Pay proud despite defeat as Dogs rebound from scandal

Dean Pay has declared pride in Canterbury's gutsy defensive effort in a tense loss to Parramatta as the club looks to have a verdict from its Port Macquarie pre-season sex scandal delivered by its next game.

The Bulldogs' resolve impressed plenty in an 8-2 loss to the Eels in Thursday night's season opener, coming two days after allegations of misconduct by Corey Harawira-Naera and Jayden Okunbor saw them stood down and issued show-cause notices by the NRL.

Both players have until close of business on Tuesday to respond to the provisional suspensions, the deadline coming 48 hours before next Thursday's clash with North Queensland.

Bulldogs officials will meet before then to discuss the club's next move regarding the pair's playing future, with NRL CEO Todd Greenberg indicating "if these breaches are sustained the players will face significant sanctions" in a statement on Wednesday.

On the paddock though Pay was impressed with what he saw from a side under fire.

Canterbury were in the contest right up until the final whistle, and only conceded a 65th minute try to Reed Mahoney from a ricocheted grubber.

"I'm so proud of them," Pay said afterwards.

"We've had a difficult week, the boys that turned up tonight really showed a lot of spirit and a lot of heart.

"They care about the place. It's important… The guts and the heart and the ticker that they showed, that's something you can't coach.

"It's just in them, they either do it or they don't. They want to do it."

With unwanted headlines dominating the lead-up to the season opener and the scandal costing Canterbury sponsors, Pay said the players hadn't been able to escape the drama prior to kick off.

"You can't get away from it," he said

"It's in your face all the time. It is what it is. We need to make sure we're here to do what we're to do, and that is play the best footy we can play."

Okunbor's replacement Christian Crichton was placed on report for a shoulder to the head of Maika Sivo, but Pay didn't believe "there was much in" the high shot.

While P­ay was pleased with the effort of his side, he said the Bulldogs' dressing shed told the tale of a team that knew how close they had come to knocking off one of 2020's premiership threats.

"They're devastated to tell you the truth," he said.

"But the energy that they have in there, they know what they did tonight, and they can get better and that's really important.

"[Parramatta] are a very talented side and we pushed them all the way tonight. For us we want to keep that momentum going and keep building our own game.

"We put a lot of hard work into the last two or three months and we're really pleased with that performance.

"We want to keep building on top of that."