Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs held their nerve to defeat Wyong Roos 29-22 in an arm wrestle at Morry Breen Oval.
Both teams came out of the blocks slowly with neither side striking early on. The home side took the early advantage with Yileen Gordon scoring from a nicely weighted kick.
Wyong scored their second try shortly after when hooker Mitch Williams dashed from dummy half to score a strong try next to the posts.
It took awhile but the Bulldogs to found their rhythm to cross for their first try of the afternoon thanks to a diving Tautalatasi Tasi in the corner after 24 minutes of play.
The Bulldogs dominated the rest of the first half with quick play the balls and speed around the ruck hurting Wyong. The blue and whites soon had their second try when Corey Thompson finished off some good lead up work to score under the posts.
From the restart the Bulldogs surged up field again and hit the lead with Jaline Graham finishing off a great try. Going into the break 16-12 in front was a great turnaround for the visitors considering their opening 20 minutes.
The second half began similarly to the first with the Bulldogs starting sluggish, as the Roos reclaimed the lead with a great team try, started by Williams and finished by Leivaha Pulu. Tyler Cornish converted the try to give the Roos a 18-16 lead.
The Roos then extended their lead when a lucky bounce fell into the waiting arms of Yileen Gordon to score his second.
Although Wyong had the lead, they never looked comfortable and the game swung back in favour of the Bulldogs when Damien Cook produced a 40/20 kick. From the next set, Levi Dodd crashed over and converted his own try to lock it up at 22-all.
Canterbury were coming home strong but missed an early opportunity to take a shot at field goal. However, five-eighth Matt Frawley wouldn’t be denied as he calmly slotted the pressure field goal to give the Bulldogs the lead 23-22.
There was still enough time for the Roos to strike back but Adam Elliot powered the Bulldogs deep into Roos territory with Jaline Graham icing the win with his second try.
Wyong now sit in a four-way deadlock at the top of the table, while the Bulldogs sit in sixth place and four points out of the top four.
Canterbury Bulldogs 29 (Jaline Graham 2, Levi Dodd, Corey Thompson & Tautalatasi Tasi tries; Levi Dodd 4 goals; Matt Frawley 1 field goal) defeated Wyong Roos 22 (Yileen Gordon 2, Mitch Williams & Leivaha Puli tries; Tyler Cornish 3 goals) at Morry Breen Oval
