The Central Coast Roosters suffered an agonising Round 10 loss to the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs on Saturday, going down 20-16 at Belmore Sports Ground.
Match: Bulldogs v CC Roosters
Round 10 -
home Team
Bulldogs
away Team
CC Roosters
Venue: Belmore Sports Ground, Sydney
Winger Georgia Ravics produced an impressive 60-metre run, evading numerous tackles at full pace to open the Bulldogs account in the very first minute of play.
Canterbury-Bankstown extended their lead 10 minutes later through Gayle Broughton who weaved through the scattered Central Coast defensive line to score. Tayla Preston converted the try to give the home side a 10-point edge.
The Roosters crossed in the 15th minute courtesy of a brilliant Tarryn Aiken short ball that was delivered superbly to Aliyah Nasio who crashed over the try line. Jocelyn Kelleher added the extras from close range to reduce the deficit to four.
Bulldogs halfback Tayla Preston exposed a hole in the Roosters line in the 29th minute, splitting the defence with some fancy footwork before grounding the ball in-goal, sending her team to the sheds with a eight point advantage.
Central Coast struck back five minutes into the second half when a beautiful angular run from Jayme Fressard paid dividends, as the centre evaded the defence before diving over the stripe. Kelleher brought the Roosters within two points with her successful conversion from close range.
A crisp pass from Bulldogs Prop Holli Wheeler connected with Lock Kennedy Cherrington in the 55th minute to give the Bulldogs a handy lead as full time approached. Wheeler slotted the conversion to re-establish the eight-point margin.
Aiken set up Otesa Pule in the 62nd minute to bring the Roosters within four points of the home side, but with a missed conversion and the time not in their favour, the comeback would be made all the more difficult.
Central Coast struggled to overcome the Bulldogs defence as the clock ticked towards the 70-minute mark, allowing the Blue and White to cement their place in the top four with one round left of the regular season.
John Strange’s team will now enter a Round 11 bye, while they anxiously await the results of two games which will determine whether or not they make it through to the 2023 finals series.
