While they have lost all three games they have played against Dubbo Kangaroos this year, Bathurst Bulldogs’ coach Michael Burgess believes his side is a good chance of getting a breakthrough win in this Saturday’s Central West Rugby decider.
Burgess said with a near full strength side, he and co-coach Richard Smith will look to give the side a relaxing preparation for the big one.
“I’m sure the guys will be sore [after last Saturday’s 28-23 win over Narromine] but there’s no major injuries so we should be at nearly full strength for the match,” Burgess said.
“I think we just freshen the guys up, they’re not going to get any fitter at this stage of the season and there’s no point running them into the ground.
“We went out and had a good, solid session on Tuesday night, to run a bit of the soreness out of them and then Thursday night we’ll just go through our set pieces, the backs will go through their moves.
“We will have a nice relaxed week, we don’t want to be yelling and screaming and getting everyone on edge. We will just go in there like we have all year.”
While they scored the first try in their win against Narromine they conceded the next two trys in quick succession and Burgess put it down to nerves.
“I think at the start and early in the second half we started a bit tense and I think the guys were a bit overrawed by the occasion and the big game so we need to relax and go out there and enjoy it,” the Bulldogs’ mentor said.
“We have worked hard to get to this grand final, it’s not something they should be afraid of.”
Bulldogs also conceded the last try of the match and that was another issue Burgess said the team would talk about.
“They scored a try right before full time and we just have to learn to shut those games down,” Burgess said.
“Leading by 12 we didn’t need to take shots at field goal, you just play field position and control it instead of trying for a 40 metre field goal. They are the sort of things we will work on for next week.”
After losing by just two points to ’Roos (23-21) in the preliminary final, the Bulldogs’ leader said he was expecting another tough match and his side would need to minimise the number of opportunities his side gave Dubbo if they are to win.
“While we have lost all three games to them this year, they have been pretty close and I expect the grand final to be pretty much the same,” Burgess said.
“I think we have to play for the 80 minutes, we need to get those lapses out of our game. We just seem to lose concentration, throw bad passes and take silly options and our enthusiasm drops off every now and then.
“You just can’t give them a chance because if they get in front, they really strangle the game out and they control it well. We have to hang in there and not give them those opportunities and take ours when they come.”
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