Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, The last decade: Success, Scandals and Rebuilding, On and Off the Field

For this entry, I have a guest blogger that is writing about the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs rugby league club who have had some up and downs. This was written just before the departure of Jamal Idris to the Gold Coast for 2012.

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, The last decade: Success, Scandals and Rebuilding, On and Off the Field

Written by Andrew Hendrie

The Bulldogs have never been too far away from the headlines, whether for the right or wrong reasons or on the field or off it. This article highlights the last 10 years at the club and the recent attempts to rebuild and instil the culture that once had Canterbury labelled the "Family Club".

The Dogs ended 2000 poorly, with numerous of the clubs all time greats on their last legs including Hetherington, Stuart and Halligan, and it was time to bring in some fresh faces to mount a new challenge on the premiership in 2001. Vagana, Howland, Trindall and one of the clubs best buys the General Luke Patten were brought in to add some much needed spark and speed in the backline. Hazem "El Magic" Masri took over goal kicking responsibilities from the great Halligan and it's fair to say he did alright in the end. South Sydney junior Braith Anasta also came into the halves and played one of his best seasons in the NRL to be crowned Rookie of the Year. These changes worked wonders for the side and this was emphasised with a 2nd place finish in the competition proper. However the Dogs faltered in the finals series, losing a heartbreaker to the Dragons 23-22 and then proceeded to get destroyed by the Sharks 52-10 to bow out of the competition. The year as a whole however, was a step in the right direction and high hopes were held for the club in 2002.

In what is a normality in any sport, the club said goodbye to two legends this year with captain Darren Britt and the exciting Craig Polla-Mounter calling it quits ahead of the 2002 season. Britt was a superb forward back in his day, with a no nonsense attitude both on and off the field and "Polla" will be best remembered for his role in that amazing victory against Parramatta in 1998. Let's go off topic for a little while and Eels fans will hate me for this.



And we're back. Steve Price was appointed captain in 2002 and Mark "Shrek" O' Meley was recruited to add even more strength to an already fearsome forward pack. It was set to be one of the clubs most successful seasons. The Dogs had won 17 consecutive matches and were 3 weeks away from claiming the minor premiership. But then tragedy occurred for the club. In the wake of the now infamous salary cap scandal, the Bulldogs were stripped of all their 37 competition points and relegated to the bottom of the table and as a result, picked up the wooden spoon. The club were fined $500,000 for the breach which was by more than $1 million. CEO David Gallop said at the time ""This is a bitter day for rugby league, indeed the game has had its heart broken in an unexpected and tragic way." The fallout sparked a massive clean out of the club's board with chairman Gary Mcintyre and chief executive Bob Hagan both resigning days after the announcement and interim chief Garry Hughes followed their lead a couple of days later. Club legend Steve Mortimer was brought in and in his first act, he decided to stand down the entire board. It was clear that the club sought a new beginning in the aftermath of this terrible scandal and that the club now had to start from scratch again to rebuild it's good name and legacy it had worked so hard to obtain over their rich and successful history.

Mortimer worked hard during the off season to instil belief and fight back into the clubs players, fans and sponsors and to try and shed the "cheats" tag the club had received in the last year. In a show of commitment to the club, several players decided to take pay cuts in order for the same group of players to stick together and to try and win a premiership that was cruelly taken away from them last year. This act of "mateship" worked and the Dogs fought back with true heart and intensity and finished 3rd in the regular season behind the Panthers and fierce rivals the Roosters. Canterbury lost their opening finals match 48-22 to 2002 grand finalists the Warriors but bounced back strongly the next week against Melbourne, with a convincing 30-0 win. The preliminary final saw the Dogs go down to the Roosters 28-18 but it was an excellent season for the club and one that thankfully saw attention shift to their on field performances rather than the off field dramas.

2004 was a year that started off with the club yet again surrounded in unwanted controversy but ended with celebration and joy. Before a ball had been kicked, the club again were in trouble with the law. In a pre season trip to Coffs Harbour in February, a young woman accused six Bulldogs first grade players of sexually assaulting her. Due to insufficient evidence, no charges were lade against the players in question but these fresh allegations again took its toll on the club with its legacy tarnished once again and the club legend Mortimer resigning as chief executive. All that hard work done the previous year all for nothing. The media began to speculate who the players in question were and the culture the Canterbury club had been transformed into. The once proud "family club" had turned into a club of binge drinking and partying. This was what the media reported anyway, but tell me a NRL club that isn't.

Despite the off field drama, the Dogs had one of their best seasons on the field this year and finished the year as champions, defeating arch rivals the Sydney Roosters in the grand final. It showed the character of the club and the never say die attitude and to beat the Chooks in the final was the icing on the cake for them. The Bulldogs showed excellent fight in the 2nd half, coming from 13-6 down at half time to win 16-13 and keep the latte lovers scoreless in the 2nd half.

Bobcat Ryan made a final second tackle on a runaway Mick Crocker to end the game and deliver the Dogs their first premiership since 1995.Willie Mason put away his off field issues to win the Clive Churchill medal and the only dampener on the game was that captain Steve Price had to miss the final due to a groin injury. Shifty Sherwin was on fire that year and his contract was boosted significantly to keep him at the club. His partnership with El Magic was particularly effective that year with Shifty putting through the kick and Hazem drifting in mid field to score the try.

