Canterbury coach Des Hasler will demand better options from his Canterbury attack, after criticising their “dumb” play in Sunday’s 18-12 loss to the Wests Tigers.
The Bulldogs sunk to their first NRL loss in almost a month at ANZ Stadium after appearing to have the match in their grip with 15 minutes to play.
Canterbury held a 12-10 lead and looked set to close the match out, before a determined Tigers outfit emerged from a month of darkness to clinch the two points.
But Hasler said the result had nothing to do with a Tigers team looking to prove a point.
“We were dumb,” Hasler said.
“I don’t think we managed it as well as we should have. It was there to be won and we didn’t do it.”
At the top of Hasler’s frustrations will be a 75th-minute Greg Eastwood kick on the third play of a seven-tackle set.
Down to 12 men with Brenko Lee in the sin bin, the lock inexplicably gave away the ball on the 30-metre line while on the attack.
The Tigers fielded it under no pressure and worked their way upfield, before Luke Brooks broke into open space to grubber for winger Kevin Naiqama to score the match-winner.
“Given the weight of possession field position was really critical,” Hasler said.
“We gave up really good field position too easily and too early in the tackle count.”
The Bulldogs have a difficult month ahead, with clashes against Canberra, North Queensland, the Sydney Roosters and Cronulla before the State of Origin period.
Hasler on Sunday continued with the planned rotation of Matthew Frawley coming into the halves off the bench at the half-hour mark for Moses Mbye, who moved to hooker as Michael Lichaa was substituted.
Hasler indicated he expected that plan to continue, but lamented the lack of pressure his team built on the Tigers’ try line.
Their only second-half try came after a 12-pass effort, as the Bulldogs worked their way down field following two offloads
“If you’re not exposing sides with repeat sets and the ability to play field position, then you don’t want to always have to manufacture tries like that,” he said.
“It’s something we’ve got to get better at.”
