In Brett Morris, Canterbury coach Des Hasler may just have delivered the club the final piece in the NRL premiership jigsaw puzzle.
The Bulldogs have been among the competition benchmarks since Hasler took over in 2012, reaching the finals on all three occasions, winning a minor premiership and reaching two grand finals – including last year’s decider in which they were defeated by a runaway South Sydney side.
However a premiership has eluded the Dogs since 2004 and Morris’ arrival at Belmore can be seen as a solution to one obvious criticism of the side – their attack.
While the Bulldogs’ success has been built on defensive attitude, especially around the middle third, some attacking spark could be the missing ingredient needed to take them to the next level.
During the 2014 regular season, they scored 446 points, giving them the fourth-worst attacking record in the competition.
Only lowly Wests Tigers (420), Gold Coast (372) and Cronulla (334) scored fewer points.
Enter Morris, a 10-time NSW and 18-time Test representative, who has joined twin brother Josh at the club after accepting a big money deal to move across from St George Illawarra.
Morris has played alongside his brother in the three-quarter line at State of Origin level but Hasler looks set to break up that partnership and play him at fullback.
While new captain James Graham does not pay much attention to external criticisms, and prefers to see the club’s success as being based on defence, he can see why expectations might be high amongst Dogs fans in 2015.
“At this point in the season I think all 16 teams are starting to rekindle the dream and everyone has ambitions, everyone’s motivations are at a really high level,” he said.
“We’re no different from everyone else, each team has the same goal so we have been talked about in the media and we made last year’s grand final and there’s expectation there.
“This club always has an expectation to do well.”
Michael Lichaa looks set to be played at No.9, after coming to the Dogs from Cronulla in a direct swap for Michael Ennis.
The Junior Kangaroo is highly rated by Hasler, with Lichaa last year admitting that the master-coach had been chasing his signature for three years.
Hasler also has the option of playing young gun Moses Mbye in the position.
Mbye is a naturally-gifted playmaker but slotted into No.9 during their grand final loss to South Sydney when Ennis went down with a foot injury.
British bulldog Graham, who served as co-captain in last year’s final in Ennis’ absence, has been handed the captaincy with Aiden Tolman and Frank Pritchard to serve as vice-captains.
Throughout his NRL career, Graham has been accused of having white line fever and never being afraid to let opponents know what he is thinking.
But what can be perceived as a short-fuse can also be seen as passion and in Graham the Dogs have one of the game’s best on-field generals.
“I had the privilege of co-captaining St Helen’s in my final year there with my good friend Paul Wellens so I learnt a lot during that journey,” Graham said.
“I learnt a lot off Michael last year too.
“The grand final was bittersweet, it wasn’t a position I wanted to be in whatsoever.
It’s hard to explain what it was, I was just more disappointed for Michael missing that game, it was hard for me to take any joy out of it. It wasn’t really a joyous thing for me.”
CANTERBURY
Premierships: 8 – (1938, 1942, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1995, 2004).
Finishes over the past three seasons: 2014 – 7th, 2013 – 6th, 2012 – 1st
Coach: Des Hasler
Captain: James Graham
Gains: Michael Lichaa (Sharks), Curtis Rona (Cowboys), Brett Morris (Dragons), Jarrod McInally (Easts Tigers).
Losses: Michael Ennis (Sharks), Mitch Brown (Sharks), Reni Maitua (Featherstone Rovers), Krisnan Inu (French rugby), Lachlan Burr (Titans), John Sila (Tigers), Dale Finucane (Storm).
Strength: You can’t win a competition without big men and Hasler has plenty of size at his disposal, boasting one of the biggest forward packs in the NRL.
Weakness: There’s not maany chinks in the Bulldogs’ armour, however they are lacking an experienced No.9 following Michael Ennis departure. The club has put a lot of faith in Michael Lichaa.
Money Man: Brett Morris looks set to start at fullback and while he hasn’t played there permanently for several years, he could be the man to provide the side with some attacking spark.
One to watch: Josh Jackson: the backrower came along in leaps and bounds last year and earned selection as NSW’s 18th man. It seems only a matter of time before he plays Origin.
Best team: Brett Morris, Corey Thompson, Josh Morris, Tim Lafai, Sam Perrett, Josh Reynolds, Trent Hodkinson, Aidan Tolman, Michael Lichaa, James Graham, Josh Jackson, Frank Pritchard, Greg Eastwood. Interchange: Moses Mbye, Tony Williams, David Klemmer, Sam Kasiano.
Predicted finish: 5th
Betting: $7
