The Bulldogs put their campaign back on track yesterday with a comfortable 30-16 victory over an injury-depleted Newcastle side at Telstra Stadium.
Labelled "brain dead" after last week's upset loss to the Wests Tigers, the Dogs rediscovered their bark with a five tries to two victory in frontof 12,654 fans, claiming their fourth win of the season to keep pace with the top eight.
Bulldogs fullback Luke Patten scored two tries and winger Hazem El Masri crossed for his own four pointer and had five conversions to take his career points tally to 1910. He became just the sixth player in league history to pass 1900 points.
Newcastle suffered a pre-game blow when halfback Jarrod Mullen - a possible New South Wales Origin bolter - withdrew with a calf strain and forward Clint Newton was rested after playing in the City-Country clash on Thursday. Bulldogs prop Willie Mason battled pain through the match after twice being left on the ground in the first half.
The only other negative for the Dogs was an apparent knee injury to Kiwi winger Utai who was playing just his first NRL game this season.
A second-half onslaught powered Manly to a stunning 46-30 victory from behind over an impressive Canberra outfit in yesterday's other game.
The Sea Eagles started slowly but five tries in a dramatic 18-minute period took care of the Raiders, Manly winger Michael Robertson grabbing a hat-trick against his former club.
Playing in their first day game of 2007, the Raiders struggled to come to grips with the sunlight in their eyes, failing to get past the third tackle on each of their first three possessions.
Manly's win takes them to joint-top with the Melbourne Storm.
