INTENSITY, intent, execution - they are three areas which Bathurst Bulldogs captain Peter Fitzsimmons feels he and his men must improve on to challenge for the 2021 Blowes Cup.
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The Bulldogs produced a gritty but scrappy display in round one and - thanks in large part to a dominant scrum - were able to beat defending premiers Orange Emus 19-10.
But away from home in round two the Bulldogs were below their best and fell to the Dubbo Kangaroos by a point. The captain admitted his side "played extremely poorly".
Fitzsimmons, who skippered Bulldogs to premiership glory in 2019, knows they need to be better.
Importantly he has the faith that they can do just that. He knows the sort of success which can come when Bulldogs play with attacking intent.
"We didn't get off the bus and we can't do that," he said after the loss to Roos.
"I think it might change our focus on things we've been working on. We've been focusing on getting our skillset right, which is important, but if our intensity and intent isn't there then our skillset won't have anything to work from.
"We had opportunities to score maybe three or four tries but we didn't execute. It was again from our intent.
"We started slow so by the time the ball got wide enough to attack they were up and on us and in our faces. So if we lift that we'll definitely be able to do some damage and it will be a very different game next time, I think."
New recruit Sione Naufahu is one player who has shown what intent can do. When he chased a kick hard in round one against Emus it led to his first try in Bulldogs colours while the centre scored a double against the Roos.
Young prop Bailey Warren has done good work in the opening fortnight as has another new member of the first XV in Hunter Davis.
It is something Bulldogs will look to build on this Saturday when taking on Cowra in Cowra. The Eagles will be tough to beat after their confidence-boosting 43-7 triumph against Orange City last weekend.
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