The Canterbury Bulldogs, initially viewed as a potential premiership contender this season, suffered another setback on Friday night, marking their fifth defeat in six games against the North Queensland Cowboys.
Throughout the entire match, one word resonated: diabolical.
A game that began with nearly ten minutes of relentless attack yielded only two tries for the blue and white.
This outcome came despite dominating possession for much of the game and enjoying superior territorial advantage against a team that had been conceding an average of 26.8 points per match.
If we exclude their recent encounter against the struggling St George Illawarra Dragons, the Cowboys' defensive statistics would rise to over 30 points per game.
In contrast, the Cowboys showed significant improvement in their defense after allowing 36 points against the Cronulla Sharks the week prior, while the Bulldogs, however, were anything but impressive.
Describing their offensive efforts as pedestrian might even be insulting to those on foot.
With 43 tackles in the red zone, they managed to log only two tries-one from a skillful move by the oft-criticized Lachlan Galvin and another via a kick that fortuitously fell into Josh Curran's hands.
Beyond these instances, they scarcely appeared capable of scoring.