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 Bay. 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 Bay: 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 File:St. George colours.svg	24–12	File:Canterbury colours.svg 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 File:Canterbury colours.svg	24–16	File:Canberra colours.svg 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 File:Canterbury colours.svg	34–12	File:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg 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 Bay Attendance: 19,791 Referee: Cummins, Suttor

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Round 2 21 March 2009 7:30pm Local

Penrith Panthers File:Penrith colours.svg	26–28	File:Canterbury colours.svg 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: Cecchin, James

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Round 3 27 March 2009 7:35pm Local

Gold Coast Titans File:Gold Coast Titans colours.svg	20–12	File:Canterbury colours.svg 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: Maxwell, Shortall

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Round 4 5 April 2009 2:00pm Local

Bulldogs File:Canterbury colours.svg	24–12	File:Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
Tries: El Masri, Goodwin, Morris, Ryan Goals: El Masri 4/4		Tries: Gallen, Tupou Goals: Covell 2/2

ANZ Stadium, Homebush Bay Attendance: 15,520 Referee: Robinson, Sutton

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Round 5 13 April 2009 7:00pm Local

Bulldogs File:Canterbury colours.svg	14–12	File:South Sydney colours.svg 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 Bay Attendance: 22,775 Referee: Klein, Suttor

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Round 6 19 April 2009 3:00pm Local

Parramatta Eels File:Parramatta colours.svg	18–48	File:Canterbury colours.svg 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 Bay Attendance: 18,223 Referee: Badger, De Las Heras

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Round 7 26 April 2009 2:00pm Local

Canberra Raiders File:Canberra colours.svg	20–30	File:Canterbury colours.svg 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: James, Klein

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Round 8 3 May 2009 3:00pm Local

Bulldogs File:Canterbury colours.svg	22–20	File:Wests Tigers colours.svg 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 Bay Attendance: 25,622 Referee: Hayne, De Las Heras

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Round 9 9–11 May 2009

Template:Fontcolor	Bye	Template:Fontcolor

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Round 10 16 May 2009 7:30pm Local

St. George Illawarra Dragons File:St. George colours.svg	20–18	File:Canterbury colours.svg 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: Archer, Klein

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Round 11 22–25 May 2009 7:30pm Local

Bulldogs File:Canterbury colours.svg	26–10	File:Melbourne colours.svg Melbourne Storm

Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford

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

Newcastle Knights File:Newcastle colours.svg	22–14	File:Canterbury colours.svg Bulldogs

EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle

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Round 13 5–8 June 2009

Template:Fontcolor	Bye	Template:Fontcolor

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Round 14 12–15 June 2009 7:35pm Local

Brisbane Broncos File:Brisbane colours.svg	22–44	File:Canterbury colours.svg Bulldogs

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

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Round 15 19–22 June 2009 7:35pm Local

Bulldogs File:Canterbury colours.svg	19–12	File:Penrith colours.svg Penrith Panthers

ANZ Stadium, Homebush Bay

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Round 16 26–29 June 2009 7:35pm Local

Bulldogs File:Canterbury colours.svg	30–18	File:North Queensland colours.svg North Queensland Cowboys

ANZ Stadium, Homebush Bay

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Round 17 3–6 July 2009 7:35pm Local

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles File:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg	19–12	File:Canterbury colours.svg Bulldogs

Brookvale Oval, Brookvale

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Round 18 10–13 July 2009 2:00pm Local

New Zealand Warriors File:New Zealand colours.svg	14–18	File:Canterbury colours.svg Bulldogs

Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland

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Round 19 17–20 July 2009 8:30pm Local

Bulldogs File:Canterbury colours.svg	23–16	File:Gold Coast Titans colours.svg Gold Coast Titans

Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

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Round 20 24–27 July 2009 5:30pm Local

Bulldogs File:Canterbury colours.svg	8–27	File:Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta Eels

ANZ Stadium, Homebush Bay

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

South Sydney Rabbitohs File:South Sydney colours.svg	18–26	File:Canterbury colours.svg Bulldogs

ANZ Stadium, Homebush Bay

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

Bulldogs File:Canterbury colours.svg	23–20	File:Canberra colours.svg Canberra Raiders

ANZ Stadium, Homebush Bay

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

North Queensland Cowboys File:North Queensland colours.svg	12–22	File:Canterbury colours.svg Bulldogs

Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville

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

Bulldogs File:Canterbury colours.svg	28–4	File:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Sydney Roosters

ANZ Stadium, Homebush Bay

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

Bulldogs File:Canterbury colours.svg	40–20	File:New Zealand colours.svg New Zealand Warriors

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

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

Wests Tigers File:Wests Tigers colours.svg	34–12	File:Canterbury colours.svg Bulldogs

Sydney Football Stadium, Moore Park

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Finals Series

Qualifying Final 12 September 2009 8:35pm Local

File:Canterbury colours.svg Bulldogs	26–12	Newcastle Knights File:Newcastle colours.svg

ANZ Stadium, Homebush Bay

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Preliminary Final 25 September 2009 7:45pm Local

File:Canterbury colours.svg Bulldogs	12–22	Parramatta Eels File:Parramatta colours.svg

ANZ Stadium, Homebush Bay

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Ladder

2009 NRL season
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	File:St. George Illawarra colours.svg St. George Illawarra Dragons	24	17	0	7	2	548	329	+219	38
2	File:Canterbury colours.svg Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	18	0	6	2	575	428	+147	381
3	File:Gold Coast Titans colours.svg Gold Coast Titans	24	16	0	8	2	514	467	+47	36
4	File:Melbourne colours.svg Melbourne Storm	24	14	1	9	2	505	348	+157	33
5	File:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	24	14	0	10	2	549	459	+90	32
6	File:Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane Broncos	24	14	0	10	2	511	566	−55	32
7	File:Newcastle colours.svg Newcastle Knights	24	13	0	11	2	508	491	+17	30
8	File:Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta Eels	24	12	1	11	2	476	473	+3	29
9	File:Wests Tigers colours.svg Wests Tigers	24	12	0	12	2	558	483	+75	28
10	File:South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	11	1	12	2	566	549	+17	27
11	File:Panthers colours.svg Penrith Panthers	24	11	1	12	2	515	589	−74	27
12	File:North Queensland colours.svg North Queensland Cowboys	24	11	0	13	2	558	474	+84	26
13	File:Canberra colours.svg Canberra Raiders	24	9	0	15	2	489	520	−31	22
14	File:New Zealand colours.svg New Zealand Warriors	24	7	2	15	2	377	565	−188	20
15	File:Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	24	5	0	19	2	359	568	−209	14
16	File:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Sydney Roosters	24	5	0	19	2	382	681	−299	14

¹ The Bulldogs were deducted 2 competition points after an interchange breach in Round 2.

2009 squad

No. Position Player

No. Position Player

See also

• List of Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs seasons

External links

• Bulldogs: Season Review - NRL.com