Woods labels Bulldogs' start to season a 'fail'

Aaron Woods has described the Canterbury Bulldogs' start to the season as a "fail" but has promised fans the side's attack will improve despite a slight dip compared to the same stage in 2017.

Canterbury are languishing in 14th position on the Telstra Premiership ladder after seven rounds and their point-scoring woes remain the primary concern.

''It's [the start to the season] probably a fail at the moment, we've only won two games out of seven. We've put ourselves in a tough situation but it's a really good group here. I think we've got better each week,'' Woods said.

At the same point in 2017, the Bulldogs were seventh with four wins and three losses but could only manage 110 points (average of 15.7 per game) – equal worst behind cellar dwellers the Wests Tigers and Newcastle Knights – who finished in the bottom four.

Des Hasler's coaching reign at Belmore came to an end following last year's poor returns.

That trend has continued this season with Dean Pay's side scoring just 103 points – a slight dip to 14.71 per game.

Only Parramatta, who piled on 44 points against Manly on Sunday, have been worse with the ball in hand.

The Bulldogs' 6-0 loss to the Sydney Roosters was the proving point that more work needs to be done at Belmore. Fifty-two tackles inside the Tricolours' 20-metre zone on Thursday night failed to result in a try.

"The frustrating thing was we got ourselves in a good position to score points but weren't good enough," Woods said.

"We've got to throw a lot more questions. We went one out and were trying to solve it ourselves. That's probably been our issue this year.

"The times we've played the footy we know we can play we're good, but when we play simple footy we're not asking questions of the defensive line.

"We should be scoring a fair few tries there. We've got to keep working hard, we're improving each week but need to be getting the wins."

Marquee signing Kieran Foran came under criticism following the Roosters game for a lack of involvement in crunch time, but Woods said there was plenty of direction on the paddock from he and young halves partner Jeremy Marshall-King.

Woods was not concerned with the side's lack of flow in attack but said fans were entitled to feel frustrated.

"I think they were both calling for the ball. For us that's a good sign, our halves are trying to stamp their authority late in the game when we needed it," Woods said.

"I thought their touches were great late in the game. Kieran almost went through and Jez asked questions all night of the right edge of the Roosters.

"We've got to keep building and pick our times better when we use our halves. The whole pre-season we worked with Matt Frawley and Kieran Foran in the halves. We've made a change there.

"Sometimes we probably carry the ball too much whereas we should get them more involved in the game. It's a whole group thing but I don't think it's too far around the corner."