In what has been a tough season for the Bulldogs NRL side, the same can’t be said about the club’s Intrust Super Premiership team.
Currently sitting in fourth position on 30 competition points and three clear of fifth, the Bulldogs reserve grade side has been a shining light in 2017.
With 11 victories for the season to date and fresh off a bye following three straight wins, hooker Craig Garvey says it’s been an enjoyable time for the whole squad.
“It’s been a really good season for the boys in Cup this year. We have bonded well together and have had consistency with our team. A lot of the boys have performed really well this year and you have seen a couple of the guys promoted to first grade, which has helped a lot of the boys,” Garvey said.
Garvey credits a lot of the team’s success down to Coach Steve Georgallis who arrived at the club in January following previous stints with Penrith, Manly and the Wests Tigers.
“He is a Coach that has a lot of time for you. If he sees something that you’re not really good at, he will take time out to help you with it. He has fixed a lot of the boys games and he has certainly helped me,” added Garvey.
There have been plenty of players who have performed in 2017 and none more so than Josh Cleeland and Rhyse Martin.
Cleeland has been exceptional with 13 tries, 12 line breaks and 10 try assists, while Martin has led from the front with an average of 14 runs and 121 run metres per game, as well as 130 points for the season.
“The last couple of weeks Joshy Cleeland’s been on fire and Rhyse Martin has been doing the same thing all year. Our side has done really well across the park and I think the likes of Josh and Rhyse will be moving on to bigger things soon,” he added.
The Bulldogs will head to will head to Campbelltown Sports Ground on Saturday afternoon to play the 12th placed Wests Tigers and with only two weeks left of the regular season, they will be hoping to cement a top four finish as they head into the finals.
“It’s about cementing fourth spot. We really want to go into these finals firing and hopefully we can finish in the top four,” said Garvey.