Bulldogs to target Luciano Leilua as Dragons struggle to reignite finals hopes
CANTERBURY have had some good times against St George Illawarra in recent seasons but that stopped this year. If the Bulldogs are to regain their dominance on Sunday, they need to stop one man.
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HE is the St George local junior standing in the way of Canterbury rectifying their dominance over archrivals the Dragons.
The Bulldogs had enjoyed a six-game winning streak against the Red V until they stumbled in round 14 this year, going doing 18-16 at ANZ Stadium.
But to reimpose their authority over their neighbouring nemesis they need to stop one man, Luciano Leilua.
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The boom forward was a standout last week against the Tigers scoring a try, making seven tackle busts, one linebreak and a linebreak assist.
Bulldogs backrower Adam Elliott is expecting much the same from Leilua on Sunday at Kogarah Oval and they have been doing their homework on the 113kg wrecking ball.
“I’ve seen a few of his clips from last week. He played great against the Tigers and was probably the difference for them in that game,” he said.
“He’s going to be danger for us coming off that bench, he’ll be playing less minutes and be looking to make a bit more of an impact.”
Skipper Josh Jackson has the unenviable job on Sunday of trying to halt Leilua’s influence on the result.
“It’s a pretty good match-up. He’s a well marked man, Jacko, because he’s our captain and been one of our best players,” Elliott said.
“Anyone who is going to come up against him is going to be at the top of his game. We always trust him to do his job”
But Rhyse Martin revealed coach Dean Pay’s game plan to stopping the Hurstville United junior involved wearing him down in a bid to blunt his impact.
“He’s ball carrying is strong and we have to take the energy out of him when we’ve got the ball and get at him and make him make a few tackles,” he said.
“He’s definitely dangerous and someone to keep an eye on. I think Jacko has a good contest there, he’s tough and won’t give up on him.”
Veteran Bulldogs forward Aiden Tolman says that while the Dragons possessed a classy backline, the battle upfront would ultimately determine the outcome on Sunday afternoon.
“For us in the middle that’s where the job needs to be done first and we are going to have to stop their go forward and their power through the middle as well as their punch,” he said.
“If we can control them then I’m sure on the back of that we can score some points.”
But scoring points hasn’t come easy for Pay’s men this year, they have the worst conversion rate inside the red zone in the competition.
According to Fox Sports Lab when inside their opponents’ 20, it takes 16 tackles to score a try.
Elliott conceded his side lacked polish and that had been their biggest downfall this year.
“I feel like that games we have lost, we have lost because of execution. We haven’t lost a game because of effort,” he said
“The only game we got blown off the park was against Titans. Every game we have turned up we’ve been in.
“Effort is our foundation, it’s our base and if we can get the things on top of that going right then we can play some really good footy.”
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