ROUND 3 - MATCH REPORT

NORTHS BULLDOGS 28

DEF

NORTH SURF 8

The Bulldogs took on North Surf this week at University Oval on Thursday night and came away with the win making it two on the trot to kick start the season. With a very poor preparation leading up to the match due to wet weather and the Easter long weekend I was very interested to see how the boys would perform. With a score line of 28 - 8 it’s safe to say the boys turned up to play football. Having said that I do believe the score could have been a lot better.

The first half saw the Bulldogs get off to the perfect start with two tries in their first two sets. The first try saw Luke "MOOSE" Shiels get his first meat pie playing for the bulldogs and with his first touch of the ball no less. The second saw Nathan Sams score off a perfectly waited kick from Nathan Potter. With such a quick succession of tries I feel the boys went into cruise mode and may have let their guard down a bit. Soon we found ourselves defending our own line and all due to our own mistakes. We were making great meters and there were plenty of line breaks but we kept pushing our passes and handing the ball back to the opposition. We did score again through Jarryd Ward off the back of some great ball movement and this meant we went into the half time break 18 nil up.

At half time we spoke about completing our sets and not trying so hard to score off every play. I knew that if we composed ourselves, completed our sets and concentrated on dominating the ruck that the score line would take care of itself. We have made a decision this year that we want to be the best defensive side in the competition so we also talked about keeping the opposition scoreless. The boys got out there in the second half and it was like we had left our enthusiasm in the sheds. All of a sudden we were being dominated in the ruck and behind in the penalty count. The boys hung tough and managed two more tries through Nathan Sams who crossed for his double and Ryan Gillroy who scored off the back end of a beautifully executed back line movement. Although we were now well ahead I would have liked to have seen us really put North Surf to the sword but to the oppositions credit they never gave up. Now in my opinion I think we were hard done by with a few of the penalties but even so we really were our own worst enemies. Once again we squandered a few opportunities by pushing the last pass. This meant we were handing the ball over and sometimes after the first tackle.

No matter how good a side you may be if you don't hold onto the football you can’t win games. It was just lucky we had gained such a lead because North Surf finished the match with two tries. As a coach I will take any win I can get and this is no different, but I feel that this was a game that went begging. The side we have this year really is something special and with plenty of talent but talent alone doesn't win you games. We need to grow as a football team and learn to be patient. If we can learn to be patient and just stick to our game plans then I have no doubt that there will be big things in store for the Bulldogs team of 2014.

Once again there were no bad players on the paddock and after compiling the stats all the players got through their fair amount of work. Having said that there are few players that deserve a mention. Shaun Helt had an outstanding game and has really made the most of his opportunity stepping into the starting side. Kurt Ridley has continued on his great form last year along with Nathan Sams. Both our centres Ben Field and Todd Gripton played well even linking up on a few occasions and finally MOOOOOSE had a top game for his first time in the Bulldogs Jersey making some great hit ups and always looking to bust the line.

Well that’s the wrap up for our second match which means we have to turn our attention to week 3. We take on Windang at home on Saturday at 3:30pm. We have a lot to work on so everyone get to training so we can put on a good show for all our supporters on Saturday arvo.

By Ellis Hurworth - Captain/Coach