Canterbury captain Josh Jackson has dismissed the suggestion teammate Corey Waddell is a dirty player after he was slapped with a five-game ban for eye-gouging earlier this week.
Waddell was handed a suspension by the NRL judiciary on Tuesday for putting his fingers in the eyes of Gold Coast prop Tino Fa'asuamaleaui in the Bulldogs' 36-26 win last Sunday.
Fa'asuamaleaui was backing into a tackle when Waddell wrapped his hands around the Titans player's head and made contact with his eyes.
The suspension rules Waddell out of Sunday's trip to Newcastle and the forward will only have the chance to play in the Bulldogs' final game of the regular season when they take on Manly.
"He's obviously pretty disappointed with the result," Jackson said on Thursday. "It's a tough one for him.
"He didn't go in with any intent or any malice, unfortunately it's just something that happens in the game.
"I was hopeful that he'd get off. He probably wasn't sort of seeing what he was doing; his hand was sort of wrapping outside of his face."
Sunday's game with the Knights is a deadrubber with neither side a chance of making the finals.
The Dogs, however, are on the up under interim coach Mick Potter and have gone from the worst attack in the NRL to the competition's seventh-best, averaging 25.5 points per game since Trent Barrett was shown the door.
"We're just going to turn up and try and win every game that we can and hopefully we can keep winning," Jackson said.
"The atmosphere at the games has been fantastic and the fans are enjoying it - scoring points and getting some wins because they haven't had a lot (to sing about) the last couple of years."
