Luke MacDougall to make Bulldogs debut against Sharks

by NRL

Luke MacDougall will play his first NRL match as a Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldog in Monday night's ANZ Stadium encounter against the Cronulla Sharks.

MacDougall comes onto the wing for Monday night's clash with Jonathan Wright moving into the centres as a result of Josh Morris' call up for State of Origin duty.

It means the 29-year old will play his first match for the Bulldogs against the side he made his First Grade debut with a decade ago, when he took the field for the Sharks against Brisbane in round four of the 2002 NRL season.

Since that time he has played 70 NRL matches for Cronulla, South Sydney, St George-Illawarra, Newcastle and Melbourne, crossing for 40 tries in that time.

MacDougall's inclusion and Wright's move for Morris are the only changes to the 17 that took on the Titans on Friday night, while Marty Taupau has not been included on the bench as he will travel to Auckland on Friday ahead of Saturday's NSW Cup Grand Final rematch against the Auckland Vulcans.

The Bulldogs head for New Zealand off a 22-all draw against the Illawarra Cutters, with off season recruit James Gavet set to face his former side for the first time.

It'll also be the first time the two sides have met since the Bulldogs won the 2011 decider in dramatic circumstances, scoring late to seal a 30-28 victory.

And in the Toyota Cup, coach Andy Patmore has named an unchanged side to that which defeated the Gold Coast 52-6 at Belmore Sports Ground on Saturday.

Centre Ed Murphy crossed four times and skipper Moses Mbye twice in the rout, which also featured an outstanding display in defence, with the Titans scoring their first and only try one minute out from full time.

They'll expect a tougher time of things against the eighth placed Sharks, who are just one win behind the Bulldogs having defeated the Storm 32-22 at Shark Park on Sunday.

Teams for all three matches are as follows:

NRL

1 Ben Barba
2 Luke Macdougall
3 Tim Lafai
4 Jonathan Wright
5 Bryson Goodwin
6 Josh Reynolds
7 Kris Keating
8 Aiden Tolman
9 Michael Ennis [c]
10 Sam Kasiano
11 Frank Pritchard
12 Dene Halatau
13 Greg Eastwood

14 James Graham
15 David Stagg
16 Corey Payne
17 Joel Romelo

Head Coach: Des Hasler

NSW Cup

1 Michael Lett
2 Daniel Abou-Sleiman
3 Brett Lane
4 Josh Portlock
5 Ratu Tagive
6 Chad Isles
7 Trent Cutler
8 Tim Browne
9 Shane Pumipi
10 Martin Taupau
11 Josh Jackson
12 James Gavet
13 Dale Finucane

14 Harlan Alaalatoa
15 Jake Foster
16 Ray Moujalli
17 Jake Finn

Coach: Barry Ward

Toyota Cup

1 Gerard Mccallum
2 Sam Ahofono
3 Matthew Fukofuka
4 Ed Murphy
5 John Sila
6 Moses Mbye [c]
7 Freddie Robinson
8 David Klemmer
9 Dean Janda
10 Michael Ioapo
11 Danny Fualalo
12 Tupou Sopoaga
13 Paul Carter

14 Henry Ah Sam
15 James Ralphs
16 David Minute
19 Lachlan Burr
21 Oliver Gordon

Coach: Andy Patmore

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