NRL 2021: Canterbury Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett opens up on Matt Burton, win over Cronulla Sharks
Canterbury coach Trent Barrett says talks of impending arrival Matt Burton getting cold feet are unfounded, especially after the Dogs’ first win.
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Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett has likened Matt Burton’s impending arrival to Newcastle’s decision to sign Kalyn Ponga, declaring he won’t be bullied by anyone who thinks Canterbury should allow the young gun to backflip on his deal to stay in Penrith.
The comments come after Penrith chief executive Brian Fletcher made the stunning claim that Burton would be better off backflipping on his deal to stay at the Panthers.
Canterbury had tried to get Burton to make the move a season early, but the Panthers blocked their request, which included a proposed player swap.
“I don’t really want to get into that,” Barrett said after his side claimed its first win of the season over the Sharks.
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“All in all, it probably puts more pressure on Matty.
“We tried to get Matt early, but we went through all the right channels to do that. That’s water under the bridge now.”
The five-eighth has been a shining light at the foot of the mountains playing out of position at left centre, and the feeling was Penrith’s continued success would make him question whether he wanted to join a club that is in wooden spoon contention.
But Barrett rubbished those claims, comparing the current situation to what happened in Newcastle after the Knights claimed three-straight wooden spoons, only to be saved by Ponga’s arrival in 2018 which prompted other players to sign.
“I speak to Matty regularly,” the Bulldogs coach said.
“Watching that tonight, Matty knows he’s coming to a club that’s got some backbone.
“I liken it a little bit to when Newcastle signed Kalyn Ponga.
“We’re getting a real good player in Burto who I think is a future rep player, and that’s what I knew when I signed him 12 months ago when this all happened.
Nick Meaney puts the @NRL_Bulldogs beyond Cronulla's reach ðŸ‘#TelstraPremiership Moment of the Match#NRLSharksBulldogspic.twitter.com/qD0PuEO6eF
— NRL (@NRL) April 24, 2021
“The club is excited to get a player like Matt.
“I was at Penrith in 2011 and 2012 when we went through a similar sort of rebuild, and it’s hard.
“Phil Gould put a hell of a lot of things in place that they’re reaping the benefits of now.
“I’m just happy for Matt that he’s in first grade, he’s playing well, and we’ll keep improving the joint so when he gets here, he’s going to walk into a really good club.”
The Penrith rebuild that Barrett alluded to took longer than first thought but looks to be well worth it after they claimed their 22nd regular season win in a row over Ponga’s Knights on Thursday.
No one is suggesting Canterbury will suddenly turn things around when Burton arrives next season on a three-year deal, but their fans can take pride knowing they have a coach who is willing to ride out the tough times before the green shoots eventually sprout.
“He’s a good kid and a really good player, and I think everyone is seeing now what I saw in him at training 18 months ago,” Barrett said.
“I think it’s a real bonus to us as a club because we know that we’ve got Burto coming, we know we’ve got Josh Addo-Carr coming, and we’ve got Cotric who is only 21.
“We’ve got a plan in our recruitment and what we’re trying to do, and I certainly won’t be bullied into making rash decisions into who we sign and making short-term decisions. That’s not the way that we’re going to do it.
“The club has been really supportive in the plan that we’ve got in place, and if we look at the short-term fixes, we’re going to be in this situation in three years, no matter who the coach is.
“We need to play the long game and not make band aid decisions.”
SHARKS ‘SHOULDER CHARGE’ DIVIDES NRL FANS
Brandon Wakeham entered the history books as the first 18th man to be used in the NRL, but Bulldogs fans won’t care about the piece of trivia after their team ended weeks of heartbreak to clinch their first win of the season.
The 18-12 victory over the Sharks won’t go down as one of the classics, but footy purists and quizzing enthusiasts will remember this one for a controversial Siosifa Talakai tackle in the first half that eventually saw Wakeham enter the game with four minutes remaining.
Wearing the No.25 jersey, Wakeham – who only earned his spot on the bench after Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was ruled out with an infected knee – came on when Brad Deitz was forced off for a late HIA.
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Most people thought the 18th man wouldn’t be used after it was rushed in a few weeks ago, but the emergency player was activated after Matt Doorey was ruled out at half-time due to an act of foul play.
“It was crazy. I didn’t really know what the rules were,” he told ABC Sport, adding he thought it may have been his last game of footy if he had to defend in the middle.
“I thought when Matt Doorey went off, I had to go on at that time to play back row, so I definitely was not keen to do that.
