A sense of confusion was the prominent feeling when the final team lists dropped for Canterbury against Brisbane.
Just a few hours later, this feeling was amplified to the nth degree after the Broncos produced a stunning 18-point comeback to roar home 22-18.
For the vast majority of the contest, the Bulldogs were the better side.
However, a stunning 15-minute second-half salvo from the visitors tipped the game on its head and left Cameron Ciraldo and the wider NRL community with more questions than answers.
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Dogs left confused as Mam magic causes halves switch to backfire
Ciraldo had kept his cards close to his chest all week once again when it came to the utilisation of star mid-season recruit, Lachlan Galvin.
After injecting him off the bench against Penrith last week, the coach was full of praise for his involvement.
"If you look at the last sequence, Lachie was in all three plays and gave us a chance to win the game," the coach said ahead of their meeting with Brisbane.
"We’re not going to take that away from him, we just want our guys to better understand how to play with him."
To do this, the Bulldogs rattled through several changes just one hour before kick-off.
Matt Burton was moved into the centres for just the second time in his Dogs career to accommodate Galvin’s inclusion at five-eighth.
This wasn’t the only alteration Ciraldo made though, as Blake Wilson dropped out of the backline as a result of Burton’s switch.
Meanwhile, Jake Turpin was elevated into the starting side at lock, with Bailey Hayward reverting to the utility role he had fulfilled so well before Galvin arrived in Belmore.
"We sort of planned for Burto be 18th man for NSW, so when that shifted to Jacob Kiraz going in, it meant we were a bit short in our outside backs," Ciraldo reasoned post-match.
"We were going to try and use both of them at times during the game at five-eighth and centre. But Burto put his hand up and said it’d be easier if he just played centre."
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The Bulldogs were ambushed by the Broncos earlier in the season when Michael Maguire’s side raced out to an unassailable 34-0 lead.
The Queensland outfit went on with the job in the second stanza to hand the Dogs their first loss of the year back in Round 8.
It’s fair to say, they didn’t get the jump on them this time around. Instead, it was the hosts who opened the scoring through Marcelo Montoya.
Burton then also got on the scoresheet after Selwyn Cobbo was punished for some lackadaisical work in the in-goal area.
The four-pointer from the makeshift centre kick-started a dominant spell of possession for his side, with Viliame Kikau also cashing in on the dominance with an opportunistic try off a Galvin bomb.
The five-eighth wasn’t scared to chance his arm as he constantly threatened the defensive line with his running game, although he seemed to push his luck a few times too many in his pass selection.
"We were always trying to land knockout punches when we were in good ball position," Ciraldo lamented.
"The Broncos were defending well though and we just got frustrated in the second half. We were trying to force it too much."
Yet while all the attention had been drawn towards the revolving door policy Ciraldo has adopted in his halves, it was a Brisbane playmaker who started to steal the headlines on the hour-mark.
Adam Reynolds was having a night to forget but his partner Ezra Mam stepped up amid a growing chorus of boos from the home crowd.
He danced around a few tackles off a quick play-the-ball on the halfway line to send Josiah Karapani racing away down the touchline.
The Brisbane No.6 was then back at it again moments later when his cut-out pass sent Delouise Hoeter over.
Suddenly, the Bulldogs were on the back foot and Billy Walters capitalised on this when he crashed over out of dummy-half on his 100th NRL appearance.
Mam then completed the stunning comeback he had helped to spark when he reeled in a Reynolds pass out the back before dishing it off to Brendan Piakura to power his way over untouched and spark jubilant scenes.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs were left to lick their wounds as more uncertainty was cast around their ideal halves pairing going forward.
"I haven’t thought too far past that game at the moment," Ciraldo responded when asked whether Burton and Sexton would be his No.6 and No.7 come finals time.
"I don’t think our attack has reached its potential all year, so we’re searching for that. Most clubs are.
"We’re searching for what exactly works. We’ve got nine or 10 weeks still to figure it out."