Tallon Smith

The second Luke Berkrey era at Cootamundra is off to a good start after a young Bulldogs outfit secured an upset 32-24 win over the Temora Dragons at Nixon Park on Saturday afternoon.

Despite doubles to Temora back rower Brodie Mirtschin and fullback Hamish Starr, the Bulldogs ran in six tries to the Dragons’ five, with the eight point margin enough to put the side on top of the table on points differential after the opening round.

Speaking after the first-up win, Berkrey said that the victory was both a reward for effort over the pre-season and a massive confidence boost for the youthful side.

“[I’m] certainly really happy with the result, we’ve had a long hard pre-season, so I feel like we put in a lot of work to earn that sort of performance,” he said. 

“[From the] outside looking in, I can understand why people would have thought Temora would have just rolled over us, but they haven’t been to training and seen the work that this team’s put in.

“It was really pleasing, the biggest thing having lots of young guys [is] the confidence they’re going to take out of that moving forward.”

In terms of the side’s emerging stars, several members of last year’s Weissel Cup winning team have made the step up to first grade on a full time basis, including five-eighth Ollie Hall and fellow playmaker Harry Boxsell, who finished with a double to begin his campaign.

Berkrey said the young players are beginning to establish themselves as consistent top grade players with each making strong contributions to the round one victory.

“All the younger blokes really stepped up, and I feel like they’re starting to become comfortable in first grade,” he said.

“Harry, we played him a full game of under 18s before it, [and] he got himself a double, did lots of work.

“Then we had an injury obviously to Isaiah, one of our other under 18s kids starting in the centres.

“Ollie was outstanding, came up with some really crucial plays, one of the greatest try saving tackles I’ve ever seen which kept us in the hunt there just after half time. 

“[I’m] really pleased with the young guys and just excited to see where they might end up.”

Next up for the Bulldogs is a local derby against Junee, which also started its season with an upset win on the road over defending premiers Gundagai.

Berkrey, who was among three former Gundagai players turned coaches present at Anzac Park on Sunday, along with Brothers mentor Blake Dunn and Diesels assistant coach Damian Willis, said he watched Junee closely, but isn’t paying too much attention to the billing of a first versus third showdown this early in the year.

“Obviously I had a good look at them guys on the weekend, and there’s some areas I think we can test them in and I’m really excited for another challenge,” he said.

“I’m not going to get too overly excited about a ladder after round one, but it’s certainly good for our confidence.

“We’re just looking to keep building and I’m sure as the year goes on we’ll keep getting better.”

The Junee-Cootamundra clash will kick off at 2:35pm Saturday week at Laurie Daley Oval.