After forcing his way into Cameron Ciraldo\u2019s NRL plans, the rookie forward has wasted little time making an impression with his aggressive defensive and highly energetic performance off the interchange bench.<\/p>\n
WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n In only his second NRL appearance, a bone-jarring tackle produced by Underhill may have very easily saved the club\u2019s season as they ended a five-match losing streak on Friday night against the Storm.<\/p>\n Down by 12 points (18-6), the thunderous shot instantly lifted both the crowd and his teammates, swinging momentum back into the Bulldogs favour and not allowing Alec MacDonald to cross over for another try.<\/p>\n \u201cI was in a lucky position. I got lucky there; it was cool. The boys grabbed me straight away and it was a big confidence boost,\u201d Underhill said after the match.<\/p>\n \u201cYou put a hit on and all the boys grab you. It was mad (and) awesome. Sitili (Tupouniua) was slapping me in the head. Everyone dreams about (that).\u201d<\/p>\n Underhill produced several highlights against the Storm in only his second NRL match.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n Then, in the second half, he charged down a Jahrome Hughes kick before diving on the loose ball to ensure the Bulldogs retained possession in a crucial attacking period.<\/p>\n Initially ruled a knock-on by the referee, the rookie immediately urged teammates to challenge the decision – and the bunker overturned the call.<\/p>\n \u201cMy hand\u2019s killing from that,\u201d he said afterwards.<\/p>\n \u201cI hit the ball and I was running but I couldn\u2019t find the ball and I turned around, I see it on my left and I just sprinted.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t feel like I dropped it, so I was like \u2018There\u2019s no way\u2019 and I was confused as but I was confident.\u201d<\/p>\n The forward was dropped from the Sunshine Coast Falcons.Source: Supplied<\/p>\n Given a standing ovation when he came from the field, what many people don\u2019t realise is that Underhill could have very easily found himself playing for the Melbourne Storm rather than against them on Friday night.<\/p>\n Before linking up with the Bulldogs, the forward – who has been likened to Aiden Tolman, James Graham and Jacob Preston due to his strawberry blonde hair – came through the grades with the Sunshine Coast Falcons in Queensland.<\/p>\n A feeder club of the Storm at the time, the Falcons provided him his first real taste of a professional system, but he found himself dropped by them and on the lookout for a new team.<\/p>\n \u201cI was at the Falcons, we used to be the feeder club for Melbourne but got dropped and then got my opportunity to come to the Dogs,\u201d Underhill said.<\/p>\n \u201cHemmo [Bulldogs official] picked me up and then I wouldn\u2019t probably be here if it wasn\u2019t for Jacko [Josh Jackson]. Jacko flogged me.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was funny and I rocked up to the club and I got a job here when I first came and I had never really met a Lebanese person.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was a massive culture shock for me. All the ladies and men I worked with welcomed me in like I was a son.\u201d<\/p>\n Dogs snap streak after downing Storm | 03:52<\/p>\n Rather than letting the setback derail his career, the young forward used it as motivation and has successfully progressed through the grades at Canterbury.<\/p>\n This earned him the respect of teammates and coaches for his resilience and relentless work ethic.<\/p>\n But it did take him some time to quickly build confidence in his own ability after arriving in Belmore.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you go to SG Ball, you can play Flegg (afterwards) but I wasn\u2019t good enough,\u201d Underhill continued.<\/p>\n \u201cI got here trying to play SG Ball and then couldn\u2019t make the side of Flegg that year. Then I played (Ron) Massey and just learnt, learnt and kept learning.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had a good team. We had heaps of boys who have debuted. I just wasn\u2019t good enough.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, it makes you work harder. That\u2019s what the crew is. We\u2019ve got a good crew in (NSW) Cup and NRL. Everyone is pushing each other and it\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canterbury Bulldogs rookie Jack Underhill could have easily found himself at the Melbourne Storm, but instead, the hard-hitting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":688822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-688821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779017096_680_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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