Bulldogs skipper Josh Jackson says he was not a fan of watching on in round four but is stinging to return alongside Luke Thompson and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak to drag his club out of a rut.
The task couldn't be much bigger against the in-form Storm in Melbourne but Jackson believes the team should take encouragement from a strong start against Souths.
"It was tough, it was only the second one I've missed so it was a strange feeling," Jackson told NRL.com.
"It was tough obviously watching it. I thought we started the game really well though. Just a few little periods let us down in the first half. I thought we started the second half OK then obviously the second half [of the half] was pretty tough to watch."