The Daily Telegraph’s David Riccio has crticised the Bulldogs’ opening round performance against the Manly Sea Eagles on Saturday and likened their efforts to a “schoolboy” team.
The Bulldogs entered the 2023 season with an incredible amount of promise and hype but suffered the worst defeat of Round 1, losing 31-6 to Manly at Brookvale Oval.
Riccio was incredibly scathing of the Bulldogs’ execution and said that for all the talent in the team, the Bulldogs were the biggest disappointment across the opening weekend.
“There was a lot of excitement and hype around the transformation of the Bulldogs,” Riccio said on SEN 1170 Breakfast.
“It certainly was a reality check. They were woeful in the most schoolboy of errors.
“It was almost a case of stage fright; kicks out on the full, Viliame Kikau kicking on the fifth tackle, they looked short of a run and I felt like that was their trial match.
“They were blowing their cobwebs out and everything was off kilter.
“I’d like to have another look at them because it was out of character for so many individuals.
“I have to assess after this weekend.”
SEN’s Greg Alexander was shocked with the poor showing from Bulldogs five-eighth Matt Burton who made a number of errors including gifting a woeful intercept to Daly Cherry-Evans for his third try of the afternoon.
Alexander said that Burton’s performance was reflective of the Bulldogs’ team as a whole.
“If Cherry-Evans was a nine out of ten, Matt Burton gets a two out of ten,” Alexander said on SEN 1170 Breakfast.
“Matt was floundering.
“Why did Viliame get the ball? Why did Viliame have the ball on play five? That’s the bigger question.”
The Bulldogs face another tough challenge in Round 2 when they take on the Melbourne Storm at AAMI Park on March 11.
