Canterbury players have embraced the challenge of arguably the toughest start to the NRL season as they look to give Dean Pay his first win as an NRL coach.
The Bulldogs lost to reigning champions Melbourne in Perth in round one before catching a red-eye flight to Sydney to prepare for competition heavyweights the Sydney Roosters on Friday.
No other side has been asked to play two top-four teams from last year in the opening fortnight of the competition, resulting in an early test for Pay.
"It's good to play the reigning premiers round one to see where you're at, and we weren't good enough," prop Aiden Tolman said on Tuesday.
"We're going to have to be better this week to beat the Roosters. They finished high up on the ladder last year as well so it's going to be a big ask for us."
The short turnaround also means Pay will only hold two field sessions this week as he looks to keep his team fresh against the Roosters.
"It was our home game, we decided to take it over to Perth. We've just got to deal with it, we're professional athletes, we're a professional club," Tolman said.
Tolman said the team had been buoyed by the club debut of star signing Kieran Foran, as well as impressive efforts from new fullback Moses Mbye and forward Raymond Faitala-Mariner.
Mbye carried the ball for a team-high 136 metres against the Storm, while Foran assisted with a combined three try and line breaks on set plays.
"We put on three tries from set pieces that we've come up with and that's hard to do against a great defensive side like Melbourne so there's definitely some positives there," he said.
"Just (Foran's) direction and his enthusiasm to be back playing again, it's infectious and going to be great for us this season. I thought all our recruits played really well."
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