2009 Bulldogs RLFC season

The 2009 Bulldogs RLFC season was the 75th in the club's history. They competed in the NRL's 2009 Telstra Premiership, finishing the regular season 2nd (out of 16), a vast improvement on the previous season, when they came last. The Bulldogs came within one match of the grand final but were knocked out by the Parramatta Eels.

Season summary

After an extremely disappointing 2008 season, in which the club finished with the wooden spoon, 2009 will be a season of rebuilding for the Bulldogs. A number of high-profile new recruits, including Brett Kimmorley, Josh Morris, Michael Ennis, David Stagg and Ben Hannant along with mid-season signing of Greg Eastwood will join the club.

Fixtures

During the regular season, the Bulldogs will play most home games at ANZ Stadium in Homebush. ANZ Stadium is also the home ground of the South Sydney Rabbitohs, and one of the home grounds of the Parramatta Eels, so Bulldogs away matches against these two teams will also be played at this venue. Two Bulldogs home games will be played away from Homebush: the Round 11 match against Melbourne will be played at Bluetongue Stadium in Gosford, and the Round 19 match against the Gold Coast will be played at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

Trial Matches

Trial 1 21 February 2009 7:00pm Local

St. George Illawarra Dragons	24 - 12	Bulldogs
Tries: Cooper, Nightingale, Thorby, Clarke Goals: Soward 4/4		Tries: Utai, Barba Goals: El Masri 1/1, Ennis 1/1

WIN Stadium, Wollongong Attendance: 7,628

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Trial 2 28 February 2009 8:00pm Local

Bulldogs	24 - 16	Canberra Raiders
Tries: Goodwin, Ennis, Patten, Armit Goals: Ennis 3/3, El Masri 1/1		Tries: Monaghan 2, Purtell Goals: Campese 2/3

Meakin Park, Brisbane

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Regular Season

Round 1 14 March 2009 7:30pm Local

Bulldogs	34 - 12	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Tries: Goodwin 2, Idris 2, Morris Goals: El Masri 7/7		Tries: Ballin, Lyon Goals: Orford 2/2

ANZ Stadium, Homebush Attendance: 19,791 Referee/s: Cummins, Suttor

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Round 2 21 March 2009 7:30pm Local

Penrith Panthers	26 - 28	Bulldogs
Tries: Waterhouse 2, Aiton, Tighe Goals: Gordon 5/5		Tries: Eastwood, Idris, Kimmorley, Roberts, Stagg Goals: El Masri 4/5

CUA Stadium, Penrith Attendance: 16,846 Referee/s: Cecchin, James

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Round 3 27 March 2009 7:35pm Local

Gold Coast Titans	20 - 12	Bulldogs
Tries: Campbell, O'Dwyer, Rogers, Tonga Goals: Rogers 2/5		Tries: Goodwin, Ryan Goals: El Masri 2/3

Skilled Park, Gold Coast Attendance: 19,854 Referee/s: Maxwell, Shortall

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Round 4 5 April 2009 2:00pm Local

Bulldogs	24 - 12	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
Tries: El Masri, Goodwin, Morris, Ryan Goals: El Masri 4/4		Tries: Gallen, Tupou Goals: Covell 2/2

ANZ Stadium, Homebush Attendance: 15,520 Referee/s: Robinson, Sutton

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Round 5 13 April 2009 7:00pm Local

Bulldogs	14 - 12	South Sydney Rabbitohs
Tries: Morris, Ryan Goals: El Masri 2/2, Ennis 1/1		Tries: Champion, Pettybourne Goals: Luke 1/1, Sandow 1/1

ANZ Stadium, Homebush Attendance: 22,775 Referee/s: Klein, Suttor

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Round 6 19 April 2009 3:00pm Local

Parramatta Eels	18 - 48	Bulldogs
Tries: Hauraki 2, Hayne Goals: Burt 3/3		Tries: Morris 2, Patten 2, El Masri, Goodwin, Hodgson, Kimmorley, Warburton Goals: El Masri 6/9

ANZ Stadium, Homebush Attendance: 18,223 Referee/s: Badger, De Las Heras

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Round 7 26 April 2009 2:00pm Local

Canberra Raiders	20 - 30	Bulldogs
Tries: Monaghan, Purtell, Thompson, Tongue Goals: Dugan 2/4		Tries: El Masri, Ennis, Goodwin, Hannant, Millard Goals: El Masri 5/5

Canberra Stadium, Canberra Attendance: 10,241 Referee/s: James, Klein

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Round 8 3 May 2009 3:00pm Local

Bulldogs	22 - 20	Wests Tigers
Tries: El Masri 2, Ennis, Goodwin Goals: El Masri 3/4		Tries: Moltzen, Payten, Ryan 2 Goals: Gallant 2/5

ANZ Stadium, Homebush Attendance: 25,622 Referee/s: Hayne, De Las Heras

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Round 9 9–11 May 2009

.	Bye	.

