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Canterbury players believe their ability to win more close games than any other NRL teams is evidence of the close bond within the team.
Of the Bulldogs' past 17 wins, five have been by just one point - including last Friday night's 25-24 golden point defeat of Wests Tigers after trailing 24-6 midway through the second half - and another five were decided by four points or less.
The 2014 grand finalists won four matches last season by a single point - against Sydney Roosters in round five, the Warriors in round six, South Sydney in round seven and Manly in the finals.
The elimination finals triumph over the Sea Eagles was the third time halfback Trent Hodkinson had kicked two field goals to win a match in his career and he is arguably the game's best clutch player after also landing one-pointers in the defeats of the Warriors and Souths.
But injured five-eighth Josh Reynolds also kicked a winning field goal against the Roosters last year and it was his stand-in Moses Mbye who secured victory over the Tigers last week after Hodkinson passed to his rookie halves partner when defenders rushed him.
Canterbury have also enjoyed two-point wins over Melbourne and Parramatta and beaten Newcastle, the Warriors and Sea Eagles by four points in the past 12 months.
According to Champion Data, the Bulldogs, North Queensland and Gold Coast have all been involved in 12 matches decided by five points or less since the opening round of the 2014 season, with Canterbury winning 10, the Titans seven and the Cowboys three, including Monday night's 18-17 defeat of Melbourne.
"That just shows how much we play for each other," strike forward Tony Williams said. "I think a few of those games any other team easily could have lost, and we shouldn't have won last week, but we have a lot of fight in our team and if we hold onto the ball we can score tries."
As they prepare to face the Rabbitohs for the first time since last year's grand final, the confidence the players have taken from their comeback win over the Tigers is obvious. "It is a good trait to have that fight for the full 80 minutes," centre Tim Lafai said. "It is a good sign that we can come back from being down, but it can't happen every time because teams will go all the way and beat us."
Williams said the 24-18 loss to Penrith after fighting back from 24-0 to score three tries in the last 11 minutes demonstrated to the Bulldogs players that they couldn't always get out of jail in a tight match, although with more time he was confident they would have.
"When we click it is a great feeling on the field and the energy goes around the team," Williams said. "Against Penrith, if we had another five minutes I reckon we could have done the same thing, but you can't leave everything to the end. We were lucky to get to where we did last week but you know what, we did it and we got those two points."
Winger Curtis Rona, who has scored five tries in his first four matches since joining the Bulldogs from North Queensland this season, said he could sense the confidence within the team when the game is on the line.
"Obviously there is that urgency and it looks pretty clear that the boys want to go out there and win it when it comes down to those nailbiting games," Rona said. "I think we have got a quality team and when the pressure is on the boys all rise to it."
Canterbury's close wins
2014
Rd 5 v Roosters 9-8
Rd 6 v Warriors 21-20
Rd 7 v Souths 15-14
Rd 8 v Knights 16-12
Rd 10 v Warriors 16-12
Rd 18 v Storm 6-4
Rd 23 v Eels 18-16
Finals v Manly 18-17
2015
Rd 3 v Manly 16-12
Rd 4 v Tigers 25-24
