Season Review: Bulldogs

Pre-season prediction: 8th

Actual finish: 7th

Bulldogs 2025 Player Movements

2016 was a strange season for the Bulldogs. At times they were absolutely destructive, their exciting backline tearing teams to shreds on the back of their forwards battering opposition packs into submission.

Other times the Dogs were the most frustrating side in the competition. I can’t ever remember seeing a side run the ball on the last tackle while in attacking positions with anywhere near the frequency as we saw in 2016.

In less than a month, the Dogs both got hammered 36-0 by the Cowboys, yet absolutely monstered fellow grand finalists the Broncos.

They were good enough to play finals footy but never really looked like they were a side capable of venturing deep into the finals.

Star player: James Graham

Just edging out fellow forward Josh Jackson, the inspirational Bulldogs skipper was again the main man at Belmore, leading from the front at almost every opportunity.

Across the regular season, he ran for 160 metres per game and made almost 40 tackles.

Unfortunately he was unable to match his attacking exploits of past seasons but he was always the one to put his hand up when a big run was needed or make that last gasp tackle when all looked lost.

Talk of him losing the captaincy is downright ridiculous, there are few more inspirational or charismatic leaders in our game.

Season highlight: 40-14 win over the Broncos

A seven-try to two effort saw the Bulldogs absolutely wipe the competition favourites off the park in late June.

The Dogs forwards made more than 500 metres more than their opponents, with the forwards also contributing four tries, including a double to Sam Kasiano.

This was 80 minutes the Bulldogs fans will want to remember. Brett Morris, who scored a hattrick on his return to the NRL certainly won’t forget it.

Best signing: Brenko Lee

Truth be told the Bulldogs weren’t huge players in the player market in terms of season-changing talent, but in Brenko Lee they’ve picked up a brilliant, young talent.

Squeezed out of the Raiders due to a lack of opportunities, Lee will likely slot straight into the starting line-up as a replacement for either Rona or Perrett.

The 21-year-old has played just the 12 first grade games but has already scored 11 tries, including a four-try performance in his last game for the Raiders.

Long seen as a future star at the Raiders, it is surprising that the Green Machine let him go, but the Bulldogs may be big beneficiaries as a result.

The positives:

- Brett Morris back fully fit and firing: Brett Morris, despite being shifted to the wing upon his return from a long injury layoff, is still arguably the Bulldogs most important weapon in attack. He scored more than a try per game after his return. He very well may return to the fullback role, with Hopoate probably shifting back to the centres, but no matter where he plays, Morris will play a big part in the Dogs going forward. They certainly missed him whilst out injured.

- Forward power: The Dogs ultimately failed to make a real impression at the business end of the season but no level of blame can be placed on their forward pack. Lead by Graham and Tolman, the Dogs pack didn’t lose too many battles. Klemmer and Kasiano round out one of the best front row rotations in modern football. Josh Jackson, voted NSW’s best across the three Origin games, is becoming a special footballer. Despite a string of ins and outs the Dogs were able to hold onto their main weapons up front.

Season Grading: C

The Dogs hardly had a horror season, although expectations at Belmore were probably focused a little higher than a week one exit in the finals.

Unfortunately for the blue and white faithful, Moses Mbye and Josh Reynolds failed to consistently provide the direction and spark expected of a top four side’s halves.

Their kicking game really let the team down, with the Dogs halves happier to be caught on the last with the ball rather than risk giving away a seven-tackle set after a bad kick.

Mbye especially showed enough to suggest he has what it takes to be a top-line member of the halves going forward, but he and Reynolds will need to find that consistency before questions are asked.

Incredibly Des Hasler seems to be under pressure before a ball is even kicked in 2017, and early results may never have been so important.