Match Details
Match Date	16th Jun, 2018
Opponent	Gold Coast Titans
Result	Loss 10-32
Coach	Dean Pay
Captain	Josh Jackson
Venue	Belmore Sports Ground
Crowd	6,874
Referee	Chris Sutton Gavin Reynolds

Moses Mbye is, for the final time, taking off the blue and white jersey. Ryan James may belatedly be getting fitted for a sky blue one. As for Aaron Woods, who knows what colours he will be wearing next?

It was a case of something old, something new. A couple of Bulldogs on time borrowed. And if you’re a Doggies fan, you would have left Belmore Sports Ground feeling blue.

Over the next few years, more good players will be leaving Canterbury than coming in. Mbye is the latest to say bye-bye. He was bred – if not born – a Bulldog and never saw himself leaving.

Having changed positions earlier this season, Mbye is now changing teams. Coach Dean Pay’s decision to move him into the No. 1 jersey has proven a masterstroke, one that has solved Ivan Cleary’s fullback problems. He will spend the next 4 1/2 years as a Tiger if he sees out his contract, which is no sure thing given the way players are traded like cattle.

What’s certain is that he deserved a better farewell than this. Mbye has been Canterbury’ best player in a dismal season. On a sunny Saturday, he was forced to spend more time making tackles than breaking them.

It was appropriate that Mbye score Canterbury’s first try. That it came after the Gold Coast had scored 22 unanswered points puts it into the consolation category. It was almost denied after the video referee sent it upstairs for an obstruction, but the 6874 home fans were at least handed something to cheer about.

‘‘I have some great memories at this club. It’s a shame I didn’t finish the way I wanted to,’’ Mbye said.“[The uncertainty] has an effect on the playing group. I knew where I was at but other blokes don’t. That game was one of the worst performances I’ve been involved in.’’

It may have also been Woods’ swan song. He signed a four-year deal but it remains to be seen whether he will add to his 14 appearances.

It was also a big day for Ryan James. The Titans prop was, for a fleeting moment, a member of Brad Fittler’s Origin I team. That all changed when, just before the team was finalised, David Klemmer produced a blinder. Which is why it would have been particularly satisfying for James to brush through an attempted Klemmer tackle to score a rare front-rower’s try.

The pair could well be playing their next game together for Fittler after Panther Regan Campbell-Gillard copped a fractured jaw that will sideline him for the entire Origin series – perhaps in place of Klemmer after the prop had a brain explosion, a late hit on AJ Brimson.

It would be a just reward for James, long on the cusp of selection.

The game, at least as a contest, was over not long after it began. All the attention was on Mbye but the opposition fullback was the main man. Michael Gordon scored two tries in the opening 12 minutes and the hosts never recovered. The Bulldogs have just experienced their worst start to a season since 1964.

“It’s just not good enough,’’ Pay said. “We were never in the contest. I feel sorry for our fans, our supporters, to sit there and watch it.’’

The Bulldogs sit near the bottom of the ladder but have, for the most part, given a good account of themselves in most games. That cannot be said of this performance.

Source: The Sun Herald

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