Missing players through Origin and injury was no excuse according to Bulldogs coach Des Hasler after his side slumped to their seventh loss of the Telstra Premiership season against the Titans.

Canterbury had seven star players absent from their team which lost 28-14 on the Gold Coast, with five players on Origin duty and injuries to captain James Graham and Tony Williams.

 

 

Brett and Josh Morris, Trent Hodkinson, Josh Jackson and David Klemmer will line up for the Blues against the Maroons at Melbourne in Origin Two on Wednesday night.

The Bulldogs could only complete 68 per cent of their sets and made 12 errors during Sunday's 14-point loss in front of 10,645 spectators at Cbus Super Stadium.

In contrast the Titans competed at 86 per cent despite having the NRL's poorest completion rate heading into Round 14.

"Both sides had players out for Origin," Hasler said.

"[We were] sloppy, [with] poor execution [and] pretty careless with how we went.  The game was there for the taking for both sides [but] they capitalised on our errors.

"We kind of butchered that game which was disappointing."

 

 

Eight penalties and 25 missed tackles didn’t help Canterbury's cause with the result seeing the Dogs drop to 11th on the ladder. 

"Our defence and attitude around the ground was pretty good, we were just really sloppy with the ball and it's been an issue for us all year."

Prior to Round 14 the Bulldogs were level with the Eels, Knights and Roosters with the third-lowest completion rate in the NRL on 72 percent.

Stand-in skipper Aiden Tolman, who was one of the Bulldogs' best performers with 146 metres and 38 tackles in a 67-minute display, reiterated the words of his coach.

"It always makes it difficult when you turn the ball over, especially the way we did," Tolman said.

"We defended really well but when you give a side that much possession down our end of the field they're going to come away with points and that's what they did.

"When we had the ball we turned it over cheaply and that hurts us.

"We got off to a great start and were right in it in the first half but for whatever reason we came out in the second half and didn’t turn up in a way.

"It's disappointing but the good thing about footy is we can turn it around ahead of the Panthers next Saturday and that's what we’re looking to do."

The Bulldogs will look to bounce back when they host the Panthers at ANZ Stadium in Round 15, while the Titans remain on the Gold Coast to host the Warriors on Saturday.