Bulldogs chief executive Todd Greenberg declared himself happy with his NRL club's controversial promotion last night and backed them to get more right than wrong as they pursue other initiatives.
A total of 2,893 spectators out of the crowd of 12,973 at ANZ Stadium for the clash with New Zealand Warriors, took up the offer of free entry to anyone bearing a New Zealand, Fijian, Samoan or Tongan passport.
The move sparked plenty of comment and outrage among Bulldogs' supporters, some of whom believed their club was acting in a discriminatory fashion.
Greenberg understood their feelings but believed the club had to do different things to draw fans to games in the ultra-competitive Sydney sports market.
"Whenever you do things like this you are always going to polarise some people and not everyone is going to agree with you," Greenberg told AAP.
"That's cool, I understand people won't agree with me all the time, but we will back ourselves to get more right than wrong and this is one of the things I think we got right.
"It was a great promotion, I think it would be hard to pick holes in that.
"There's no doubt down the track we will do some different things again.
"This is a tough, competitive sports market. We've got to try different things and I would rather try and fail than not try at all."
One of the men associated with last night's promotion, the Bulldogs' New Zealand-born superstar forward Sonny Bill Williams, was back in the gym training today after missing last night's match with a back problem.
Club officials expected Williams and hooker Corey Hughes, who suffered a rib injury yesterday, to be fit for next week's clash with St George Illawarra.
Greenberg said the only other promotion presently planned for this season involved giving 4,000 tickets to the staff and volunteers of Westmead Childrens Hospital for the round-24 Bulldogs' game against Parramatta at ANZ Stadium next month.
The news that the Bulldogs will pursue other promotional ideas to tempt fans through the gate should meet with approval from their former champion forward Steve Price, who captained the Warriors last night.
"It was a good promotion," Price said.
"The club has sort of put themselves into a position now where they are going to have to continue to do things like that, because obviously the loyal supporters felt a little bit upset by being left out and it's going to be interesting to see what they do going forward to make their loyal supporters feel they are being looked after."
Last night's 40-22 loss in which they conceded eight tries almost certainly ended the Bulldogs' finals hopes.
