The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, who entered the 2016 Intrust Super Premiership NSW season with a weight of expectation and potential, started the year in disappointing fashion. With just a Round 1 draw with Newtown to show for their first nine weekends, pressure was mounting as they hosted the Wentworthville Magpies, who had sat atop the table just weeks earlier. The door to the 2016 finals series was closing fast, but how the blue-and-whites responded gave even the most cynical fans hope that 2016 was far from over.
Key to the response was Queensland-born winger Jarrod McInally, who bagged an incredible six-try haul on the left edge to almost single-handedly shut out the Magpies. While his teammates, of course, deserve credit for setting McInally up, the record-breaking effort is one of the finest seen in the Intrust Super Premiership NSW this year. The two competition points were of less importance than the 24 McInally scored himself, but the win was vital in kick-starting the Bulldogs’ season. The Andy Patmore-coached side would win 10 of their last 14 games to remarkably scrape into the finals, before being narrowly outplayed by Wyong to finish their season.
