Jack Hetherington can restore pride and bring ‘firepower’ and ‘mongrel’ back to the Bulldogs

He doesn’t have much NRL experience but two Bulldogs greats believe Jack Hetherington can restore lost pride at the club. Here’s why.

Canterbury’s legendary enforcer Mark O’Meley and premiership winner Braith Anasta have backed firebrand recruit Jack Hetherington to bring back that famous and feared Bulldogs’ DNA and restore lost pride.

Hetherington, 24, will be starting in only his fifth NRL game and first for his new club when he runs out against the highly-rated Newcastle pack on Friday night that includes NSW Blues prop Daniel Saifiti and former top Dog David Klemmer.

While Hetherington has nowhere near the Knights props’ experience (19 of Hetherington’s 23 NRL games so far have come off the bench), that hasn’t stopped the son of former Canberra prop Brett already creating something of a tough guy reputation after previous run-ins with Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Andrew Fifita.

Anasta previously worked with Hetherington while assisting the Sydney Roosters under 20s some years back, while O’Meley developed a strong bond with Hetherington while working with the Warriors last season.

O’Meley himself was rated as one of the NRL’s all-time toughest and he loved what he saw from Hetherington.

Although O’Meley is now working with this week’s opponents Newcastle as Harold Matthews coach, he couldn’t hold back that old Bulldog pride.

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Jack Hetherington in action during a Bulldogs trial match. Picture: Getty

“We all want to leave the jumper in a better place and I think it hasn’t been in that place for a while,” O’Meley said.

“I reckon he can own that jumper for a long time and get a bit of that DNA back for the club.

“I was lucky to take it from Darren Britt and hopefully I gave the jumper the respect it deserved.

“I think Jack is that type of player who can step up.

“I think he suits that style.

“And the Dogs need him. They need his style of play.”

Hetherington certainly showed that he’s not the type to back away from any challenge when he locked horns with Waerea-Hargreaves last season.

At the time Anasta stunned many when he pointed out during Fox League commentary that Waerea-Hargreaves should be wary.

“The reason I said that was because when I retired the Roosters asked me to help the 20s out and he was in the side,” Anasta recalled.

“I could tell then he was tough.

“And a few of the young guys in the side at the time started to tell me some stories about him, that he is a guy you just don’t want to mess with.

“He goes all right on and off the field. He is a bit of a brawler.”

But Anasta said the challenge for Hetherington was to get the balance between fire and brimstone and being disciplined enough so it doesn’t cost his team.

Hetherington already has five suspensions in his short career after getting in trouble again last season when he landed a nasty high shot that heavily concussed Marty Taupau.

Hetherington is ready to lead the Bulldogs. Picture: Getty

“He is an enforcer and can be an even bigger one,” Anasta said.

“But the challenge for those guys, like the Mark O’Meley’s, is finding the balance of being aggressive but using that aggression as a positive impact for your side.

“And not come up with those silly, crazy moments that can cost you a few matches.

“He has done his apprenticeship.

“But this is his opportunity.

“We all know how good he is.

“But he has to find that balance.

“I think it is the perfect club for him because the Bulldogs just love that tough, tenacious, no-holds-barred brawling Bulldogs pack.

“The Bulldogs jersey is going to suit him and they need him because that is kind of what they have lacked.

“That punch and that aggression and that firepower and that mongrel, which really was the DNA of the Bulldogs over a long time.

“Even when I was there our pack was phenomenal and before I got there and even just after I left.

“But that has slowly dwindled away and they have kind of lost their DNA a bit.

“But he is the perfect guy to come back and really fire them up and get them back to where they were back in the glory days.”