NRL Ladder / Nick Tedeschi / 27 May 2009 / 1 Comments Bet Now

The Bulldogs are legitimate premiership contenders this season and are set to benefit immensely from their Origin snubbing, writes Nick Tedeschi

The Bulldogs have been the best team in the NRL this season. They lead the NRL but should be a further four points clear after they were robbed by a hideous refereeing decision against the Dragons and were stripped of two points for their win over Penrith for fielding a fourteenth man, despite the fact the fourteenth man played no part in the match.

Simply, they are firing on all cylinders and that was seen last Saturday night when they easily accounted for premiership favourite Melbourne, putting on 26 points against the team that has played in three consecutive grand finals, the most the Storm has allowed since the 2008 decider. The Bulldogs again won on the back of enthusiasm in defence (12 forced errors), a very good competition rate (81.8% and the fourth time in the last five weeks the Dogs have been better than 75%) and wonderful metre eating (1430 metres).

The Bulldogs rank 1st in attack with 25.6 points per game and 3rd in defence, allowing only 17 points per match.

And they have only one solitary player, Ben Hannant, on Origin duty this season.

That puts them in great stead against a Newcastle Knights team missing leader and key playmaker Kurt Gidley and top tryscoring threat James McManus. The Bulldogs are a better team and they are less hurt by Origin thanks to selectors snubbing the likes of Ennis, Stagg and Ryan.