Canterbury coach Dean Pay will not bring English recruit Luke Thompson to the team for the South Sydney duel next Sunday night after spending 14 days in a Melbourne hotel room.
Thompson was released from isolation on Sunday and drove from Melbourne to Sydney, but the England test support didn’t arrive in time to see his new team go down 34: 6 against West Tigers at Bankwest Stadium.
The performance would have made for grim listening if Thompson had put the call on the car radio and Pay called him the type of player the team needed, but he wanted to evaluate him in training before deciding on his NRL debut.
“We talked about it and said we’ll see how we’re doing,” said Pay. “He hasn’t run in a while. If he’s ready, he’s ready, if not, we’ll give him another week.
“He’ll be training for a week, he hasn’t been walking for two weeks because he’s stuck in a hotel room. We’re going to rate him this week and see how he’s doing.”
The arrival of Thompson is the start of a recruitment campaign. Pay hopes will allow the bulldogs to be a competitive force in the NRL again.
Game highlights: Bulldogs vs. West Tigers
After overcoming the loss of full-back Will Hopoate and taking a 6-0 lead against the Tigers in the middle of the first half, they dropped and conceded seven unanswered attempts.
Pay said simple mistakes and a bad kick game contributed to the loss, but it is generally accepted that Canterbury’s squad has been burdened by upper limit wages for several years.
“We have always said that we want two or three high-profile players around our young people, and that is how we will improve,” said Pay.
“We have Luke Thompson who shows up here this week. He’s a good player, he’s a national team, he’s won the Premier League in the Super League, he’s a fit guy, he’s got a lot of leg speed, so we’re very hopeful .
“At the end of the day there is light at the end of the tunnel, we have to get on the market and buy three or four quality players and build on what we do.
“Hopefully that will make a difference for our team and we have to keep bringing these young guys along.”
While Thompson’s arrival will give a boost, Pay said Canterbury’s players must continue to work hard to improve.
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“You just have to make sure you show up every week,” he said.
“We talked about how hard work it is there some time ago and we have to stay in the grind.
“We have a good 20 minutes for them and then they go away from what they’re doing. It’s tough.”
