Blowes Clothing Cup: Bathurst Bulldogs tighthead prop Bailey Warren leading team's pack

The Bathurst Bulldogs tighthead prop has been up for the challenge of Blowes Clothing Cup competition in 2021 and has been a pivotal part of the new-look Dogs scrum.

Warren and his pack helped drive the Bathurst men forward from the get-go this season, and were instrumental in the round one victory over defending premiers Orange Emus at Ashwood Park.

Now the Bulldogs look to repeat that result at the Emus' own turf of Endeavour Oval on Saturday and Warren is looking forward to the challenge.

"In that first game against Emus I wouldn't say that their scrums were at 100 per cent. I don't think a young guy like me should have been doing what I did to them," he said.

"I daresay they will have changed their front row up a bit since then.

"I'd say our scrum was more than half of the reason why we beat them. I got a penalty try against them for the scrum and that gave us a bit of a boost."

The Bulldogs front three of Joel Harper, Matt Trapp and Warren haven't done much wrong over the start of the 2021 season.

Warren came into the season a little unsure of how he'd stack up against older opponents but the front row have been working solidly as a unit.

"It's been a pretty good experience, being the young fella in this team. It's a good test because there's some hard hitters out there," he said.

"It was a bit daunting at first because you know you're going up against bigger blokes and you don't know what's going on, but I feel like my own personal game has been going really well.

"We've been dominating the scrum. If anything I'd just work on my fitness a bit," he laughed.

Warren returned to the Bulldogs lineup in last round's win over Orange City, where the Bathurst side spent the majority of the match down a player.

He'd spent the previous weekend away on representative duties with the Central West colts side - earning a NSW Country jumper in the process thanks to his strong showing with the Bulls.

Warren said his extra minutes against senior Central West opponents is paying dividends.

"I'm was playing against players my own age there but a lot of those guys at my age don't have the experience against men yet," he said.

"I've got myself ahead of them in strength from going up against men's players."

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