TWL Rd 21: Litmus test looms for Warriors against desperate Dogs
The high-flying Warriors are out to snap a three-game losing streak against a Bulldogs side striving to stay in the Top 8 race.
WARRIORS V BULLDOGS - 7.30PM (NZT)/5.30PM (AEST) SATURDAY, JULY 25 @ ACCOR STADIUM, SYDNEY
The Storylines
It’s an intriguing juncture of the year for the Warriors — the smell of September is already in the air, but it’s still only July. A top-two finish is theirs to lose, but they need to keep chalking up the wins.
Round 21 is also the exact point the wheels started to really wobble last season, inexplicably going down to the Titans at home. They would win only two of their last seven games and drop down to a sixth-place finish.
A stable Warriors line-up with one of the NRL’s best packs should be better equipped to avoid a similar fadeout…but after three losses in four games, then determined-but-patchy wins over the lowly Tigers and Dragons, this has danger game written all over it.
The Bulldogs are still miles off the form that carried them to their first top-four finish in 13 years in 2025, but they have won four of their last five. They also sit just a win outside the Top 8 — that sweet spot of just enough desperation without the cause feeling hopeless.
Canterbury has won its last three against the Warriors — reversing the early trend of in the battle between Ivan Cleary’s highly-rated assistant coaches — and the team that doesn’t lift their intensity is likely to leave Accor Stadium disappointed.
Ins and Outs
Stephen Crichton returns at five-eighth for the Bulldogs after a one-week break, with Sean O’Sullivan going to the bench. Viliame Kikau will start after a successful return off the bench in Round 20.
The Warriors are unchanged with Jackson Ford the only first-choice player still to return from injury.
