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Tough call for an Eel to cheer Canterbury
Kevin Wilde, Nine
13:00 AEST Mon Sep 24 2012
Canterbury Bulldogs players celebrate making it into the 2012 NRL grand final. (Getty)
Canterbury Bulldogs players celebrate making it into the 2012 NRL grand final. (Getty)
  Have your say on the NRL grand final

I have a confession to make - I want the Bulldogs to win the NRL grand final.

There I said it and as a life-long Parramatta fan it is not an easy thing to admit.

I have cheered long and loud against the Bulldogs since the 1970s. I still wake at night sweating that it is 1979 and my then seven year-old brother is crying and kicking the dirt after the Blue and Whites triumphed over the Eels.

Our champion Ray Price was wrongfully sent off by referee Greg Hartley. The same Greg Hartley later worked for the Bulldogs.

Not that I carry a grudge or have a long memory.

The clubs shared the honours in the 1984 and 1986 premiership deciders. Fast forward to 1998 and the never-say-die Bulldogs broke the hearts of Parra fans again in a famous semi-final.

More recently the salary cap scandal and events in Coffs Harbour by drunken players made the Bulldogs hard to like, let alone love. But all those involved are long gone from Belmore so I am letting that all go for one week for the greater good.

The Storm must be opposed by every Sydney rugby league fan.

Melbourne are all that is wrong with sport. They are an artificially created, tainted franchise that to this day won't name the players who were paid illegal fortunes to stay in Bleak City.

Yes a few are still there and will put on the purple this Sunday.

The club can never live down the fact they were stripped of two illegal competition victories. So I look towards Canterbury Bankstown to do the right thing.

The fact the 2012 Bulldogs have Ben Barba and former Eels such as Kris Inu, Kris Keating and Johnathan Wright makes the decision a little easier.

The tipping point on my road to Belmore was Saturday night. I went to ANZ Stadium with friends who are life-long Bulldogs fans - good seats to a great finals clash should never be passed up.

The Victorian capital won't ever embrace league the way south-western Sydney loves their Bulldogs.

If you live in Sydney and love the greatest game of all you MUST follow the Bulldogs on Sunday. You may not like the team, but be honest, you respect them and their fans' passion.

I do.

May the Melbourne Storm lose by 20 points.

Kevin Wilde is the State Political Correspondent for Nine News and a passionate rugby league supporter.


Should all of Sydney be cheering the Bulldogs to victory?
Are Melbourne still tainted by the salary cap scandal?
Do you respect the Bulldogs and the passion of their fans?

