Bathurst Bulldogs second grade side opens up 12-point gap on their Central West Rugby Union rivals

The Bulldogs accounted for Orange Emus 31-24 in Saturday's top-of-the-table clash to extend their advantage in first place, and another win over third-placed Dubbo Kangaroos next round could all but seal the minor premiership.

The Bathurst men have dropped just a single game across their 11 matches this year and have managed to cope strongly with all the usual player rotations that came with being a second grade squad.

Their coach Adam Dwyer couldn't be prouder of the aptitude his squad have shown from the get-go, especially considering his starting lineup often goes through plenty of changes.

"It's great, especially considering how many players have come up and down from first grade. You lose some to first grade, get some back, and then you're also getting some from third grade before they go back," he said.

"There's a couple of core guys who stay in our team the entire time but there's been big player turnover, yet still managed to stick to the game plan pretty well.

"On Tuesday nights firsts and seconds play together do skills together, then on Thursdays we break up into individual teams, but then do some stuff against each other after all of that.

"One of the best things about rugby is that it doesn't matter what grade you're in. There are first and third graders who are best mates. There's never an attitude of 'I'm a first grader and you're a third grader'."

The team's sole loss was a hefty 52-13 defeat to the Roos early last month - an anomaly in what's been an otherwise perfect season.

Bulldogs followed that up with a close 19-14 win over Cowra Eagles but were back to their ruthless best in big wins over Forbes Platypi and Orange City, then held on in Saturday's crucial success away to Emus.

"We lost the one game but I think nearly everyone in second grade had already played third grade that day. Second grade and third grade have been great at helping each other out this year," Dwyer said.

"We probably lost our attitude a bit that game, and we probably lost it before we went out there because we gave ourselves that excuse to lose.

"It was similar on Saturday against Emus where four of our guys had played third grade but we still beat the team coming second. We blew a 17-point lead, which was disappointing, but once we started getting our attitude right we started winning again."

Dwyer said that while injuries have often thrown challenges his team's way they've been able to cope with the hurdles.

"Someone's out nearly every week to COVID and the blue cards for head knocks have played their part, but injuries are part of the game," he said.

"The thing with second grade is that they're there to help first grade win a premiership. We play with what's there after first grade take who's needed, and we've still been going really well.

"Josh Weekes and Scott Johnston have been great. Phil Tonkin's been great, though he's been called into first grade where he'll probably be for a while now.

"Up in the forwards Jesse Gauci, Abe Dearmer and Dale Norris have been really good, and are mainstays of the team. I think Sam Canty has been having a great year too."

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