Bulldogs Coasting into Round Three

The Andrew Johns and Laurie Daley Cup North Coast Bulldogs teams have had an impressive start to the season and both Coaches are hoping to continue their strong run against local rivals Northern Rivers Titans on Saturday.

The Andrew Johns side drew with Parramatta in Round One and enjoyed a 36-12 win over the Central Coast Roosters in Round Two and Coach Brendan Pellegrino is pleased with how his players have been progressing.

“We’ve improved every week so that’s all we’re after a Coach, they’re buying into what we’re teaching them and they’re getting better every week,” Pellegrino said.

“They’re gaining a bit of confidence and starting to believe in not only their own ability but their ability as a team.

“Each person does their role and contributes to the team winning; we don’t try and break it down to anyone standing out.”

In his first year coaching the North Coast side, Pellegrino says he is enjoying the role.

“I love it, it’s a challenge, short team coaching is different to long term coaching.

“You get to learn about the players and what makes them tick; I learn as much from them as they learn from me.”

Pellegrino says his side are looking forward to travelling to Grafton this week to play a quality side and is hoping they can continue their roll on from Round Two.

“Northern Rivers are playing some great football and they look sharp, they’re the benchmark side in our competition at the moment.

“You always want to test yourself against the best and hopefully we can get through our game plan and do the right thing.”

Bulldogs Laurie Daley Cup Coach Darrin Dark is happy with how his players have performed so far and despite making numerous changes each week, says the team has played consistently.

“There have been some marker defence discrepancies and things like that,” Dark said.

“But it’s all about spending the time on it and gelling and doing things better every week and I thought our performance last week was cohesive.

“We are averaging six changes a week to make sure everyone gets some footy so just the way we have come together each week has been really good.”

“Not all our focus is on the win but winning breeds its own form of confidence.”

The Andrew Johns and Laurie Daley Cup Northern Rivers Titans v North Coast Bulldogs matches will take place at Frank McGuren Field, Grafton on Saturday, 2nd March; with matches kicking off at 11:45am and 1:05pm.

Both matches will be live streamed via the CRL Facebook Page.