New board brings hope for Bulldogs
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Your support makes all the difference.Canterbury Bulldogs have appointed a new board of directors in the hope of persuading Australia's National Rugby League to reduce penalties imposed on the club for salary cap breaches. A week ago the Bulldogs were fined Aus$500,000 (£180,000) and also stripped of 37 points, which sent them from the top to the bottom of the premiership table.
Dr George Peponis, the former Australia and Canterbury captain, chairs the new five-man board, which also includes former players in Tom Pickup, Peter Casilles, Clive Gartner and the interim chief executive, Steve Mortimer. "The fresh faces and, more importantly, the departure of the old board will increase the club's chances of leniency," Mortimer said yesterday. "We are now in the process of lodging our submission to the NRL in response to the salary cap breach notice. That meant there could be no dispute about our capacity to act on behalf of the football club and conduct the appeal against the breach notice."
The disgraced Bulldogs fought back with two late tries to beat the Melbourne Storm 24-16 at the Sydney Showground yesterday. Forgetting for a while the problems over the salary cap breaches, the Bulldogs took 90 seconds to get the scoreboard ticking over. Tony Grimaldi put Willie Mason through an opening and the towering second-rower brushed aside Marcus Bai and Robbie Ross to touch down close enough to the posts for Hazem El Masri to convert.
The Storm half-back Matt Orford kicked a 22nd-minute penalty goal but it was the home side that went in at half-time leading 12-2. The lock forward Darren Smith, who is due to retire at the end of the season, dived over from dummy-half with just four seconds left on the clock.
Tries from Ian Sibbit and Matt Geyer in the opening quarter of the second half put Melbourne ahead for the first time at 16-12. But the Bulldogs reclaimed the lead when Brent Sherwin stepped inside and threw a short pass for Willie Talau to cross in the 64th minute. And the home side secured maximum, though worthless, points when Sherwin beat two defenders to score under the posts with five minutes remaining.
* The Australian prop forward Mark Corvo has been released from his contract with Salford, Super League's bottom club, after being ruled out for the rest of the season with a serious knee injury. The former Brisbane Broncos player, who underwent a knee reconstruction last year, has struggled to find his form and has played only one match in the last three months. Steve Simms, the Reds director of football, said: "Sadly injury has forced Mark out of contention. With this in mind, Mark has opted to return home to Australia and will undergo surgery there."
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