Exciting Gunnedah No 9 Liam Ireland has said a high-functioning Bulldogs side will be a "pretty scary" proposition.
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The 19-year-old made the comment after describing as "pretty scrappy" the Bulldogs' 38-14 defeat of Dungowan at Kitchener Park on Sunday afternoon.
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"That just proves that we've got a long way to come before we're at full strength," said Ireland, who bagged a try double. "When we get there, we should be a pretty scary side, I think."
The Bulldogs have started the season with two straight wins. They beat Boggabri 24-20 last weekend.
Against the Cowboys, who lost 30-22 to the Bears in the opening round, Gunnedah were never headed after scoring first when their No 6 and skipper Reece Jaeger put fullback Dylan Lake into a hole close to Dungowan's tryline early in the match.
No 5 Dylan O'Brien converted, with the home side crossing again soon after that: Ireland darted over from dummy half. It was 12-0 after O'Brien's conversion.
But like they did against the Bears, Dungowan showed plenty of grit - and were rewarded when No 6 Shan Swan crossed and fullback Trent Taylor converted: 12-6.
Late in the match, veteran referee James Brown marched Swan for fighting with Lake, who got 10 in the bin. Earlier, Swan was sin-binned for 10 minutes for headbutting a Gunnedah player.
It was 12-10 after Cowboys centre Kevin James raced over to score, before Bulldogs prop Lincon Smith crashed over and O'Brien converted: 18-10 to Gunnedah at half-time.
When Ireland darted over again early in the second half and O'Brien added the extras, the writing was on the wall for Dungowan.
Gunnedah 38 (L Ireland 2, D Lake, K McDonald, L Smith, KC Edmonds, A Davis tries; D O'Brien 5 goals) d Dungowan 14 (J Marau, K James, S Swan tries; T Taylor goal)
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