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Round 10 16 May 2009 7:30pm Local

St. George Illawarra Dragons	20 - 18	Bulldogs
Tries: Creagh, Poore, Weyman Goals: Soward 4/4		Tries: Hannant, Idris, Kimmorley Goals: El Masri 3/3

Jubilee Oval, Kogarah Attendance: 18,415 Referee/s: Archer, Klein

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Round 11 22–25 May 2009 7:30pm Local

Bulldogs	26 - 10	Melbourne Storm

Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford

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Round 12 29 May - 1 June 2009 3:00pm Local

Newcastle Knights	22 - 14	Bulldogs

EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle

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Round 13 5–8 June 2009

.	Bye	.

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Round 14 12–15 June 2009 7:35pm Local

Brisbane Broncos	22 - 44	Bulldogs

Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Man of the Match: Ben Roberts (BUL)

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Round 15 19–22 June 2009 7:35pm Local

Bulldogs	19 - 12	Penrith Panthers

ANZ Stadium, Homebush

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Round 16 26–29 June 2009 7:35pm Local

Bulldogs	30 - 18	16px North Queensland Cowboys

ANZ Stadium, Homebush

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Round 17 3–6 July 2009 7:35pm Local

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	19 - 12	Bulldogs

Brookvale Oval, Brookvale

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Round 18 10–13 July 2009 2:00pm Local

New Zealand Warriors	14 - 18	Bulldogs

Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland

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Round 19 17–20 July 2009 8:30pm Local

Bulldogs	23 - 16	Gold Coast Titans

Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

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Round 20 24–27 July 2009 5:30pm Local

Bulldogs	8 - 27	Parramatta Eels

ANZ Stadium, Homebush

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Round 21 31 July - 3 August 2009 3:00pm Local

South Sydney Rabbitohs	18 - 26	Bulldogs

ANZ Stadium, Homebush

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Round 22 7–10 August 2009 7:30pm Local

Bulldogs	23 - 20	Canberra Raiders

ANZ Stadium, Homebush

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Round 23 14–17 August 2009 7:35pm Local

North Queensland Cowboys 16px	12 - 22	Bulldogs

Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville

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Round 24 21–24 August 2009 7:00pm Local

Bulldogs	28 - 4	Sydney Roosters

ANZ Stadium, Homebush

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Round 25 28–31 August 2009 3:00pm Local

Bulldogs	40 - 20	New Zealand Warriors

ANZ Stadium, Homebush Attendance: 41,835 (record crowd)

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Round 26 4–6 September 2009 7:35pm Local

Wests Tigers	34 - 12	Bulldogs

Sydney Football Stadium, Moore Park

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Finals Series

Qualifying Final 12 September 2009 8:35pm Local

Bulldogs	26 - 12	Newcastle Knights

ANZ Stadium, Homebush

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Preliminary Final 25 September 2009 7:45pm Local

Bulldogs	12 - 22	Parramatta Eels

ANZ Stadium, Homebush

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Ladder

2009 NRL season
	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	File:St. George Illawarra colours.svg St. George Illawarra	24	17	0	7	2	548	329	+219	38
2	Bulldogs	24	18	0	6	2	575	428	+147	38*
3	Gold Coast	24	16	0	8	2	514	467	+47	36
4	Melbourne (P) *stripped	24	14	1	9	2	505	348	+157	33
5	Manly-Warringah	24	14	0	10	2	549	439	+90	32
6	Brisbane	24	14	0	10	2	511	566	−55	32
7	Newcastle	24	13	0	11	2	508	491	+17	30
8	Parramatta	24	12	1	11	2	476	473	+3	29
9	Wests Tigers	24	12	0	12	2	558	483	+75	28
10	South Sydney	24	11	1	12	2	566	549	+17	27
11	Penrith	24	11	1	12	2	515	589	−74	27
12	File:North Queensland colours.svg North Queensland	24	11	0	13	2	558	474	+84	26
13	Canberra	24	9	0	15	2	489	510	−31	22
14	New Zealand	24	7	2	15	2	377	545	−188	20
15	Cronulla-Sutherland	24	5	0	19	2	359	568	−209	14
16	Sydney Roosters	24	5	0	19	2	382	681	−299	14

* Bulldogs stripped of 2 competition points after an interchange breach in round 2

2009 Squad

No. Position Player PR Chris Armit FE Ben Barba FB Brent Crisp SR Greg Eastwood WG Hazem El Masri HK Michael Ennis WG Bryson Goodwin SR Yileen Gordon PR Ben Hannant PR Jarrad Hickey PR Michael Hodgson FE Daniel Holdsworth CE Jamal Idris HB Brett Kimmorley PR John Kite

No. Position Player PR Charles Leaneo CE Daryl Millard SR Brad Morrin CE Josh Morris WG Heka Nanai FB Luke Patten FE Ben Roberts SR Andrew Ryan (c) LK David Stagg HK Michael Sullivan SR Lee Te Maari WG Matt Utai SR Gary Warburton PR Danny Williams CE Tim Winitana

External links

• Bulldogs: Season Review - NRL.com