The memory of defeat in last year's grand final is being used by Bulldogs players as motivation to go one better this season but most say they have never watched a replay of the 30-6 loss to South Sydney.
On the eve of Friday's grand final rematch at ANZ Stadium, Canterbury players admitted the Rabbitohs deserved their premiership victory but believe they gifted them the title by conceding too many second-half errors after the scores had been locked at 6-6 at halftime.
What the Bulldogs players remember most from that day was the feeling afterwards as Souths celebrated, while they looked on in disappointment.
"I don't want to watch it, there is not a lot of us who have," centre Tim Lafai said. "It was just the feeling of disappointment at the end to see another team lift the trophy. I guess for any team that would be disappointing but it is also motivating and it pushes you to go that one step further and win that game.
"Any grand final loss for any team is always going to be in your minds, but also Souths and the Bulldogs have history, they are two rival clubs so it is going to be an awesome game this Friday."
Winger Sam Perrett and second-rower Tony Williams also revealed they had not watched the grand final.
"I have just seen bits and pieces here and there, but I still remember the feeling pretty clearly though," Perrett said. "In my eyes it is the way we played. That is my motivation, to do us better really and make sure we do the right things. Souths, true to form, have started off the season in real good form and they have been really sharp so it is going to be a massive game and we really need to be at our best."
Williams said the Bulldogs were determined not to revisit the grand final but still feel they had their chances to win.
"I don't want to watch the grand final," he said. "The errors we made at crucial times were very disappointing and they capitalised on all of them. They were the better team but we made it very hard for ourselves too.
"It was 6-6 at halftime and we had no ball. We put a lot of work into our defence and I think if we had the amount of ball they had it would have been tighter at the end. It was very disappointing but for myself personally I don't want to think about what happened in the past, that is finished now and it is a new challenge. Souths are the benchmark but if we play ourselves we are very hard to beat."
