Canterbury Bulldogs head coach Trent Barrett has admitted his team "have some work to do" after a frustrating trial draw with the Knights.
In what could only be described as a coach who was on the wrong end of the stick for most of 2021 running out of patience, Barrett was left frustrated by his side's ineptitude in attack.
All of Jake Averillo, Kyle Flanagan and Brandon Wakeham struggled throughout the contest, with the Bulldogs only able to put on 16 points - of which one try was a Matt Dufty length of the field effort in the first half.
Flanagan in particular was poor, not running the ball at all in the game, while Averillo failed to make any try involvements, despite most speculation suggesting he will be given first crack alongside Burton in the halves this year.
Wakeham was also poor after starting the game, but did have a linebreak assist.
Barrett told Fox Sports after the game that it was a case of problems from last year rearing their head again.
“I said pre-game I was worried, or, not worried, but our set ends were going to be really important," Barrett said.
“And it was what we had problems with last year. And it reared its head again tonight. That’s why Burton’s been brought to the club.
“He’ll obviously be our dominant playmaker, our dominant kicker. But we need the number seven to stand up.
“I thought we were scratchy in parts of our attack; not a lot of continuity there, which I thought would happen,” Barrett said.
“But we got a fair bit of good ball there at the back end of the game, and we just need someone to stand up and take control of the side.
“They’re young, I get it. But that’s the job, and we’ve got some work to do this week.”
The Bulldogs will have one more hit out before the season when they take on the Cronulla Sharks next Monday evening, before launching their season against the North Queensland Cowboys in the final game of Round 1.