The only Friday night NRL Round 12 matche is between Canterbury Bulldogs and St George Illawarra Dragons. The opening kick is set to commence at 7:45pm local time with the game to be played at ANZ Stadium. The home team the Canterbury Bulldogs are the current favourites in the market. View our preview and teams for the game between Canterbury Bulldogs and St George Illawarra Dragons.

ANZ Stadium

Friday 7.45pm

Featured Bookmakers:

Canterbury Bulldogs $1.35 vs St George Illawarra Dragons $3.30 at Sportsbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

Canterbury Bulldogs $1.36 vs St George Illawarra Dragons $3.20 at Luxbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

Odds Comparison by NRL Odds:

Canterbury Bulldogs	1.35	1.30	1.36	1.30	1.35	1.35
St George Illawarra Dragons	3.30	3.65	3.20	3.65	3.30	3.30

Preview:

Round 12 sees only four matches scheduled for the weekend with State Origin to be held on Wednesday night.

The first game sees Canterbury host St. George in the only game on Friday night.

Canterbury, who had strung four wins together against lowly placed sides, copped a reality check in round 10 when thumped by Newcastle 44-8 at Hunter Stadium.

It served as a good wake up call for the Bulldogs who bounced back last week, back at ANZ Stadium, with a solid 24-14 win in trying conditions over North Queensland.

St. George, who broke a three game losing streak against the hapless Parramatta in round 10 (32-12), played host to an in-form Panthers side last week.

Three first half tries to the Panthers were enough for them to secure their third successive win (19-0) and sneak into the eight.

St. George were held scoreless last week and it continues a worrying trend of small totals the Dragons register, which has seen the them exceed 20 points only twice this season – against Parramatta and Cronulla (25 points).

With one of their leading attacking weapons, Brett Movies, on origin duty, coupled with the tough Canterbury defence, the Dragons may struggle here.

Teams:

Canterbury Bulldogs:
Ben Barba, Drury Low, Mitch Brown, Tim Lafai, Sam Perrett, Josh Reynolds, Trent Hodkinson, Aiden Tolman, Michael Ennis (c), Sam Kasiano, Frank Pritchard, Josh Jackson, Greg Eastwood. Interchange: Dene Halatau, Tim Browne, James Graham, Dale Finucane, Martin Taupau

St George Illawarra Dragons:
Josh Dugan, Daniel Vidot, Chase Stanley, Matt Prior, Jason Nightingale, Jamie Soward, Nathan Fien, Dan Hunt, Mitch Rein, Michael Weyman, Bronson Harrison, Ben Creagh (c), Tyson Frizell. Interchange: Cameron King, Leeson Ah Mau, Jack de Belin, Jack Stockwell

Bulldogs are NRL’s hunted: Ennis

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.”