A rampant Canterbury Bulldogs side has run rampant against the hapless Dragons, running out 36-8 winners in front of a decent Sunday afternoon crowd at ANZ Stadium.
Reading that statement, you’d be forgiven to thinking the Bulldogs won yet another home game. Amazingly the big win came in front of their ‘travelling’ fans.
St George-Illawarra moved a game away from their true home grounds, and they have plenty to choose from, to ‘host’ a side that plays out of the Homebush based stadium.
Not only does this negative home advantage, but it puts the joint venture club at a disadvantage in terms of familiarity in their own home game.
I know full well why they chose to ‘host’ a game against the Dogs at ANZ. The in form Bulldogs, a well supported team, were always guaranteed to pull in a decent-to-large home crowd.
The Dragons, who had started the season on fire, have well and truly fallen back to the pack and badly needed a win today, and should have taken every advantage given to them, not giving it away.
The way they played today, it probably wouldn’t matter where they played the game, they were always going to be run over by the monster Dog pack, but it would have been nice to see.
What Dragons officials didn’t realise is that not every Dogs fan who would attend a home game will go to an Anz Stadium away game, as entry is not include in their season ticket.
Most fans would have seen it was an away game and assumed it would be played at Kogarah or WIN.
I hope the Dragons coffers swelled today, they’ll need it to pay the Tigers to allow Benji Marshall to represent the club if reports are to believed, as in no other sense was today a Dragons home game.
Surely the Dragons could have hosted today’s game at Kogarah, and moved a game against say the Cowboys to ANZ. It would in effect be more of a home game as they’d at least have familiarity with the state.
Still on the Dragons and their scheduling, can someone please explain why they constantly move their local derby against the Sharks to Wollongong?
Dogs Of Roar
The Bulldogs are the form team of the competition and unlike most of the top running sides, they’re unlikely to be decimated by Origin. Could this be their year? Dogs fans certainly think so, and with each performance, there are more believers.
Benji Will Be Ok
The Dragons new superstar signing Benji Marshall may have been a little disheartened watching his new team wiped off the park yesterday. However he can take solace in wiping away the tears with crisp $100 bills.
Hayne Is Number One
Josh Dugan has failed to do enough to force Jarryd Hayne from his favourite position for Origin. Surely Hayne, who is the form NSW number one is the man for the job. He has been wasted on the wing in rep footy in years gone by. Just pick the strongest fullback, i.e. Hayne.
Pearce Out In The Cross
After hearing the news re Mitchell Pearce being arrested over night, it was originally thought the incident would not harm his chances of being selected for NSW. What should harm his chances though are his lackluster performances in his numerous chances to represent his state. More details have come to light, probably best to wait and see.
