NRL 2022: South Sydney Rabbitohs defeat Canterbury Bulldogs, Matt Dufty fired-up by critics, Josh Jackson, Chris Patolo head clash
Bulldogs fullback Matt Dufty bounced back from his worst game of the season with one of his best against Souths and delivered a clear message to his critics after the match.
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A defiant Matt Dufty says he was fired up by the criticism he copped after last week’s disappointing display against the Panthers and has vowed we will never see that kind of performance again.
The Bulldogs fullback was restricted to just 41 metres and had four errors against the defending premiers and was called out for a perceived lack of effort at times during the loss.
But Dufty responded in style with a game-high 170 metres in Friday’s loss to the Rabbitohs and was the main reason why they started the game with their best 20-minute period of the season.
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“Last week was the kind of game I’ve never played in my career before,” Dufty said. “I was sick of getting called something I wasn’t during the week.
“I’ve played about 90 games but I’ve only played one game like that. It won’t happen again and I’ll do everything I can to not let it.”
The former Dragon sought out the ball whenever the Bulldogs got over halfway, and he also had a couple of strong carries coming out from the back.
The fact he was able to put in a performance like that says a lot about a young man who could have easily gone into his shell after what happened last week.
“The good thing about footy is you (get to bounce back). We had a five-day turnaround so we got in on Monday, did the review and after that we just focussed on Souths,” he said.
“It was good to get my head around something different and focus on the week to come. We’re professional athletes so scrutiny and pressure come with the job. I tend to perform under pressure so it’s nothing new.
“Whenever I get a touch early, I tend to get more involved so I tried to get as many carries as I could to get us on the front foot, especially on fourth tackles. I thought I did that really well, but it was the same old mistakes that hurt us in the end.”
While Dufty and his teammates got off to a flying start, they couldn’t maintain it for the entire afternoon against a South Sydney side that punished them when Jeremy Marshall-King was sent to the sin bin.
But there were plenty of promising signs and they have a lot to build on leading into next week’s must-win match against the Broncos.
“We haven’t put an 80-minute performance together all year, so it’s something we need to focus on this week,” he said.
“Adversity is part of rugby league, and I thought losing Jez was massive because we had them on the ropes. That one hurt because they ran in three tries with us down to 12. That’s not an excuse and it’s something we need to work on.”
Bulldogs inflict more pain on themselves
For 25 minutes it looked like Bulldogs fans were set for a very Good Friday. Instead, it’s going to be another long weekend for the blue and white brigade after they fell apart following a sin bin and one of the most sickening head clashes ever seen on a footy field.
The Bulldogs had jumped out to a 6-0 lead and were by far the better team, but they lost their momentum when Jeremy Marshall-King was sent to the sin bin.
According to fullback Matt Dufty, they should have had the numerical advantage instead when Cam Murray came in late to force an error out of Jake Averillo just moments before the match-turning penalty.
“We had them on the ropes, but losing Jez hurt,” Dufty said.
“Them not getting 10 in the bin for pushing Jake Averillo when they had no one behind the ball was a tough one to swallow because we probably would’ve scored that set.
“That’s a professional foul every day of the week. If we did that to Souths then we would’ve lost someone for sure.
“The ref is always right, even when he’s wrong. You learn that when you’re six so there’s no point complaining about it.”
COOK FINDS HIS FEET
The Bunnies will walk away with the two competition points after they kicked clear to win 36-16, but they have issues of their own as they looked way off the pace until Damien Cook turned the game on its head.
The nippy No.9 scored two tries in as many sets to turn a 6-0 deficit into a 12-6 lead before the Bunnies made it three tries in five minutes when Alex Johnston scored untouched in the corner after he’d already had one disallowed.
Cook then capped one of the best games of his life when he scored the first hat-trick of his NRL career when he strolled through some soft defence from a scrum. The race to be Kangaroos hooker at the World Cup just got a lot more interesting between him and Harry Grant.
“He was very important,” coach Jason Demetriou said while also praising Cody Walker, who had his first try assist of the season.
The blitz masked what had been a poor start to the afternoon. The Rabbitohs looked slow, disinterested and clunky with the ball, but the whole complexion of the contest changed when the Bulldogs were rightly reduced to 12 men.
ORIGINAL SIN
The Bulldogs started Friday’s game with plenty of aggression in defence and looked threatening in attack, albeit with limited opportunities.
Dufty brushed aside last week’s shocker with more metres than anyone else on the field, while Kyle Flanagan showed what he can do with the ball when he floated a perfect pass to set up Brent Naden for the opening try.
But they undid all the hard work with a slew of penalties before referee Gerard Sutton eventually lost patience and sent Marshall-King to the sin bin for slowing down the ruck.
“The sin-binning didn’t help, but we’ve got to show more resolve during that period,” Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett said.
“We’re not getting a lot going our way, and we need that at the moment.”
Captain Josh Jackson said he was warned by the referee in the minutes leading up to the sin bin.
“Discipline is something we’re definitely going to have to work on,” he lamented.
They barely touched the ball after that and Flanagan’s impressive sideline conversion and Matt Burton’s untouchable spiral bombs were quickly forgotten.
To their credit, the Bulldogs didn’t fold in the second half and they should have scored a second when Naden fumbled the ball into Taaffe as he tried to reel in a wonderfully-weighted chip kick by Flanagan.
They did eventually get their second try and it was a massive weight off Josh Addo-Carr’s shoulders when he raced away for his first four-pointer of the season.
BLOODY AWFUL
There have been some ugly head clashes in rugby league, but few as graphic as the one between Bulldogs teammates Chris Patolo and Josh Jackson.
With their side already reeling with Marshall-King in the bin, the two forwards clashed heads while making a tackle.
Jackson’s face was covered in blood but there was more concern for Patolo who had to be helped from Accor Stadium on a medicab.
In a positive sign, he was able to walk to the vehicle.
“He’s not great so we’ll have to look after him. Hopefully he’s okay,” Barrett said.
In further bad news for Canterbury, Braidon Burns appeared to injure his hamstring while chasing Cook as he scored his second try.
With no outside backs on the bench, the Bulldogs had to shift Burton to left centre which hurt their structure and creativity in the second half.
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Originally published as NRL 2022: South Sydney Rabbitohs defeat Canterbury Bulldogs, Matt Dufty fired-up by critics, Josh Jackson, Chris Patolo head clash
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