Under-fire Canterbury mentor Dean Pay says it will be “useful for everyone” if the Bulldogs board broke their silence and made a call on the battling NRL club’s coaching future.

But the off-contract Pay may not like their response if it is judged on recent results.

The Bulldogs slumped to their worst season start (1-8 record) in 56 years after being held out 26-8 by Brisbane in an error-riddled clash at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.

The match was as ugly as Canterbury’s current record.

After five straight losses, the dead-last Bulldogs have just one win to show for the first nine rounds.

Yet Pay hoped his fate would soon be decided by the board one way or another, saying it would ease pressure on his embattled outfit.

“That’s up to them (but) it would be useful for everyone,” he said.

The club great cut a frustrated figure after the Bulldogs threatened to launch a fightback when they cut the deficit to 10-4 by half-time, only to be overrun by a Brisbane side that snapped a six-game losing streak.

Still Pay reckoned there were positive signs at Canterbury, and hoped to oversee their recovery despite reports linking everyone from Craig Bellamy and Wayne Bennett to rugby mentor Eddie Jones to his job.

“We lost two players (Jayden Okunbor, Corey Harawira-Naera) at the start of the year, we have Adam Elliott, Joe Stimson and Will Hopoate out with injuries,” Pay said.

“We can go out into the market and look to bolster our recruitment.

“There’s some kids in there that I have now who have got some games under their belt who are going to be better players moving forward.

“We have got some real positive signs coming soon. It is very hard for everyone at the moment but we will move forward and will get better.”

Pay said English import Luke Thompson was another positive after his impressive NRL debut on Saturday.

The former St Helens premiership winner ran 81m and pulled off 36 tackles, featuring in an entertaining running battle with Brisbane’s Tevita Pangai.

Unfortunately he was placed on report for a shoulder charge on Pangai, sparking heated scenes.

In another concern, Bulldogs centre Reimis Smith was booked for an ugly cannonball tackle on Alex Glenn that forced the Brisbane skipper off the field with a suspected medial knee ligament injury.

“The force was hard but I still think he hit him a bit higher – it looked like he hit him in the arse,” Pay said of Smith’s tackle.