Match Details
Match Date	2nd Sep, 2016
Opponent	South Sydney
Result	Loss 10-28
Coach	Des Hasler
Captain	James Graham
Venue	Homebush (ANZ Stadium)
Crowd	14,731
Referee	Ashley Klein Gavin Badger

Bulldogs skipper James Graham was placed on report for lashing out at his English teammate and longtime adversary Sam Burgess as Canterbury’s late-season spiral continued on Friday night.

Minutes after Burgess had rifled out of the line in an attempt to lay a big shot on him, the Bulldogs firebrand appeared to strike out with his left boot at the former Clive Churchill Medal winner in an ugly aftermath to a second-half tackle.

Burgess had launched himself at the near stationary Bulldogs skipper being held up in a tackle by two other Rabbitohs defenders – reviving memories of last week’s Ryan James ‘‘prowler’’ tackle on Panthers prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard.

Campbell-Gillard, who suffered a season-ending broken back, was only discharged from a Gold Coast hospital on Friday.

Graham kicked his left boot in the direction of Burgess after the tackle, but didn’t make contact. It didn’t stop referee Ashley Klein putting Graham on report, with the match review committee to decide on Saturday whether the 30-yearold will face a charge that could rule him out of next weekend’s elimination final – destined to be against western Sydney rivals Penrith.

‘‘Obviously it’s just on report so I don’t know,’’ Graham said after the game. ‘‘We’ll just wait and see, but there wasn’t any contact made. It’s not ideal. Let’s not get into [the Burgess tackle]. We’ll see what happens and deal with the situation.’’

One of his opponents at ANZ Stadium, South Sydney prop Nathan Brown, escaped sanction for stomping on the groin of Agnatius Paasi while carrying the ball earlier this year, which will at least give Bulldogs fans cause for optimism.

Having launched a string of verbal volleys and pointed angrily at Burgess after the earlier incident, not far from the same patch of turf where Graham busted his foe’s cheekbone on the first tackle of the memorable 2014 grand final, Graham’s temper finally snapped. And his response to lash out at Burgess happened only metres away from his blow-up at referee Gerard Sutton during last year’s ‘‘Bad Friday’’ clash between the sides.

It was hardly surprising given his incredible pre-game dressing room rev-up of teammates before the final match of the regular season – and captured by Channel Nine cameras.

Burgess and fellow English international Joe Burgess scored the Rabbitohs’ two first-half tries, condemning the Bulldogs to a third straight defeat going into the finals. Bulldogs lock David Klemmer is also likely to come under the microscope after an apparent shoulder charge.

To honour Sam Perrett, who is retiring to become a property developer, bright yellow hard hats were being shopped everywhere on the night. The retiring Perrett’s Bulldogs teammates would have done well to grab a few on the way out in preparation for Des Hasler’s video review this week.

And in reality, the House That Des Built is in need of a renovation. And fast. Whatever patch-up job he is trying at the moment isn’t working. Anything other than a major reconstruction is in order if they are to threaten in the finals.

Unlike their conquerors South Sydney, the Bulldogs had everything to play for. But they have been alarmingly un-Hasler like for this time of year. Staggering rather than surging into September, only one of Hasler’s most zany experiments can land Canterbury a third grand final appearance in five years.

Having hauled themselves to within two points after Josh Reynolds’ 80-metre heads-up play to deflect a John Sutton grubber into his own path, Graham’s tired effort at the end of a mazy Aaron Gray run with eight minutes left sealed their fate before the South Sydney centre bagged a late double. Joe Burgess also got in on the act with a second try in the dying stages.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

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