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Potter pleased with Pangai impact for Dogs

3 minute read

Mick Potter will weigh up whether to keep Tevita Pangai Jr as a bench forward after sparking a resurgence from Canterbury in Friday's loss to the Wests Tigers.

TEVITA PANGAI.
TEVITA PANGAI. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Interim Canterbury coach Mick Potter says he was pleased with Tevita Pangai Jr's performance from the bench in their 36-22 loss to the Wests Tigers.

Potter, who has been handed the role until the end of the season after Trent Barrett parted ways with the club this week, opted for a reshuffled forward pack against the Tigers.

Josh Jackson moved from lock to the second row and it resulted in the Bulldogs scoring more points than they have done in any game this season under Barrett.

Pangai was shifted to the bench and it led to him having one of his most devastating games as a Canterbury player.

The rampaging Tongan international clocked up 130 running metres, topped the carry count and also set up Matt Burton for the first of the night at Leichhardt Oval.

"I just wanted to get a bit of impact and I think it went alright," Potter said.

"He then moved into the backrow and I was pretty happy with his performance.

"I'll have a discussion with the coaching team and it seemed alright tonight but whether we stick with that is another thing."

While they managed to claw their way back into the game at one point to make it 18-16, the Bulldogs undid all their hard work in the last 15 minutes and allowed the Tigers to run up a big final scoreline.

Part of that was to do with Aaron Schoupp's 62nd minute sinbinning for a dangerous throw but it was also due to the fact the Bulldogs gave away 11 penalties.

"We made a few errors that we need to rectify," he said.

"We need to fix up our discipline then we won't have points scored against us down there.

"We should be available to defend our line and not give away cheap points. We can do better than that for sure."

The Bulldogs host St George Illawarra at Belmore next Sunday.

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