VANQUISHED Bulldogs coach Mick Burgess believes that a five-minute period just before half-time eventually accounted for his team in the Central West Rugby first grade decider against the Dubbo ’Roos on Saturday.

Burgess’ men went down 32-12 to the formidable Dubbo team who have now won three titles on the trot and showed just why they have lost just once in two seasons.

“It wasn’t a great day,” Burgess said afterwards.

“Nothing fell into place, the passing was pretty terrible a lot of the time, we were losing scrums against the feed and our reaction time and getting to the rucks was pretty ordinary.

“At 12-7 down just before half-time I thought we were still a real chance but they got one try from an intercept and then a penalty – all of a sudden it was 22-7.”

Burgess said that a plethora of mistakes close to the Dubbo line didn’t help his side’s cause, but that the effort of his players could not be faulted.

“They never stopped trying. I’m very proud of the effort and really, there has been a massive turnaround at the club this year compared to how things went last season,” he explained.

“Seconds won the premiership, thirds made the finals and we made the grand final, so things are looking good for the future.”

Whether Burgess will be part of that future remains up in the air and he says that it will be at least a few weeks before he and co-coach Richard Smith sit down and take a look at their options for 2009.

“Who knows? I’m not sure what sort of personnel we’ll have here and I’m not sure if I will be coaching,” he said.

“Kiwi [Smith] and I will sit down after presentation night and do a bit of a review and look at things we can improve on.

“We’ll talk about who is playing next year; I haven’t given up on Ray Lange yet, we’ll work on him and hopefully convince him to stay. Maybe we will have to convince one of his mates to come over from New Zealand and entice him to stay,” Burgess joked.

He said that despite the obvious disappointment at stumbling at the final premiership hurdle on Saturday, Burgess was still as happy as could be about making the grand final in the first place and paid tribute to the quality of the side who knocked them off.

“Dubbo are a great side, they came out and played well and their forwards worked hard and were quick to the breakdown – you just can’t let them get in front like they did,” he concluded.