IF being the two-time defending premiers was not enough to make Bathurst Bulldogs the favourites for this year's Ferguson Cup competition, how about an even more imposing forward pack and quicker backs than ever before?
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On Sunday the Bulldogs women gave a glimpse of what they will have to offer this season when beating CSU 63-5 in a 40-minute pre-season trial at Ashwood Park.
Australian Sevens representative Jakiya Whitfield ran in seven tries - including three in as many minutes during the second quarter - as she showed off both her speed and strong fend. She also pulled off some brutal hits in defence and was strong at the breakdown.
Another new back line recruit in Amy Clarke crossed for a double, while returning flyhalf Kate Gullifer both added to the score sheet and provided plenty of attacking spark.
As for Bulldogs' forwards, they pilfered well, recycled quickly and set a strong platform for their backs. Captain Mel Waterford, number 8 Alyza Doulis, new recruit Gaby Fahy and Edwina Ulberg all caused headaches for their rivals and racked up plenty of running metres.
That Bulldogs were without the likes of new recruit Haylee Lepaio - who last season played in the front row of the NSW Country Rugby League's Southern outfit - and Central West representative Nicole Schneider - adds further merit to the performance.
"I'm extremely happy, I am really happy with all the young players we have coming through. I think we've found a lot of talent," Bulldogs co-coach Matt Waterford said.
"A majority of the game we had a lot of our older players off, our more senior players. Young Georgie Rich did extremely well, she's come across from league, obviously Jakiya has come across and she's a big acquisition.Then Gaby, Tiffany, the McIntosh girls, they all played well."
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Though boasting a plethora of talent, Waterford knows there will be plenty of challenges for the Bulldogs as the season unfolds.
So the coaching staff plan to both mix up their tactics and make sure their players excel at the fundamentals.
"We want to play a different game plan to what we have the last couple of years, a few people are starting to work out how we've been playing, so we do need to mix it up," Waterford said.
"I saying that, we also need to improve our skill set as a squad. So we are working hard on our fitness and our fundamentals. If we can get the basics right, hopefully we can exploit some of the teams this season."
Though his squad was outclassed on Sunday, CSU coach Dom Huggett is still optimistic about the season ahead.
He knows come the opening round of the competition he will have a stronger line-up and he's hopeful that the students can build on an impressive 2018 campaign which carried them all the way to the grand final.
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Forwards Molly Kennedy and Laura Belfanti made some strong charges and got through plenty of work in defence, centre Anastasia Newstead boasted a handful of line breaks, while Alex Gioia scored for the students in the final period.
"We had about seven returners who couldn't play today and when they come back, we've got all these people too, so it's going to be hard working out teams," he said in reference to the large squad he had for the trial.
"I was very happy with how the team went. I think this was probably the perfect trial for us because we could work on our defence and our patterns."