HE'S one of the rare first grade Bathurst Bulldogs players who can claim a 100 per cent win rate as a starter this season, but can Brad Glasson maintain that record in just his second full Blowes Clothing Cup game back from injury this Saturday?
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The Bulldogs scrum half and his side play host to Orange City at Ashwood Park, hoping to claim back-to-back victories for just the second time this season.
Bulldogs played a great second half of rugby against Forbes Platypi last round with their starting halves combination of Glasson and Scott Johnston back together again, winning 24-18, and will want to take that standard of play into their upcoming game.
It was a fun return for Glasson, who was just thrilled to be back in action.
Glasson went down with a shoulder injury in the Bulldogs' round one clash against Orange Emus, which the Bathurst men ultimately won 19-10, and wouldn't be back until the round eight loss against Cowra Eagles, where he came off the bench.
"I fractured my shoulder back in round one but I was able to play on the weekend without noticing it, which is a pretty good sign," Glasson said.
"It's great to be back out there just having a run around and having fun."
The only other time the Bulldogs were able to piece together two straight wins this season was with this exact same combination of teams - Forbes and City - back in May.
Bulldogs had to fight hard for those victories as well.
Their 24-22 win at home to the Platypi was followed by a 34-31 win away against the Lions.
Glasson said if the Bulldogs are to make a repeat of that effort then the team has to develop consistency over a whole game.
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"It's been an ongoing search for that consistency over the 80 minutes," he said.
"We're getting there and we were showing promising signs over a 30 minute period at Forbes last weekend. Hopefully we can keep building on that last half an hour.
"We started off slow at Forbes and it can be hard to catch up with them so we were lucky enough to get the job done in the end."
City might be sitting in last place on the Blowes Clothing Cup ladder but they can count themselves unlucky not have to racked up more points.
On four occasions this year the Lions have lost a game by a the margin of a converted try or less, which includes their previous game with Bulldogs.
We were showing promising signs over a 30 minute period at Forbes last weekend.
- Brad Glasson
"They showed promising signs against us last game and we only just scraped through in the end," Glasson said.
"They're a tough team to read although they often come out firing. Hopefully we can tame that and get the points."
Bulldogs were able to field one of their strongest teams this season against the Platypi last week and Glasson hopes their performance in that game sets a platform for the remainder of the competition.
"It's really good having Mobbsy [Justin Mobbs] back. A lot of the chat in the forward pack runs through him and Peter Fitzsimmons," he said.
"It's good having them back from NSW Country, and Mobbsy back from injury, because I'd say they've gained a lot of confidence from that."
The Bulldogs-Lions clash at Ashwood Park gets underway from 3.15pm.
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