Match Details
Match Date	27th Mar, 2015
Opponent	Wests Tigers
Result	Win 25-24
Coach	Des Hasler
Captain	James Graham
Venue	Homebush (ANZ Stadium)
Crowd	20,121
Referee	Ashley Klein Adam Gee

A dramatic 45-metre golden point field goal by Bulldogs five-eighth Moses Mbye left the young Wests Tigers shattered after they coughed up an 18-point second half lead.

The Bulldogs showed true grit to bounce back from a 24-6 deficit to win 25-24 in the 84th minute. Luke Brooks and James Tedesco starred in the youngest-ever Tigers side, but it was the Bulldogs who scored three tries in the final 21 minutes to clinch a come-from-behind win. Canterbury coach Des Hasler praised Mbye for his steady nerves under pressure. ‘‘He is is more than cool and calm. He is a nice kid. He is still developing. He knew exactly what to do. That’s their call. They went with it. He has been playing pretty confidently. He is that kind of kid. Pretty humble with the way he conducts himself,’’ he said.

It was a game where Josh Morris brushed the monkey off his back when he ended his one-year try-scoring drought for the try that would send the match into golden point.

Winger Curtis Rona scored a double for the Bulldogs while Tedesco scored twice for the Tigers. Brooks had two shots at field goal and looked certain to wrap up the game for the Tigers but missed a regulation shot from 15 metres out, which would have given them an unbeatable seven point lead late in the contest.

The Bulldogs then marched up the field for Morris to score. Bulldogs halfback Trent Hodkinson had his own attempt at a one pointer in golden point, but missed before lining up again. With pressure on, Hodkinson pushed a desperate pass to Mbye who kicked the winner.

The Tigers had raced in three tries in the opening 16 minutes of the second half in front of 20,121 people at ANZ Stadium. Both sides were missing a stack of players with the Tigers without Aaron Woods and Dene Halatau while the Bulldogs lost Brett Morris in the warm up and Tim Lafai was a late scratching. The Bulldogs’ problems were further compounded when fill-in fullback Sam Perrett left the field because of a concussion.

Confusion surrounded the interchange of Perrett’s departure with Bulldogs officials left in a heated exchange with sideline officials as they stalled in replacing Perrett. With Perrett in the dressing sheds and Canterbury left with 12 men, the Tigers scored their first second-half try. ‘‘We did the right procedure but no one knew [he was off],’’ Hasler said. ‘‘It caught us all a bit by surprise.’’

When Perrett returned, the Bulldogs crawled their way back into the game.

Wests Tigers coach Jason Taylor said his side ‘‘improved immensely on what we came up with last week’’, particularly in attack. ‘‘But we ran out of a bit of steam towards the end and we allowed the opposition to come home on top of us. That’s disappointing. It was a really strong effort on the back of playing the premiers five days ago. I wanted us to be a team that was hard to beat. The Bulldogs had to play some great footy to beat us.’’

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

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