Bulldogs 30 South Sydney 34

THE comeback kings needed a comeback kid. And there was no bigger comeback than that of Luke Capewell, who even out-did the 18-point overhaul by his team when it came to back-from-the-brink, up-off-the-canvas plays.

From hooked (almost) to hero, Capewell clinched Souths' fourth comeback win in a row after he was at fault, to varying degrees, for four of the Bulldogs' five tries.

Coach Jason Taylor admitted he considered benching the 19-year-old, who was playing his fourth NRL game, but was glad he didn't. He shifted him to the wing, and Capewell found himself on the end of the final pass to win the game in the 87th minute, completing Souths' victory from 24-6 down a week after overhauling a 24-point deficit against North Queensland.

"It was just one of those nights," Capewell said.

No kidding. Here's a rundown of Capewell's capers. Twelfth minute, Bulldogs five-eighth Arana Taumata runs 85 metres to score, stepping Capewell on the way; 15th minute, fullback Brent Crisp shows his AFL skills to leap above him and score; 45th, turns himself in circles from Corey Hughes's kick and loses the ball, allowing Tim Winitana to score; 65th, the ball evades him, with Ben Roberts's grubber touched down by Heka Nanai.

"You can't get yourself down about things like that," Capewell said afterwards. "I thought to myself, just put it behind me. Move on."

Said Taylor: "He's got an amazing ability to do that. In the games that he's played so far, he's had some little moments where things haven't been so great, but he just picks himself back up and gets straight back into it. There's a really bright future there."

But it looked bleak at one stage. "I thought about [benching him], but I just thought that he probably just needed to get out of the fullback position for a while," Taylor said. Capewell had never played on the wing, but scored two tries from there, both set up by Craig Wing, who provided textbook delivery with ball and mouth.

"I saw he was a bit down," Wing said. "I told him, 'start your game again, and make sure you finish it well.' And he won the game."

Fortune favoured Capewell, but it was the reverse for a couple of Bulldogs. Roberts's kicking game was superb for most of the contest, however he suffered a boot explosion a minute out from normal time when he grubbered on the first tackle in good field position. "It just wasn't the play, was it, but he'll have to learn from it," coach Steve Folkes said.

Jarrad Hickey put his body on the line all night, but his mouth and his hands failed him; his words to referee Jason Robinson gave Souths two points from a penalty, while his dropped ball in the first set of the second period of extra time gave Souths the ball, and Capewell his redemption.

Asked about his side's mindset afterwards, Folkes said: "They weren't up dancing or anything. They had their heads down, and they're really disappointed, and I would expect them to be. But it was probably our best performance for several weeks."

Souths had other heroes. Halfback Chris Sandow scored a try, kicked a vital 40/20 and four goals. Like Capewell, he is yet to lose in the NRL.

"Nothing seems to faze him," Taylor said. "It's his confidence level, and just the way he handles the pressure of big games like that, and situations we've been in, that's impressed me most. There was actually a point in the game where I thought, 'this is going to be his first taste of a loss'."

Smells like teen spirit at Redfern.

SOUTH SYDNEY 34 (L Capewell 2, D Fa'alogo, C Sandow, F Talanoa, C Wing tries C Sandow 4, I Luke goals) bt BULLDOGS 30 (B Crisp, H Nanai, A Ryan, A Taumata, T Winitana tries H El Masri 5 goals) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: J Robinson. Crowd: 15,562.