Hazem El Masri is either an eternal optimist or knows something most NRL punters don't, after the pointscoring wizard refused to concede the Bulldogs' finals hopes were dashed.

"There's always a chance, you never give up, if we can get a couple of wins together anything could happen," he said.

If only the Bulldogs could show as much resilience with their defence.

The Bulldogs remain a mathematical chance of finals football sitting six points adrift of the top eight with ten matches remaining.

But those six points look more like 26 at the moment, with the injury-ravaged club struggling to compete with their NRL rivals.

Over the past four weeks the Bulldogs have conceded 150 points, or just a touch under 38 points a game.

Still El Masri says the club will not throw in the towel, with the development of youth a key focus for the remainder of the season.

Last week young five-eighth Arana Taumata made his debut, while under 20s prop John Kite will be given his first taste of the NRL against South Sydney on Monday night.

"We've got a lot of young guys that we're trying to build for the rest of this year and hopefully next year, you can't slack off, you've got to remain positive," El Masri said.

"It's been tough but it's a building process for us as well. You hit a few hurdles ... sometimes you just need a little bit of luck on your side or the bounce of the ball or some kind of a decision go your way."

The Bulldogs will don pink socks for Monday night's ANZ Stadium clash, but the move has little to do with the once feared Bulldogs pack losing its bite.

Rather the club will be doing its bit to raise awareness for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, with the socks to be auctioned off after the game.

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