User comments
Go the mighty Newtown Blue Bags. You want tradition, 2 1908 foundation clubs in a GF, Tigers v Jets (blue bags). Great win to a great club.
The saying goes that the fairest race at the Olympics is the 100m Final because everyone lining up is on drugs, and in the same thinking, we have the fairest of all NRL Grand Finals. Two salary cap cheating teams face each other for the prize. What could be more fair than that.
Lets get one thing straight. Salary cap breaches are not just allegations!?! You have a very short memory, it has already been well documented that the bulldogs were caught red handed breaching the salary cap. I do agree with one thing, there were some great teams that sadly were merged or culled but that was due to financial business decisions and average crowds at games. Teams like the storm and warriors were added to broaden the appeal of the game to a wider fan base than just NSW and QLD and increase revenue for the NRL. If you find it hard to come to terms with that, have a go at the NRL. Storm fans dont whine or accuse. They just state facts. Your comments and mis guided arguments are more proof that all the whining and accusing in rugby league comes straight out of Sydney. If you do embrace good football then do exactly that. Stop banging on about the past and try to enjoy the game on Sunday.
Regardless of who you follow, the Bulldogs have worked hard all year to get to where they are this week. full stop! Des Hasler and the coaching staff have done a remarkable job with the boys and i say good for them. Haters will hate! But they deserve their spot and i hope they win the comp!! BULLDOGS 2012 - Run with us... or run from us!
Hey Ash you are right its a national comp all right but odds are Sydney 11 the rest 5.......................
Rozza, Rozza, Rozza. There, there old mate, it’s OK, the dragons will rise from the ashes once more – one day. Go the doggies and goodluck to the storm. May they be valiant in defeat. But if they should win, well I’ll raise a glass to them, probably several.
Makes me laugh, very funny read. Having lived in Melbourne and in more recent years, reside in Sydney. I am a passionate STORM and PIES supporter. As far as the STORM yes we cheated and were silly enough to be caught unlike many others, and PIES well we should never have flick Mick. I dont support a team that i have always disliked when my sides arent there,i can assure you i didnt cheer for the Bombers, (even though born there), when against the Brisbane Lions when they won there first of 3 on the trot. I have admired the the Bulldogs all year and will be a tough game, nice to see the 2 deserved sides there
Your a discrace john wilde i hope parramatta are cellar dwellars for a long time so the storm can smash you every time they play.Nathan Hinmarsh your a credit to yourself and your team you've got real heart.your a jealous man john wilde, of melbournes success in the National comp.Its not sydney's anymore, melbourne are a great side lets smash the doggies on sunday
Comments relating to the salary cap breach. Your comments are allegations only, you in Melbourne were caught red handed if you have proof of what you write then show us, if you don't better to keep quiet and not look foolish..........You must lead a very sheltered life down there if you think that we don't embrace great football up here whoever happens to be playing. What we find hard to come to terms with is the fact that teams of many years standing were culled to accommodate your entry into this competition and you haven't stopped whining or accusing since.
Kevin, I have known you for many years and worked with you for a couple. You are a disgrace. How anyone could possibly consider supporting the Bulldogs is beyond me. Just because our teams didn't make the playoffs is no reason to change years of prolongued hatred for the Dogs. I know Grand Final week is about supporting teams you never thought you could ever possibly support - but reaching out to the Dogs is beyond all realms of reasonable thought. Go and have a cold shower, give yourself an upper cut and get back to Question Time. Go Storm.
love or hate the dogs they deserve to b there theyve played there hearts out all year what happend in the past is that like every bulldog supporter we payed the price for our mistakes we still hear the words cheats and rapists even today it just makes us stronger supporters go the dogs show them what were made of
The one eyed insular harping of this is ridiculous,Sydney Swans in league territory massive fan base ,Storm in victoria massive fan base ,funny i went to suncorp to watch broncos vs storm and the local support for the storm was huge.The attempt by the media in sydney to get the they are salary cap cheats in the past so we must support the beloved Bulldogs ohh yeah they were also salary cap cheats in the past,its pathetic .The we are Sydney stuff any other state attitude does not fool a lot of sydney fans they hate the bulldogs as much as the storm and will go for who they want too on the day ...go storm......once again pathetic attempt at attacking my team.
The doggies deserve to be Minor Premiers they have worked hard all year and the past is the past so people get over the salary cap and Coffs Harbour enjoy and support a great entertaining team GO THE DOGGIES 2012 Premiers.
Pretty disappointing to read such dribble from the NRL TV rights holder. WWOS and nine have just lost all my respect for publishing such a piece of garbage and lost all credibility as a professional publisher. This is the sort of garbage that you would expect to read from a twitter troll. You mention that the game has not taken off in Melbourne, you wonder why with the disregard that channel nine have shown up to this year in refusing to televise games to Melbourne. Talk about bulldogs "do the right thing", um did you forget that they were the original salary cap cheats.
