Year in Review - Part XIII of XVI

Well in the midst of the big fat letdown that is the build up to this year's Grand Final, it's time to reflect on the teams most recently knocked out. First cab off the rank, the Doggies.

Canterbury Bulldogs or Full Credit To Kevin Moore And Todd Greenberg, They’ve Really Turned Things Around For The Dogs This Year Both On And Off The Field

I want to learn the ways of the Force
and become a Jedi like my father

Season Highlight: Bouncing back from the wooden spoon in a big way, finishing equal first on points and second on for and against. There were good wins over Manly, Melbourne, the Cowboys and the Titans, and graceful handling of externally imposed (Dragons) and self-imposed (Panthers) losses of two points. Also heartening was the acquisition- finally! – of some pace on the wings (well, one wing) with Bryson Goodwin and Josh Morris.

Season Lowlight: The continued languishing in a yet-to-be-determined grade of Marmin Barba, and the on again but generally overwhelmingly off again languishing of his brother Ben Barba in reserve grade. Why wouldn’t Kevin Moore play a young, exciting if defensively frail player outside Jamal Idris? Why?!?! It also sucked losing to the Eels in the grand final qualifier, but in League Blog’s estimation this was nothing to be ashamed of, merely a reflection of where the Dogs are at at this stage of their journey towards peace and total flow.

Most Valuable Player: Brett Kimmorley. He was the glue of the team, providing direction, energy and glue. Single-handedly shaved at least two dollars off the Dogs price against the Eels by playing, but as Ricky Stuart non-bitterly pointed out, he also cost them the game through his Big Game Ineptitude. It doesn’t matter, he’s enjoying his footy. Honourable mention to Mick Ennis, who must surely win the NRL Award for Most Consistently First-On-The Scene Teammate Congratulater After A Try.

Least Valuable Player: Hazem El Masri. Someone had to say it, and even though he’s a prolific pointscorer, can sniff out the tryline, can snuff out dangerous plays and is the most beloved Muslim in the history of Western Civilisation, he’s just not big, fast or poly enough to play wing in today’s game. Hence the signing of Steve Turner, the poor man's El Magic. Incidentally, Jamal Idris is the poor man's Israel Folau and Ben Barba is the homeless man's Matt Bowen.

Telling Statistic: Some wag’s already taken ‘never lost two in a row all year’, so LB will have to go with Zero, which is the care factor of other teams upon seeing our bench of Warburton, Hickey, Armit and Gordon. It’s also the number of lightning bottles the Dogs owned this year.

Quote that sums up their year: “I think Brett Kimmorley should be picked for Origin,” spoken by Brett Kimmorley before SOO1.

2010 Outlook: 40% chance of slide to fifth and another bundling out. 50% chance of return to GF qualifier only this time a bitterly disappointing loss. 10% chance of going ALL THE WAY (offer valid only if Ben Barba is Brought Back)