Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Position: 5th
Record: LWWWLLWLLLWWLWWLWLLLWWWWWL
Top pointscorer: Trent Hodkinson
Top tryscorer: Curtis Rona
The Bulldogs’ season arrived with high expectations after an appearance in the 2014 grand final. Despite starting the season with a loss, the team showed positive signs for a successful year with a number of early wins. The season then turned sour after a controversial loss to South Sydney on Good Friday, which saw the suspension of captain James Graham and Origin star David Klemmer. From then on the club went through a rough patch with suspension and injury until a visit to Belmore Sports Ground put them back on track. Their run to the finals seemed good, however the loss of Trent Hodkinson hit the team hard and arguably played a role in their season ending loss to the Roosters.
The round 16 Back to Belmore game against Melbourne could be considered their best win of the season. The confidence that the Bulldogs took into the semi finals last season looked to have come back.
After losing to the Rabbitohs in round 5 off a controversial refereeing decision the team suffered a psychological blow and entered a slump that took some time to get out of.
Josh Morris stood out as the most consistent player this season. He has been known to have strong defence, however the 2015 season saw his attack excel to the next level.
The Dogs are sad to see two of their players venture to the UK, Frank Pritchard, a club leader, will head to Hull FC and consistent hard worker Corey Thompson will join Widnes Vikings. They will also bid farewell to a key playmaker in their 2014 grand final campaign, Trent Hodkinson who is headed to the Newcastle Knights.
There have been no big name recruits for the 2016 season, however they have signed Kiwi fullback Bradley Abbey until 2018 and Intrust Super Cup backrower Graham Clark for one season.
The 2016 team will need to work on consistency if they want to secure a spot in the top eight come September. With the loss of Hodkinson, Moses Mbye and Josh Reynolds need to be able to gel together to create a strong halves combination. Hodkinsons loss will also mean the club will need to find a permanent kicker as we saw late this season after he was ruled out with an injury that there is currently no one ready to take on that role.
