WE PROBABLY should have known that, on a day when the sharpest shooter in the game, Hazem El Masri, missed four successive kicks at goal, his Bulldogs teammate Corey Hughes would be successful from the sideline when he stepped up to take the last shot of the day.

Hughes was given the traditional send-off for a player who has been at the same club for all his career and is playing in his last game before either retiring or leaving to finish at another club - a shot at goal with the result not on the line.

Bulldogs centre Tim Winitana had scored a try in the corner with only a couple of minutes to go, leaving the Bulldogs down 52-32, so it was now or never.

"Bobcat [Bulldogs captain Andrew Ryan] said to me earlier, 'If we're in that kind of position, do you want to take a kick?' So, when we got that late try, I thought I'd have a go," said Hughes, who is leaving the club to join Cronulla. "It would have been nice if we could have spoiled their party by winning, but it was still a bit of fun to finish off the game."

El Masri started the game 14 points short of the competition's individual pointsscoring record, which is held by Andrew Johns at 2176.

Playing at fullback, instead of his normal position on the wing, El Masri scored the first try of the game in just the second minute, to immediately bring the target within reach. But he proceeded to miss that conversion attempt and his next three as well, which was incredible considering his normal accuracy.

"I struck them all pretty well," El Masri said. "But they just didn't want to go through.

"Each time it looked like it was going in, but then it either went a bit left or a bit right at the end. None of them missed by much, but something was keeping them out. It was frustrating, but that's the way it goes."

The only plus was that it wouldn't have been a great day to break the record, with the Bulldogs losing again and finishing with the wooden spoon. El Masri finished with eight points after adding two goals to his try, and hopes to score the seven points to break it in the first round next season.

Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes summed it up when he said: "I've never seen Corey kick one like that. But, then again, I've never seen Hazem miss four in a row, either."