Warriors bullied by dominant Dogs

A jarring 18-6 defeat has opened a Pandora's box for the run home.

The Warriors have dropped out of the top two for the first time in 15 weeks after getting bullied, battered and bustled for 80 minutes by a reborn Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs outfit in an 18-6 loss.

From the opening stages, the Bulldogs’ defensive line speed and aggression, offloading intent and direct attack had the Warriors in all sorts.

The Warriors uncharacteristically couldn’t assert any dominance in the middle of the field. On the back of that, their shortcomings — a pedestrian kicking game, often clueless playmaking and the lack of top-tier talent in various back-five positions —were laid bare.

If there’s the faintest of silver linings, it’s that the scoreline finished as modest as it did…particularly after the Bulldogs finished with seven line-breaks to the Warriors’ single bust.

But with fullback Taine Tuaupiki suffering what appears to be a very serious foot injury, Wayde Egan finishing the match on one leg, and Te Maire Martin and Chanel Harris-Tavita struggled for any impetus, the Warriors head home in an awkward spot.

For their part, the Bulldogs looked every bit the top-four powerhouse of 2025 with the Warriors struggling to find answers for the big-name, big-game influence of ex-Penrith cohort Kikau, Crichton and Burton. But that didn’t make a comparatively meek display from our supposed premiership contenders much easier to stomach.

If ‘Brandy’ Alexander ovulating all over Accor Stadium about the Bulldogs’ chances pre-game wasn’t bad enough for Warriors fans, the opening 15 minutes was a veritable nightmare for the visitors.

The Bulldogs’ enthusiasm on both sides of the ball from the outset had the Warriors’ on their heels — and Viliame Kikau, in his first run-on appearance in three months, laid on the first try for Stephen Crichton with an offload after just five minutes.

Canterbury’s offload game was killing the Warriors, who were compounding matters by falling off tackles. The lead doubled in the 12th minute as Jacob Preston punched through Chanel Harris-Tavita’s attempted tackle to score off a flat Lachie Galvin pass.

The Warriors gradually found their footing and got on top territorially, though putting together resembling cohesive attack capable of asking questions of the Bulldogs was proving challenging. Harris-Tavita bombed a try, floating a dreadful pass to Alofiana Khan-Pereira when a short ball would have seen Pompey stroll in.

The first half also developed into a war of attrition: Kikau and replacement Josh Curran went for HIAs (both passed), Harry Hayes had his ear almost severed in half (they just taped it up) and Tuaupiki eventually exited after soldiering for quite some time with a foot injury, replaced by Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.

Down 12-0 at the break, having had only 47 percent possession, conceding 13 offloads (no team in the NRL averages that many per game) to six and three line-breaks to none, and receiving precious little of the rub of Adam Gee’s whistle.

In the next of a long line of questionable calls five minutes into the second half, Gee called a knock-on against CNK yet missed a blatant Jethro Rinikama pass off the ground that led to it.

Bulldogs winger Jacob Kiraz scored from the scrum win and it always felt like too tall of a mountain to climb from that point for the Warriors.

Rare half-chances — mostly in DWZ’s corner — went agonsingly awry, while most other good ball sets were frittered away.

A penalty goal made it 18-0 to the Bulldogs with nine minutes left, while the Warriors finally got on the board through some helter skelter attack and the unlikely assist of a Mitch Barnett chip for CHT to score.

The calls for Team List Tuesday change will become a roar from the fanbase, but that’s unlikely to be the answer or the outcome. This is essentially the line-up that got us to this point, aside from some fallen soldiers who won’t be back in 2026, and the brittle, underdone likes of Luke Metcalf and Rocco Berry aren’t the key to putting this performance behind them.

The likely absence of Tuaupiki does leave the Warriors with a worrying deficit in the attacking spark department, however.

A trip to the Gold Coast next Saturday, where they will enjoy overwhelming crowd support against an improving but vulnerable Titans side, provides an ideal bounce-back opportunity — but one Webby’s charges have to take with the finals only a bit over a month away.