Canterbury caretaker coach Steve Georgallis has hailed veteran Kieran Foran for steering the side to just their second win of the NRL season.
A week after fears he had re-aggravated a toe injury in a last-gasp loss to St George Illawarra, Foran’s experience proved invaluable on Sunday afternoon at McDonald Jones Stadium.
After watching their three-try lead whittled to six points, the Bulldogs were forced to withstand a barrage of attacks on their line in the final 10 minutes.
However, unlike their last-start defeat to the Dragons, Foran helped to navigate the last-placed side to a gritty six-point victory.
The win also snapped a run of six-straight losses, culminating in the departure of coach Dean Pay and recent appointment of Trent Barrett, beginning next year.
“It means everything to this group because they’ve put in efforts like that and haven’t got the win,” Georgallis said post-game.
“Last week, they put in a great effort and we’re talking about the same thing. The Dragons were coming to get us, because they score a lot of points their last 20.”
Georgallis said the difference was in their game management, led by Foran and new halves partner Lachlan Lewis.
“Unfortunately, our game management wasn’t up to scratch. We saw a little bit of that today and, lucky for us, Kieran Foran, he was out there,” he said.
“And with his experience, some of his kicks towards the end of that game helped.
“Hopefully, as a team, we can understand that end-sets, what you do at the end of the set, is just as important as what you do at the beginning of the set.
“And I felt we learned a little bit more about that today. I just can’t thank the players enough for that win. It was a great feeling.”