Canterbury Bulldogs

This isn’t your typical rugby league bad boy story. Suli never breached the NRL’s code of conduct. There was no wild bender. No off-field misdemeanour. He’s a good kid.

But to put it simply, his heart just wasn’t in it. He lacked the desire to uphold standards required to play in the NRL and now finds himself on the brink of being lost to the game for good despite enormous talent.

When he was sent packing from the Wests Tigers just a month ago, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs did their due diligence. They had heard the stories.

Lawyers acting for Hasler filed a statement of claim in the NSW Supreme Court this week.

Hasler was sacked in September just five months after the Bulldogs announced he had signed a two-year extension to his contract.

In response, club chairman Ray Dib said the club was preparing a legal defence.

It took a Shaun Johnson field goal in the 69th minute to give the home side some breathing space.

A dart from dummy-half by skipper Roger Tuivasa-Sheck six minutes from time and Johnson's conversion virtually sealed victory at Mt Smart Stadium on Friday night.

The result keeps the Warriors - who had started the round in 11th place, one place ahead of the Bulldogs - within touching distance of the top eight.

But it was tempered by injury to hooker Issac Luke, who dislocated his shoulder in the 33rd minute after what seemed like an innocuous tackle.

With Reynolds' NRL future uncertain after the Bulldogs were linked with Foran, a deal worth a reported $3.2 million was too much to resist for the fiery No.6.

The Dogs had in the past few weeks been deep in negotiations with the former NSW playmaker but admitted they were unable to match the money on offer from the Tigers, who have entered the market aggressively after the loss of Mitchell Moses, Aaron Woods and James Tedesco.

The NRL's player musical chairs is now in full swing with Foran expected to soon join Woods at the Dogs under respected coach Des Hasler.

Extending their incredible streak was an impressive feat on the road in front of a hostile home crowd and in tough wet-weather conditions. 

However, it is only Round 1 and captain Cameron Smith knows there's a long way to go for Melbourne to return to the Telstra Premiership decider. 

"I don't think I've ever played a Round 1 game and come away and thought 'it can't get any better than that'," Smith said. 

"I think there are some fundamental things we need to improve on – there's no doubt about that."

Morris has been in scintillating form since returning from a long-term knee injury in Round 16, scoring nine tries in seven games including a double on Thursday night in a golden point win against Manly that shored up his team's top-four hopes.

With plenty of headlines in the lead-up surrounding the absence of skipper Kieran Foran due to personal issues, the Eels faced a further pre-game reshuffle with Tepai Moeroa ruled out and Daniel Alvaro replaced by the returning Tim Mannah.

Their right edge became unrecognisable with centre Brad Takairangi moved to the halves and right edge defender Beau Scott to the middle in place of Moeroa and early attack down that edge looked like it could cost them the game.

Trailing 14-8 at half-time after taking an early 8-0 lead, the Warriors scored three second half tries then defended grimly over the last five minutes to hang on for their third win of the season.

McFadden says one of the most pleasing aspects of the game was the way the Warriors fought back for their first win over the Bulldogs at Westpac Stadium in six outings.

"We didn't stop playing, particularly when we were behind in the second half," he said.

"They had a fair bit of momentum going into halftime, but we came out and turned that around very quickly."

While the Bulldogs continued their strong start to the season with a 30-point drubbing of the Rabbitohs on Good Friday, Reynolds says they must understand a win won't come as easy against the Raiders.

Their Canberra clash will also be the Bulldogs' first of the season at Belmore Sportsground, an initiative that was introduced last season with mixed on-field results.

It will also be their first meeting since the Bulldogs' thrilling 41-34 win in Canberra in May last year, when Reynolds played a starring role off the back of being overlooked for New South Wales.

The panel of Paul Whatuira, Don McKinnon and Bob Lidnereliberated for nine minutes, before agreeing with the defence counsel that Klemmer's actions were not in fact illegal.

A guilty verdict would have seen the NSW forward miss matches against the Eels as well as the Round 4 Good Friday blockbuster with the Rabbitohs.

The decision sees Klemmer avoid his second suspension of 2016 after serving a one game ban for making dangerous contact on Melbourne's Kenny Bromwich in a pre-season trial.