Playing in front of a home crowd in Saturday's top of the table match, Dubbo Kangaroos were piling on the pressure on Bulldogs in the opening quarter.

But McIntosh anticipated play well, plucked a Dubbo pass, then ran away to score what was her third try in as many weeks. It was a moment which gave Bulldogs confidence and they went on to beat their fierce rivals 29-10.

It is a win which puts Bulldogs five points clear of Dubbo in the battle for the minor premiership with three rounds remaining.

"It really does gives us a good shot at the minor premiership, it was a really good confidence boost," Bulldogs captain Mardi Watts said.

"They had Kim Fyfe back after Super W so they were almost at full strength, Lillyann [Mason-Spice] wasn't there but I think everyone else was.

"They threw a fair bit of attack at us in the first quarter, but we just managed to hold them off and score, Lily scored an awesome try off an intercept."

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McIntosh's try had the score locked at 5-all at quarter-time, but 10 minutes later the margin had increased to 12 as both Ruby Clarke and Claudia McLaren crossed for Bulldogs.

While Dubbo scored the only try of the third quarter to keep themselves in the hunt at 17-10, Bulldogs finished the stronger of the two sides as McLaren bagged her second and Jacinta Windsor added to the tally as well.

It was the first time Bulldogs had won in Dubbo since the opening round of season 2019 and with both Teagan Miller and Nicole Schneider now back in action for the Bathurst side, things are building nicely.

"Our defence was the best I think it has been all year which is good, that's the main thing we've been working on," Watts said.

"Most of our tries came off defence, when we got turnovers.

"I think they got a little bit frustrated with not scoring as easy as they do against other teams in the comp - we're a little bit the same, we are are used to scoring off most of our attacking plays - but when we come up against each other it's a bit different.

"Historically we don't travel well to Dubbo, so for us it's a confidence boost to get a good win over there.

At no time did we feel like we had to panic, we felt quiet confident the whole game which was really good.

"Brydie [Comiskey] did some amazing chop tackles, no-one got through her, Molly [Kennedy] was the same with good tackles and strong tackles and of course Marita [Shoulders] and Mel [Waterford] were solid."

This Saturday sees a general bye in the Ferguson Cup, while the following week Bulldogs have the bye before meeting Forbes and Orange City.

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