From 2005 to 2008, the club again saw their fair share of off field scrutiny, with several individual players bringing the club into disrepute yet again. There were mixed results on the field as well. The Dogs were unable to back up their successful campaign from the previous year, finishing 12th in the ladder. This was mainly due to a substantial amount of injuries at the club and perhaps still a bit of partying was happening from last year. 2006 and 2007 saw the typical Bulldogs fight back and they finished 3rd and 6th respectively these seasons. They were one win away from the grand final again in 2006 but got overpowered and outmuscled in the 2nd half of their preliminary final encounter against Broncos, who were no doubt inspired by the impending retirement of Shane Webcke.

After two consecutive finals campaigns, 2008 held high hopes for the Dogs once again to compete for the premiership. This was far from the case. Willie Mason, Braith Anasta and Nate Myles all had left the club to join the Chooks and lets just say most people involved with the club were happy to see 2 out of those 3 players leave. Sherwin, after not playing his best footy after the 2004 grand final left for England as well. Injuries and lack of creativity in the halves meant the Bulldogs suffered their worst season since the dreaded salary cap year of 2002 and before that, 1964. More controversy arising during this season was the sudden departure of superstar forward Sonny Bill Williams.

"Money Bill" left the club mid season without telling a single soul to take up a lucrative deal to play rugby union in France and yes bobcat Ryan and General Patten wanted to teach him a lesson. Things were getting too hard for Money Bill at the Bulldogs so he took the easy way out and joined up with Mundine and Khoder Nasser and fled the country. Danny Weidler did his best to make Money Bill look like the victim but failed horribly it must be said. This, coupled with some horrible performances on the field, made 2008 one of the clubs most disappointing seasons in its long history.

The club board was also in shambles during the 2008 season with many believing that CEO Malcom Noad, who took over form Mortimer in 2004, was leading the club in the wrong direction and not dishing out severe enough punishments for player mishaps. Noad eventually resigned and the club appointed Todd Greenberg as new chief and he remains at the head of the club to this day.

It was clear a major overhaul was needed at the club before the 2009 season. It began with the induction of Greenberg who is an excellent person to have running the club and doesn’t take any nonsense from anyone. He is also a great family man and made great initiatives to instil those values back into the club's culture. Kevin "Bullfrog" Moore was also signed to coach the club this year to replace Steve Folkes. Moore is a Bulldogs man through and through and was an excellent choice to coach the club in this rebuilding era. The club also recruited some very good footballers in Brett "intercept" Kimmorley, Michael "the menace" Ennis, Greg Eastwood, Josh Morris, Ben Hannant and David Stagg. Greenberg signed these players not only because they were great players but because they were also good human beings as well, which was just as important criteria for a signing for Greenberg. Kimmorley, Ennis, Stagg and Hannant all had young families of their own and Josh is very close with his twin brother Brett. Add El Masri, Ryan and Patten in there and you have a fine bunch of footballers and people.

This was the formula for success for Greenberg and it worked a treat during this season. The Dogs played an entertaining style of attacking football not seen since the 2004 victory and came back from wooden spooners the previous year to finish the year in 2nd position and may have been minor premiers if Soward wasn't a diver and the video ref wasn't Stevie Wonder. Also the two competition points deducted for an interchange breach didn't help either. In the first week of the finals the Bulldogs convincingly beat Newcastle 26-12 to earn the week off. In a blockbuster preliminary final against rivals Parramatta, the Dogs went down 22-12. It was one of the games of the year and played in front of a full house of 74,549 people. The Bulldogs were brave but Hayne, Moi Moi and Daniel Mortimer were too good on the night. It also marked the end of the career for Hazem el Masri who will always be remembered for being one of the great club men and one of the best goal kickers of all time. Also a champion off the field, El Magic was a true Bulldogs legend. It should be noted in round 1 of this year Hazem set the record for most points of all time, going past the great Joey Johns.

After a great 2009 season, great expectations were held for the club to continue improving in 2010. However this was not the case. Many of the players looked tired and as a result the Dog's attack suffered and were unable to create the opportunities they did last year. Noddy Kimmorley tried hard as usual but it just wouldn't click for him and the forwards lacked spark and speed. Losing Eastwood to England was a massive blow as he is one of the most skillful forwards out there and very effective in breaking tackles. It wasn't like the Bulldogs were getting blown away like in 2008, it was more that they just didn't have that flair and X factor to carry them to the next level, which naturally happens when players get older. Canterbury ended up finishing 13th in the regular season, it was just one of those years.

Which brings us to the present day, 5 weeks into the competition. The club recruited a number of players again during the off season, including a brand new halves pairing of Kris Keating and Trent Hodkinson. These two grew up playing with and against each other out in Cabramatta so they know each other very well. Big Frank Pritchard has signed from Penrith and is a devastating ball runner when he is in the mood. The Dogs also capitalised on the Melbourne Storm salary cap situation and poached young prop Aiden Tolman who is already looking like a state of origin player. Ben Barba is also looking the goods at fullback this year. Ryan Tandy's situation with the alleged betting scam has brought the club unwanted headlines again and Greenburg and the board acted swiftly, axing Tandy from the club a few weeks ago. On the field, the Dogs started well with 3 wins on the trot but have since lost their last two games to Melbourne and the Dragons, the two form teams of the competition at the moment.

Things are looking good again for the Canterbury rugby league club. Under Greenberg they have reinstalled the family values and culture of the club and they have recruited a talented roster of great footballers and people who will hope to soon bring success and a premiership back to the club.