Bathurst Bulldogs force 30-all draw with Merewether Carlton in final play

Hosting Merewether Carlton at Ashwood Park in their last trial match before the start of the 2022 Blowes Cup season, the Bulldogs scrum was a highlight of the 30-all draw.

Given the scrum is an area Oxley knows his side will be tested in come their season opener against Orange Emus, that they muscled up against Merewether Carlton was a big positive.

"That was a really powerhouse for us, our scrum dominated," Oxley said.

"There obviously some quality with our club because we haven't done a lot of work with them, that's their natural ability, they came together well as an eight and got it done.

"We sort of rate this side [Merewether Carlton] about the equal to Emus, they're a very strong club so are Emus. We're playing Emus round one so this is all about us trying to get to another level and you can't do that on the training paddock."

As the most successful club in the Newcastle competition, Merewether Carlton - the Greens - provided Bulldogs with the sort of quality trial they were after on Saturday.

The Greens scored first with less than two minutes gone in the opening quarter, but from there Bulldogs warmed to the challenge.

The first scrum of the match saw the Greens with the feed, but Bulldogs drove them back and put them under immense pressure. It was a trend that continued.

It was a scrum that laid the platform for Bulldogs' first try, number 8 Peter Fitzsimmons making good ground as he picked the ball up off the back and charged.

The Greens were penalised from the following ruck, Brad Glasson took a quick penalty tap and sliced through to score.

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While the Greens scored three minutes before half-time to regain the lead at 10-5, just 91 seconds after the resumption it was level again.

Returning Bulldogs fullback Joe Nash got away a superb off-load to Justin Mobbs who then crashed over.

Oxley is delighted to have Nash, a member of the 2019 premiership side, back on deck.

"He's just such a calming influence, he's a great communicator, he's a class footballer. He set up that try for Mobbsy - that's a Country player to a Country player, you can't buy that stuff," he said.

The rivals continued to trade tries as Mobbs scored again and Hunter Davis found space on the left edge, but when the Greens crossed twice in the space of three minutes to open up a 30-20 lead it looked as if victory was headed the way of the visitors.

However, Bulldogs rallied.

With five minutes left Fitzsimmons was awarded a penalty try and the Greens had a player yellow carded in the process to make it 30-25.

Another Greens player was shown yellow with 90 second left then in the final play of the game, Darcy Christie-Johnson strolled over from a line-out to force the draw.

"We were under pressure out there, there was a lot of physicality and a lot of good footballers against us. I liked that how we were under pressure and we came out the other side," Oxley said.

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