some credibility in our group.

“We’ve got to get into the game early through our forwards, particularly defensively and if we don’t do that, we’re going to be up against it.”

The worry for Brisbane is they have conceded 70 points in their past two games coming up against a side that is putting sides away with better defensive records.

New fullback Corey Norman, standing in for Josh Hoffman who was axed for missing training, can expect a torrid time with the Bulldogs having scored 23 tries this season from kicks.

“It’s something he hasn’t done for a while but he had a half a dozen games there when he first played first grade and he’s a few years older,” said Griffin.

“The high ball is a test for anyone, it would have been a test for Josh (Hoffman) but he’s done a bit of work this week and he’s a confident kid and we will help him as much as we can.”

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