NRL 2021: Sir Steve to help Trent Barrett’s battling Bulldogs’ bid to topple the Dragons

Languishing at the bottom of the ladder, the arrival of an All Blacks legend could not come at a better time for the Bulldogs.

Former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen is on deck with the Canterbury Bulldogs. Credit: Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/p/CP-HGlhFyCl/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

He will be Baz’s shadow, a giant All Black silhouette projecting across Canterbury’s bid to upset St George Illawarra on the holiday Monday.

Arise Sir Steve Hansen — now drag the struggling Canterbury Bulldogs with you.

In Australia as Canterbury’s high performance consultant, Hansen, the knighted former All Black coach, will tail and assist Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett for the Dragons game at Stadium Australia.

From the dressing room, to coaching box to sidelines, Hansen will be right alongside Barrett. Hansen also attended a Bulldogs open training session, watched by around 100 fans, on Friday.

It is all part of a packed 11-day trip for Hansen, who will hold key meetings with Canterbury’s coaching staff, board members, administration, senior playing group and the club’s emerging stars.

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Hansen, 62, will also be beside Barrett for Canterbury’s match against Parramatta next Sunday at Bankwest Stadium before returning to New Zealand.

The Bulldogs will meet Hansen again when playing New Zealand in a return match to Auckland in round 22, the Warriors first home game in 18 months.

While in Australia on his current visit, Hansen will hold a one-hour meeting with administration staff discussing workplace leadership and culture. He will also dine with the Bulldogs board — and partners — this week.

Former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen is on deck with the Canterbury Bulldogs. Credit: Bulldogs Instagram.

While he joined Canterbury last October, Hansen has been unable to travel to Australia due to Covid. He held meetings with Barrett and Bulldogs management through Zoom.

“You can’t get everything out of Steve Hansen in 11 days, “said Bulldogs chief executive Aaron Warburton.

“It’s about him having a presence around the place and providing us with some feedback and leadership for Trent and our administrative staff.

“It’s not about him coming over on a fix-it-all mission. It’s not that in any sense. This is something we wanted to do a long time ago but Covid and travel restrictions prohibited that. However this was key that we got him here as soon as possible.

“The position we are as a club, and the people we need to bring around us, and draw experience from, at a time when we’re building, we are sticking to our processes and not taking shortcuts.

The Canterbury Bulldogs need all the help they can get. Picture: Getty Images

“Steve has ample experience through his time at the All Blacks and Crusaders to assist us at this time.”

Between 2012 and 2019, Hansen, unbelievably, won 93 from 107 Tests as All Black coach for a success rate of 87 per cent success.

“It’s good to see Steve around giving a few opinions on how we are doing some of the things here,” Barrett said.

“He will do a review over the week and let us know his thoughts on some things. Steve brings a lot of experience and it’s good to finally get him out here.

“We speak weekly, sometimes a couple of times a week. He is really good, he’s keen on the footy and he’s invested in helping this club, which is terrific.

“We have some scheduled meetings next week with our leadership group and our emerging leaders while our admin and board will spend some time with him as well.

Trent Barrett will have former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen helping him out for the Dragons clash. Picture: Getty Images

“There is a lot of knowledge there that we want to tap into and he has been really forthcoming with everything so far. We’ve got him out here for a couple of weeks.”

The Dragons sit in eighth position going into the Monday game with Canterbury last having just won one of 12 games.

Canterbury’s Jeremy Marshall-King will return from a foot injury as will Dallin Watene-Zelezniak. Dragons enforcer Tariq Sims is expected to start after playing Wednesday night’s State of Origin game.

“We know they’re a good side, they throw the ball around and play with a bit of width with their two halves — (Corey) Norman and Benny Hunt. (Matt) Dufty has also been playing well for them at fullback,” Barrett said.

“Our forwards have a big job to do but, for us, it’s about getting our own backyard in order and making sure we keep improving through the year.”

St George Illawarra has won four of their past five games against the Bulldogs, whose only victory this season came with a round seven win over Cronulla.