Wests Tigers inflicted more misery on Canterbury with a 19-12 NRL victory at a sodden ANZ Stadium on Friday.

Tries from Benji Marshall, Robbie Farah and a late four-pointer from big second-rower Simon Dwyer sealed a third successive win for the Tigers, with the Bulldogs slumping to their fifth straight defeat.

More than 78 millimetres of rain drenched the playing surface in 24 hours and both sides found the conditions very difficult with the ball resembling a bar of soap for much of the first half as passes went to ground.

It was the home side that started the stronger, with Josh Morris being held up just short of the line by Beau Ryan after two minutes, but it was the closest either side came to troubling the scorers in the dour early exchanges.

However, the small home crowd of 11,837 came to life after Idris produced a bone-shuddering tackle that left Chris Heighington flat on his back.

And from the Bulldogs' next set, Morris did score, after great work from skipper Andrew Ryan, who drifted past Robert Lui to release the centre for the 50th try of his career.

The Tigers got themselves back on level terms on the half-hour mark when Bulldogs veteran fullback Luke Patten spilled a Farah grubber-kick, and Marshall reacted quickest to score, before slotting the conversion.

The Tigers dominated possession after the break, and should have taken the lead on 47 minutes, but Marshall, who has struggled with his kicking for much of the season, missed a straightforward penalty in front of the posts.

That let off lifted the Bulldogs, who scored their second try of the game with Ryan rounding off a superb move with his fourth four-pointer of the year.

Again it was Idris who played a big part in lifting his team, offloading brilliantly with a pop-up pass to Kimmorley as he was ambushed by two Tigers players, and the NSW halfback's kick across the ground was latched onto by a grateful Ryan in the 53rd minute.

With just three wins to their name all season, the Bulldogs showed why they are struggling, as they failed to build on their advantage as the Tigers again hit back seven minutes later when the impressive Farah took advantage of a quick play-the-ball to barge over from dummy-half.

It was a just reward for Farah who outshone his rival for the NSW hooking role Michael Ennis with a real captain's performance.

Lui's field goal gave Tim Sheens' side a priceless one-point lead nine minutes from time and Dwyer made sure of the two points in the dying seconds with his first ever try.

Bulldogs coach Kevin Moore bemoaned a controversial forward pass ruling by referee Shayne Hayne midway through the second half with the Bulldogs leading 12-6 at the time.

Hayne penalised Blake Green with the Bulldogs in good field position and Moore said his side have not been getting the rub of the green in recent weeks.

"We can't buy the bounce of the ball at the moment and some of the decisions by the senior referee were very ordinary for a bloke who will be at State of Origin next week which is a concern.

"It was the same bloke who never picked up a pass that was three metres forward in round two so he has got a record hasn't he," Moore said, referring to Hayne's ruling against Manly in their defeat to Parramatta when two forward passes went undetected in the Eels' match-winning try.

Tigers coach Tim Sheens paid tribute to both sides for dealing with the soaking conditions and said his side were rewarded with the win after showing great determination.

"I would like to commend both sides for their efforts, but we never let the game slip away and it was real gritty win, which are often the best sorts," Sheens said.

"We have the bye now and that will give us the chance to get away, rest and come back.

"We have now had three Friday games in a row and it makes such a difference to recovery, just ask the Dragons."

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