Canterbury captain Michael Ennis says the Bulldogs are only just coming to terms with their status as one of the hunted teams of the NRL after last year’s stellar season.
Despite falling to Melbourne in last year’s decider the Bulldogs’ resurgence under new coach Des Hasler was one of the stories of the 2012 NRL season.
Canterbury struggled for form at the start of this season, winning just one of their first six games. But since then they have begun to emulate the form they showed last year in winning four of their last five.
On Friday they have the chance to build on that against St George Illawarra at ANZ Stadium.
“We have realised now 11 games into the competition that every side that comes up against us on the back of what we achieved last year are coming ready to play,” Ennis told AAP.
“The Dragons are probably in a similar place to where we were after the Newcastle game. They will come out firing and with plenty of energy and be ready to go and we are going to need to ensure we back up our performance from last Friday if we are going to that consistency in our game.”
The Bulldogs’ three game winning streak was abruptly halted by a 44-8 hammering at the hands of the Knights in round 10. But they turned that around with an impressive win over Brisbane last week with three of their most important players last year in Ben Barba, James Graham and Sam Kasiano all starring.
“Our ball control and completions against Brisbane were really pleasing in tough conditions and we need to build on that,” Ennis said.
“The Newcastle loss was a timely reminder how tough the competition is and how sides that play us, they know last year we climbed our way up the ladder and sides are up for us this year. They bring their best game when they play us and we just can’t afford to have that down game.”