There’s plenty of fight left in these Dogs.

After an enthralling but ultimately fruitless effort against the in-form Sydney Roosters last weekend, Canterbury showed they are far from a spent force in the NRL this year against Brisbane on Friday.

The Bulldogs became the first team this year to overcome a halftime deficit against the Broncos when they secured a gutsy 18-16 victory in front of a hostile Suncorp Stadium crowd.

It was the first win in three matches for Des Hasler’s men, keeping them in the top eight as rivals such as Manly begin late season charges.

Despite a rocky run of recent form, Bulldogs captain James Graham says he never felt last year’s grand finalists had doubted they can again push for honours.

“To be honest, throughout the year, the self-belief has never gone,” Graham said.

“It’s plain for all to see that we’ve had some bad results but we’d like to think we’ve learned from that.”

The Bulldogs will feel confident another win awaits next weekend against struggling Gold Coast before a grand final replay against South Sydney in round 24.

With just two more wins needed to reach the 28-point mark most believe will get a team into the finals, the round 25 clash against Newcastle also looks a great chance for the Dogs to seal their September spot.

“We’re not getting carried away with ourselves. We’ve come up here and we’ve won against a top, top team but we move on to next week and we’re still fighting to even be in the eight,” Graham said.

“We’re under no illusions that we’ve got some very tough games ahead of us for the rest of the year.”