Bulldogs dominate in Belmore but sweat on Burton, Kikau injuries

A valiant Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have defeated a poor Gold Coast Titans side 40-24, but walk away with serious injury concerns to Matt Burton and Viliame Kikau.

The Bulldogs raced out to a 22-0 lead after 20 minutes in front of a passionate, 17,892-strong Belmore crowd; a mix of strong defence, attacking class, and poor Titans’ discipline contributing to the early blowout.

The Titans would stem the bleeding and wrestle their way back into the clash late in the first half, but the 22-point buffer put the result out of reach from the Titans from the very beginning.

The Bulldogs, however, will be most concerned for Matt Burton who only played 27 minutes before succumbing to a suspected MCL injury, while Viliame Kikau was assisted off late in the match, also with an MCL injury.

It only took a minute for the packed Belmore crowd to be adorned with a try, with Marcelo Montoya crashing over the line in the Bulldogs’ first set. A slick left side shift put Montoya up against the much smaller Keano Kini, but it was a charge down from Reed Mahoney that gave the Dogs the field position they needed to strike first.

Silly errors in their own half hampered any momentum the Gold Coast could hope to gain, with the Bulldogs capitalising through Jaemon Salmon in the 10th minute, who dummied through the line to score a relatively easy try.

The early onslaught continued as Viliame Kikau lined up halfback Jayden Campbell. This provided the space for Matt Burton to burst into the back field, finding Reed Mahoney who scored the Bulldogs’ third try in 14 minutes.

The day went from bad to worse for Des Hasler’s men with Josh Curran scoring an early contender for the softest try of the season. Curran was carried to the line by Titans’ defenders from a set start, before simply falling down for a try. Burton’s conversion meant it was 22-0 after 19 minutes for the home team.

However, the Bulldogs’ dream start to the match was soured when Matt Burton left the field with an MCL injury.

Matt Burton’s suspected MCL injury in the 27th minute allowed the Titans to attack a re-arranged right-hand side for the Bulldogs as the Titans scored their first try of the season through Alofiana Khan-Pereira, who scored his 45th try in his 45th game.

Khan-Pereira made it 46 tries with two minutes remaining in the half and two perfect conversions from the corner for Jayden Campbell meant the Gold Coast went into half-time only down 22-12; a far better result than the 22-0 scoreline after 20 minutes was suggesting.

Just as the Titans looked to be pulling the game back, the Bulldogs snuffed any sense of a comeback as the Bulldogs capitalised on a Titans error, scoring within the first minute of the second half. Khan-Pereira dropped a simple bomb right into the hands of Harry Hayes, who offloaded for Jacob Preston to cross under the posts.

Not to be left out, Kurt Mann was next to join the try-scorers list, lumping further pain on the Titans with another very soft try. In his first game since injuring his ACL at this very ground almost a year ago exactly, skipper Tino Fa’asuamaleaui made a poor goal line read, shooting out of the line, and allowing Mann to split the gap and crash over under the sticks.

However, the skipper redeemed himself in the 52nd minute, muscling his way over the line before Jojo Fifita finished off a full-field effort from Keano Kini 10 minutes later to have the Titans 10 points down with 15 minutes remaining.

As the Titans’ comeback loomed, the Bulldogs suffered another key injury with six minutes remaining, as Viliame Kikau hobbled off with a knee injury, leaving the home side with 15 men to finish out the match.

Connor Tracey scored the last try of the night, capitalising off a Titans’ error in what had been the story of the day. Alofiana Khan-Pereira attempted a chip and chase but missed the ball, allowing Blake Wilson to scoop up a loose ball and race away, finding Tracey back on the inside for a 40-24 scoreline.

Titans’ superstar David Fifita only played the final 32 minutes of the game; a choice by Des Hasler that will be examined ahead of the club’s next game against the Titans, while Drew Hutchison or Bailey Hayward could be the next-man-up to replace Matt Burton when the Bulldogs take on the struggling Parramatta Eels.