Armidale at home – they’re obviously a really good team.
- Andrew George
Gunnedah will look to extend their winning streak when they travel to Armidale on Saturday, in a match Bulldogs player-coach Andrew George says will provide the reigning premiers with a good form gauge.
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New England’s form has been indifferent since they thumped Gunnedah by 88 points in round one, but George expects the Nomads to field a strong side at Bellevue Oval on Saturday.
The competition-leading Bulldogs are riding a five-match winning sequence while the second-placed Nomads, whom Gunnedah beat in last season’s grand final, have three wins from six matches.
George said: “Armidale at home – they’re obviously a really good team.
“I think last year was the first year we went up there and won for a fair while.
“So it’s definitely a tough road trip and one that will sort of tell us where we’re at this season, I guess.”
George said the Bulldogs would go into the match emboldened by their best performances of the season the past fortnight – a 110-point away win to Moree and a 169-point home defeat of the Kangaroos last round.
He said the side were playing a similar style to last season, albeit thinkered with to cater for an infusion of new, inexperienced players this year.
That “basic” style, he said, was “based around accountability” – a “one-on-one style of footy”.
“We’re playing a nice style of footy at the moment,” he said.
“And it would be nice to keep that going, especially on the road and with a couple of our regulars out.”
George praised the form of newcomers Isaac Reeves and Hayden Baker, as well as Mark Barrow.