Giant front rower Willie Mason was the catalyst for the home side’s victory, with a dominating first half performance that yielded a try for himself and two more for his teammates.

After surviving some enterprising play early by Canberra the Bulldogs put the throttle down with five tries midway through the first half to secure victory by the break.

Braith Anasta made sure that someone paid for his omission from the Blues side for the decider with a brilliant tactical kicking game and two tries.

The win keeps the Bulldogs clear at the top of the NRL ladder, while Canberra slip further away from the NRL top eight.

A successful short kick off helped Canberra take the early lead with a penalty to fullback Clinton Schifcofske, after referee Paul Simpkins penalised the Bulldogs Willie Mason for holding Mark Bryant in the tackle.

The Raiders started the game strongly, enthusiastically mixing it up with the Bulldogs in the middle of the ruck, and were helped by another penalty from Simpkins for a second Mason misdemeanour.

Schifcofske though missed adding the two points from a similar angle to the first kick, which saw the scoreline remain 2-0 after five minutes. Soon after five eighth Mark McLinden fired a sharp cut out ball and put Jamaal Lolesi in, but Simpkins ruled the pass forward.

After absorbing the early barrage from Canberra, the Bulldogs hit back with the game’s first four pointer in the eleventh minute. Willie Talau made a break past departing Raider Brett Finch, and good support play by the home side ended with a try to Braith Anasta.

Hazem El Masri missed the simple conversion, but the Bulldogs had established a 4-2 lead.

The Bulldogs went further ahead five minutes later after a Brent Sherwin dummy opened up the Raiders under the posts, his hopeful inside pass scooped up brilliantly by Mason who scored. El Masri’s conversion made the score 10-2 in favour of the Bulldogs.

After starting so strongly, Canberra players were capitulating under the constant pressure from the NRL’s top team. El Masri again added the extras, extending the break to 14 points midway through the first half.

With ten minutes left on the clock, the Bulldogs completely shut the Raiders out of the game with yet another try, this time to replacement prop Glenn Hall. El Masri’s conversion made the scoreline 22-2, and the Raiders were in danger of giving up a cricket score.

El Masri then scored another Bulldogs try which he converted to make the score 28-2 at the break, the City Origin representative scoring 12 of the points himself.

After halftime some of the sting went of the Bulldogs effort, but they still managed to pull away from the Raiders who seemed completely unable to make tackles.

Hall continued his strong play off the bench, grabbing his second try in the 48th minute that was converted by El Masri from a simple angle.

Willie Talau looked to get in the act with a four-pointer in the corner, but the video referee ruled his head to took out the corner post before he got downward pressure.

The Raiders finally got over the tryline with 25 minutes remaining, but video referee Graeme West correctly ruled that winger Michael Robertson grounded the ball just outside the field of play.

Anasta scored his second with an intercept and NRL top tryscorer Nigel Vagana got into the act with a try, before the Raiders scored a consolation try to Lolesi that made the final score 46-6 in favour of the Bulldogs.