It was a clinical display of attacking football, and the Canterbury Bulldogs just could not match it, in any shape or form – with the Manly Sea Eagles running away with the game, by a resounding margin.
It is not the first time that the Bulldogs have struggled against the top teams in the NRL, and it has to send a message to coach Kevin Moore, that something has to be done about it, before their season is well and truly over.
It was evident that fans are fed up with the performances, as many Bulldogs fans left the stadium when their team trailed 32-0 against the Sea Eagles, after Jamie Lyon crossed.
For Manly, it was their young half in Daly Cherry-Evans that stepped ups, setting up two tries, and scoring one of his own.
Whether or not the suspended Trent Hodkinson would have made a difference for the Bulldogs is anyones guess, but for the Bulldogs, it was a display that they would much rather forget, and fast.
The game was regarded as coach Kevin Moore as the Dogs worst of the season, just after they thought that the corner was turned, following their win over the Gold Coast Titans.
“Yeah, by far,” Moore said when asked if this was a new low for 2011.
“I was disappointed with the game a couple of weeks ago against Canberra but I think aside from that we have been pretty consistent.
“Tonight I didn’t see it coming … it just wasn’t good at all.
“We got totally dominated by a side that played very well and we were terrible”.
Despite not wanting to get over-exuberant about the convincing margin of their win, Hasler was more than pleased with his sides performance.
“A performance like that tonight, you’ve just really got to take the positives out of it,” Hasler said.
“You’ve got to be happy with 38 points. What was important was we came off last week’s win and just came here tonight and (we were) really competent in our display.”
Dally M Points
3 Daly Cherry-Evans
2 Jamie Lyon
1 Anthony Watmough