7th Tackle: Why Turvey deserted the Bulldogs
The finish to the thriller between Canterbury and Newcastle wasn’t the only slice of drama at Belmore on Sunday evening.
There was also plenty of pantomime high up in the grandstand, where Bulldogs powerbrokers watched aghast at what should have been the club’s most embarrassing defeat in years.
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In fact, some simply refused to risk witnessing it. Around 10 minutes into the second half, when Newcastle grabbed the lead, arguably the greatest Bulldog of them all – Steve Mortimer – left the ground.
“I just couldn’t keep watching,” he told us. “It was upsetting me too much.”
The scoreboard wasn’t the source of Mortimer’s pain. Instead, it was the team’s inability to post points. For one of the most gifted playmakers of his generation, it was too much to bear.
“We just didn’t create anything on their try line,” Mortimer said. “There was no set plays, no moves to create space on the outside.”
Mortimer left so early that he arrived home in time to watch the final five minutes from his lounge room.
“It was great they got the win, and great for Josh Reynolds to leave Belmore a winner,” Mortimer said. “I was very happy for him. But there are a lot of issues that the final scoreboard hid.”
Mortimer stood down from the club’s board late last year after a public critique of coach Des Hasler.
Hasler cannot defend the team’s attack – the worst in the NRL. But he is satisfied with its defence, which ranks seventh. What’s more, the Bulldogs have conceded more tries from kicks than any other team, meaning their line is particularly difficult to breach.
Hasler believes just one more try per game would make all the difference. As demonstrated in the opening 20 minutes of Sunday’s game, the Bulldogs are creating enough chances. They just aren’t making the right choices to capitalise.