Matt Burton gave Michael Maguire a timely reminder of his brilliance on the big stage by kicking a field goal in overtime to seal Canterbury’s 13-12 victory over the struggling Warriors.
On the same day that Latrell Mitchell suffered a foot injury that will likely rule him out of the Blues’ race to reach the decisive State of Origin match, Burton flexed his muscles to secure the Bulldogs their second golden point win in two games.
The aspiring NSW centre converted his fourth one-point attempt, steering the ball over the goal from 24 metres out in the 87th minute of Saturday’s match at Accor Stadium.
After captain Tohu Harris (wrist) was out 24 hours before the start of the game, the entire Warriors defense line, consisting of Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Marcelo Montoya, were also out due to injury on Saturday.
With only one fit player left on the bench, experienced second-row forward Kurt Capewell spent part of his 150th NRL game on the left wing, while Leka Halasima played in an unfamiliar position in right midfield on his debut.
Even then, the Warriors came within a whisker of losing the game twice – Chanel Harris-Tavita’s two field goal attempts were deflected left of the uprights and this bravest of all victories slipped away from them.
Burton, who brought down Cronulla with a one-point shot a week ago, missed his first three attempts: the first bounced off the post, the second missed the target and the third was saved by Jackson Ford.
But in the final phase, the 24-year-old pulled out all the stops and ensured that his team remained unbeaten in eight home games this season.
The resurgent Bulldogs are closing in on the NRL top four and are expected to finish the weekend in fifth place on the ladder.
Burton had already made his call for an Origin recall when he intercepted a pass from Te Maire Martin after 19 minutes and ran 60 metres to set up Bronson Xerri’s first try of the game.
But the Warriors controlled the rest of the first half, with Watene-Zelezniak and Montoya helping their team take a 12-6 lead at halftime.
Nicoll-Klokstad (calf) left the field shortly after a tackle on Josh Curran that would save the try late in the first half after sustaining an injury in the first 15 minutes but continued to play.
Watene-Zelezniak followed him to the sidelines shortly after halftime when he failed a scan for a head injury before Montoya left the field for the final 15 minutes.
The personnel crisis left the Warriors tiring and Viliame Kikau helped the Bulldogs equalise by out-kicking Adam Pompey on a cross-field kick from Toby Sexton in the 54th minute.
But it was Sexton’s half-time partner Burton who scored the most important kick of all.
The Bulldogs lost second-row forward Jaeman Salmon in the final 10 minutes of regulation time due to an apparent facial injury.