Sorry mate I hope its 40 pts.. I can go back a little further than you and my hate team for years has been Manly 1978 Peter Sterlings first season at Eels, 1978 Andrew Ryan born, 1978 same referee MR.Hartley awarded a 7 tackle try in the Eels v Manly semi Final we lost 17-11.Time goes on and all of a sudden a team called the Melbourne Storm rears its ugly head.The 2009 season for Parra was a Klaytons season "The season you have when you don't have a season" thanks to the arrogant salary cap cheats from down south. I agree with all you have said and hope that they once again get their bums smacked.... Get over it NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1) This Doggies side would run laps around the "Dogs of War" era. 2) Dogs won the the GF 2yrs after the cap scandle and NOT with the same side RE Bops in Sydney 3) Melbourne paid their price (and lets remind ourselves it was managements scandle and not the players...cough cough. If you want to talk about this GF and the teams in it, then look at THIS years season and tell me that neither of these teams deserve their shot. Pull ya heads in and enjoy the bloody game instead of raving on about nonsense. AND GO YOU MIGHTY DOGS!!! DOGS BY 9
Go the Dogs. I support Manly and any team that plays The Storm. In my view they have always cheated, crunch tackles, arm tackles, slowing play the ball, all originated at the Storm including salary cap fiasco. Lets hope cheats dont prosper.
I am a Storm supporter true and will always be. I have always admired the Dogs for the way they play the game. The Storm have has taken what was given to them on the chin and moved on so please get a life and do the same. How many clubs were in bridge of the the sallary cap and yet one team were made an example of. The NRL (Sydney teams and their supporters)will never be what the Storm are at the moment a great team, I thought sport reaches out and ynit poeple where ever and who ever you are... clearly it stops in NSW. Hope you never win an Origin or another flag for sometime GO STORM
Kevin you may be a passionate rugby league supporter but you are a traitor to your code and the Eels. How you got your current job is beyond me, however the fact that your article was posted on 9msn goes someway to explaining it. You are all arrogant Sydney siders who believe it should be2 sydney league teams in the final. The AFL final is the swans and the hawks but no one is bagging the swans because they are from Sydney. Salary breaches in league has been going on forever and the Storm are not the first nor will they be the last to do it. Cheering for the dogs even though you are an eels fan!?! I bet you were cheering for Manly last year as well then. A true rugby league fan would be writing about the best 2 teams in the comp making the final and how you want to see a great game. The truth is no matter who wins the Grand Final they will be deserving winners of one of the closest NRL comps I have seen for years.
bops from sydney we won in 2004, 2 years after cap breach champ. Bazza from eastern suburbs, haha not hard to tell why you can't support the dogs this week. No hard feelings We know how hard them roosters tried hahahaha
i can't believe some people. Melbourne have paid for what they did and the past is the past. go the Storm, hopefully they can prove this guy wrong. They have talent and a lot of brilliant players, and they lost a lot of good players. so lay off. i'm going for Storm as i would never ever go for a team like the Bulldogs
It really frustrates me as a Bulldogs supporter when people make comments about the "Old" Bulldogs team. The Bulldogs to date, have no been involved in any scandals and have really proven to be the "Family" club of the NRL. As i attended the match on Saturday against Souths, the atmosphere was the most amazing experience i have had at a sporting event. The Storm are a great side, but if they had remained under the salary cap those years, they may not have afforded to keep those players they had and may possible not have won those premierships. The Bulldogs have been a class side this year and deservedly won the Minor Prem and individual players win Dally M medals. I think it's time people forget what happened in the past, considering the players involved in those incidents have all left the club and moved into other teams. Go the Doggies 2012 Prems is only 80 mins away!!
Get over what happened with the salary cap, it was two years ago, the Storm have taken their punishment and their loyal supporters have gotten over it so everyone else should too because that scandal is over. what people forget is that it was only 3 or 4 players that breached the cap not the entire team, this sort of media that pretty much abuses a team outside of Sydney is exactly why the NRL has not expanded. "The Victorian capital won't ever embrace league the way south-western Sydney loves their Bulldogs." Pretty sure the prelim final in Melbourne bought in 25,000 to a stadium with a capacity of only 30,000 and i am pretty sure that the state of origin this year at Etihad stadium had over 56,000 league fans.
Support Canterbury, you must be joking, not since the time when the Hughes and the Mortimer boys played have the Bulldogs been worth watching. Reading the Kevin Wilde saga was like reading Macbeth. "A tale full of sound and Fury". Whether Melbourne cheated with the salary cap is irrelevant, they were still the best team in those two years and the so called honest opposition are just plain jealous of Melbourne's success. Go Storm and may you win by 40+.
I think you are dreaming. Can't think of a worse outcome. A lot of articles pushing for us to support this thug club. No thanks! "Melbourne are all that is wrong with sport. They are an artificially created, tainted franchise that to this day won't name the players who were paid illegal fortunes to stay in Bleak City." Didn't the Dogs do exactly the same thing? Were they not alloed to continue with that team the next year and win the GF? The taint remains despite the media's love affair with this team. No thanks.
What a great read. This is a Rugby League fan. Jump onboard the Blue & white Bandwagon guys. Let's unite Sydney!!


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