Dean Pay may have unearthed a few more gems for his Canterbury rebuild after the Bulldogs ambushed Wests Tigers for their first NRL win of the season.

Debutant Jayden Okunbor and sixth-gamer Nick Meaney were among five changes Pay made to the side walloped by Parramatta last week.

And his new-look outfit delivered, stunning the Tigers with a four-try blitz inside the opening 50 minutes on their way to Sunday’s pressure-relieving victory.

Okunbor was among the Bulldogs’ best, carrying the ball for a game-high 210 metres, while Meaney was a constant threat from the backfield.

“I thought Jayden was great. For his first game in the NRL, he carried the ball super for us,” coach Pay said.

“I suppose he’s a little bit like Reimis Smith. When we brought him in, he played better in first grade than what he was in second grade.

“And I thought Nick was great at the back as well.

“Under pressure he caught a couple of those (balls). Towards the back end of the game he was cramping up a fair bit, but he showed a fair bit of ticker.”

The victory lifted the Bulldogs off the bottom of the NRL ladder, and came just days after the club handed Pay a surprise one-year contract extension.

The second-year coach is adamant his team is slowly improving and took plenty of encouragement from the players he injected into the line-up.

“That’s what we’ve spoken about from day one. We need to perform and individuals need to perform,” Pay said.

“There’s no use playing second grade, playing really well there, if the coach ain’t gonna give you a shot. That’s where we’re at.”

After handing the Tigers their first loss of the season to knock them off the top of the table, the Bulldogs face new ladder leaders Melbourne on Sunday.