Bulldogs blow away Dragons with second half onslaught

The Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs have returned to the NRL’s top eight with a dominant 44-12 win over the St George Illawarra Dragons on Thursday night at Accor Stadium.

Coming into this match, the Dragons hadn’t scored a win at Accor Stadium in over five years and the bookmakers didn’t like their odds of ending that run against the Bulldogs.

Despite the poor record at Olympic Park, the visitors started off in a very positive manner with Moses Suli capitalising close to the line to open the scoring in the 12th minute.

Origin hopefuls Matt Burton, Zac Lomax and Josh Addo-Carr began to impose their influence on the game in the first half and it was the Bulldogs’ half who impressed the most.

Chasing a fast-paced kick, Burton burned the oncoming Dragons’ defenders to level the score for the Bulldogs moments later.

It was a quiet middle sector of the first half with both sides engaging in an arm wrestle in the middle of the park.

With the game level, both sides were desperate to capture the lead and it was the Dragons that did so as Jacob Liddle crashed over from dummy half.

The Dragons looked the more likelier to score in the later stages of the first half but a brutal injury blow to Jack Bird tipped the tide into the hosts’ favour.

Bird instantly went down in agonising pain and was clutching at his ankle, leaving Dragons’ fans thinking the worst.

Shane Flanagan was forced into a backline re-shuffle which saw Tom Eisenhuth replace Bird in the centres.

The move proved to be a costly one as the Bulldogs went on a scoring frenzy and ran away with the result.

A surprising double from Jaeman Salmon had the Bulldogs into a convincing lead shortly before Jacob Kiraz lept over for the Bulldogs.

The night went from bad to worse as Zac Lomax was sent to the sin bin for impeding Bronson Xerri’s clear try-scoring chance, leading to even more points.

Jacob Preston, Crichton and Burton all crossed with the Dragons down a man, whilst Kiraz’s effort in the dying stages put the Bulldogs’ total into the 40s.

The Bulldogs walked away with a 44-12 win but could be in for a difficult month of football with a handful of their stars expected to be named in the NSW Blues side for Game I of State of Origin.