NRL season 2013 - Canterbury Bulldogs

Des Hasler's touch of class certainly rubbed off on the Canterbury Bulldogs in 2012.
The forward pack was a throwback to the "Dogs of War" days when opposition sides would cower in fear of the behemoth pack, Kris Keating came from nowhere to be a grand final halfback and a little bloke by the name of Ben Barba proved to be the most electrifying man in the competition.
One pre-season later and the only thing that has really changed is Barba's recent off-field issues that has seen him stood down by the club for an indefinite amount of time.
Barba's personal issues aside, his absence creates a small headache for Hasler.
The Bulldog's centre/wings have established themselves as a hard-working group of which only injury could break up. Sam Perrett and a returning Steve Turner should find themselves on the wings with Krisnan Inu and State of Origin centre Josh Morris cementing their positions in the centres.
Morris was the most impressive of the five, and has raised the bar on his game.
The solution to Hasler's fullback headache could be to shift Inu or Turner to fullback, but a call-up to Mitch Brown or Drury Low wouldn't be out of the question. Tim Lafai is another centre/wing waiting in the wings for his opportunity.
The halves pairing of Josh Reynolds and Keating only came about because of a season-ending injury to Trent Hodkinson.
Hodkinson followed Hasler over from Manly, where he proved to be a more then capable player who could perform under pressure and effectively marshall his troops.
The quality of Keating could be as simple as the gameplan laid down by Hasler, who almost won back-to-back titles at two different clubs. Without taking anything away from Keating, Hasler's gameplan focuses on simple plays that are executed at 110%. The only thing that could let Keating down is the fifth tackle option, but even that improved as the season went on. Recent speculation about Hodkinson wanting a release could ease the selection drama but the Bulldogs wouldn't want to let such a classy halfback go.
Michael Ennis has proven himself to be a a quality hooker and will keep his jersey. He has removed a lot of the grub from his game, but still has enough mongrel to get under the skin of opposition players. Ennis still remains one of the best in the current game.
The Bulldogs forward pack is the biggest, scariest, and maybe the best in the competition. 
Their front-row pairing of Sam Kasiano and Aiden Tolman combines the size of one of the biggest props in the game with the consistency of Tolman. The size doesn't get any smaller in the second row with big Frank Pritchard pairing with new signing Tony Williams. Rookie sensation Josh Jackson completes a starting forward pack which would leave scales trembling with fear.
The depth in the forwards is one of the keys to Canterbury's success.
From the bench they will most likely have Dale Finucane, Greg Eastwood and English forward James Graham (when he's back from suspension). Add to that the fringe first-graders in Joel Romelo, Martin Taupau and Dene Halatau and the Bulldogs could lay claim to having the most depth in the forwards.

Bulldogs: 1. Ben Barba/Drury Low 2. Steve Turner 3. Krisnan Inu 4. Josh Morris 5. Sam Perrett 6. Josh Reynolds 7. Trent Hodkinson 8. Sam Kasiano 9. Michael Ennis 10. Aiden Tolman 11. Frank Pritchard 12. Tony Williams 13. Josh Jackson Interchange 14. Greg Eastwood 15. Dale Finucane 16. James Graham/Martin Taupau 17. Kris Keating
On the fringes: Joel Romelo, Martin Taupau, Tim Lafai, Mitch Brown, Drury Low, Trent Cutler, Dene Halatau