Brisbane 18 Bulldogs 26

WE KNOW Sonny Bill Williams puts his back into the Bulldogs. But never like he did yesterday. With a back injury that coach Steve Folkes admitted should have sidelined him, Williams led the way as the Bulldogs continued a weekend of upsets.

But Williams wasn't alone. Lock Reni Maitua played with a shoulder injury that could have prevented him playing, hooker Corey Hughes a rib injury, Le Te Maari a hip …

"We had a few blokes that played with things they probably shouldn't have," Folkes said. "But they just wanted to play. Sometimes, the power of the mind …"

Williams, using his body and mind, was the best of them. He scored a try, and was in just about everything. He retrieved kicks, and carried out successful strips. He saved tries at one end and scored them at the other.

"He probably played with something he maybe shouldn't have played with," Folkes confirmed. "That's the spirit. There's been a lot of talk about the team being down … we've been getting bombarded from all areas. But the players and coaching staff are tight-knit. It's a really good reward for them. They've been trying bloody hard, and people don't see that. They only see them on the weekend."

Broncos coach Wayne Bennett said of Williams: "He was outstanding. No one probably tried much harder than he did all day. He was on the right side of the field, left side of the field, he was everywhere. He played himself into the ground."

And so the round of upsets continued with one of the biggest of them all. The Dogs had lost five in a row and a host of players, with skipper Andrew Ryan admitting the past few months had been the toughest period he had experienced in rugby league.

"We've been working our backsides off, and so to not come away with the wins, it's been disappointing," Ryan said. "But that's what made today a little bit more special.

"It's definitely the toughest, especially as we're right down at the bottom of the table. The most frustrating thing is the last team we beat was Cronulla. And today we beat Brisbane. They're two of the better teams. But people expect success. In a successful team, it hurts."

Said Folkes: "It's been really difficult for everyone at the club. Obviously, the expectation is that we're successful, and that hasn't been happening. It's just a real good reward for the players, because they've been turning up every day and working really hard. I'm really proud of the way they played against a pretty good side."

After the Bulldogs' last-start loss, a heartbreaker against South Sydney, prop Jarrad Hickey was hurting more than anyone. He had given away the ball that allowed Rabbitohs fullback Luke Capewell to score in golden-point extra time.

He too carried an injury into yesterday's encounter, a corked thigh, and was as good as he was the previous week, without the howler to spoil it.

"I was shattered at the end of the game, very disappointed," Hickey said. "It was probably the lowest I've felt. But my family and friends, my teammates, they really stuck by me. I was getting a bit depressed after the game, but they told me not to worry about it. It was just a mistake, one of those things. I don't even care about it now.

"I reckon I'll have a lot more lows and a lot more highs in football. If that's the lowest I'll feel in my life, I'll have a pretty good life."

BULLDOGS 26 (D Holdsworth H Nanai A Taumata S Williams tries H El Masri 5 goals) bt BRISBANE 18 (M Ennis S Thaiday P Wallace tries M Ennis 3 goals) at Suncorp Stadium. Referee: T Archer. Crowd:  37,683.