“He (Barrett) just said ‘defend, defend everything’.”
Siosifa Talakai could be in hot water for his shot on Doorey that forced the young Bulldog out of the game after he failed his HIA.
The nuggety Shark tried to lift his team with a monster shot in the 25th minute but got it wrong as his shoulder made contact with the chin of his opponent.
What has become of Rugby League?
— Rugby League Best Tries Hits and Biffs (@NBiffs) April 24, 2021
Absolute massive shot.
Beautiful to watch.
The players love it, the fans love it. It’s great to watch. It’s what it’s all about.
And he’s on report and sin binned for it.
Ladies and Gentlemen this is Rugby League in 2021.#NRLSharksBulldogspic.twitter.com/OtTxVKU2Db
NRL has gotten soft over the years. That was a great shot! #nrlsharksbulldogs
— baxter (@baxter157) April 24, 2021
On a different note, Talakai should of been sent off the field. A shoulder charge with no attempt to wrap the arm with contact with the head. It won’t help the @NRL_Bulldogs that he’ll miss the next 2-3 weeks. #NRLSharksBulldogs@NRLBulldogsFans
— Matt 🇦🇺 (@Matts_Sport) April 24, 2021
It wasn’t a traditional shoulder charge, but his arms didn’t wrap and the contact was high, leaving referee Chris Butler with no choice but to send him to the sin bin.
“The fact that the shoulder hits the point of the head, we’re trying to get that out of the game,” Michael Ennis said during the Fox League coverage.
“I think he’ll be in some trouble. He tried to turn the tide and inspire his teammates, but he just got it wrong.”
Hold all tickets
It was only going to be a matter of time until the Bulldogs won a game after betting companies offered markets on whether they would finish the season winless.
It wasn’t the prettiest performance you’ll see this year, but their fans won’t care after they produced the upset of the season against a Sharks side that butchered six tries on the back of Canterbury’s dogged defence.
Trent Barrett is a man known for his attacking nous, but he’ll happily trade the flashy stuff if his troops produce that effort every week, including one of the most manic passages of play to end the game that saw the ball travel from Kogarah to Belmore and back again.
“That’s the best win I’ve been involved in in my coaching career, and even as a player,” he said after shedding tears at full-time. “That was so important, not just to the players but to the fans and our members and everything. I’m just really proud of them.
“It meant a hell of a lot to all of us. No one really knows what goes on in the four walls of the football club. Given what we’ve been through, that’s a huge win.”
The Bad
You could come up with any number of moments that summed up Cronulla’s ineptitude in the first half, but Josh Hannay would be particularly disappointed with a couple of crucial errors by Josh Dugan that gifted the Bulldogs 12 points.
The veteran centre, who said he was open to a switch to rugby union, came up with a horror miss on Will Hopoate that gifted Canterbury the first try of the afternoon, and then dropped a regulation kick to hand Nick Cotric a present in his 100th game.
The Sharks need more from their senior players, but it’s unlikely Dugan will be dropped after new recruit Will Chambers was sent to the sin bin for throwing a punch in reserve grade.
On the other edge, Mawene Hiroti was denied not once, not twice, but thrice by some desperate Canterbury defence, although he redeemed himself with a late four-pointer.
“We created enough opportunities to win a couple of games. There were a lot of near misses tonight,” Hannay said. “We’ve got to start games a lot better than what we’ve done the past fortnight.”
Napa’s rally
He’s the off-contract enforcer who has failed to fire in 2021, but Dylan Napa showed he is far from a spent force after producing his best 80 minutes in a Bulldogs jersey.
The front-rower was a weapon in the first half, charging for 100 metres from 10 carries as he laid a platform for his teammates to run in 18 unanswered points.
As impressive as he was with ball in hand, it was his desperate chase and tackle to deny Hiroti a certain try that would have pleased his coach the most.
Spinal shift
His hand was forced before kick-off when Matt Moylan was ruled out with a quad injury, but Hannay will have a huge decision on his hands when he names his team for next Friday’s clash with the Storm.
Shaun Johnson was solid in his return from an Achilles injury and could have had three try assists had things gone his way. He eventually came off with 18 minutes to go, but will most likely start next week.
“I thought he had some really nice touches,” Hannay said.”
With Will Kennedy playing the best footy of his career at fullback, Hannay must decide whether Moylan or Chad Townsend will partner Johnson in the halves when the Sharks make rugby league’s toughest road trip.
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Originally published as NRL 2021: Canterbury Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett opens up on Matt Burton, win over Cronulla Sharks
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