The Cootamundra Bullettes continued their impressive winning streak on Sunday, defeating the fourth-placed Crookwell She Devils 20-0 on their home turf.
Despite the win the Bullettes remain in second position on the ladder due to Harden’s 44-4 win against North Canberra. The Bullettes do enter the bye with the best defensive record in the competition, something coach Kristen Byrne is proud of.
“We travelled short on troops, so we were expecting a pretty rough and ragged game, and it was. The conditions were really poor and Crookwell are a top side, so to go into their house and keep them off the scoreboard was a great result,” Byrne said.
“We’re sitting in a pretty comfortable position on the ladder, we’ve been working extremely hard on our defence in training so to see that translate into games is amazing. We didn’t realise how important defence would be for us but when you keep a side scoreless like we did on Sunday, you can’t lose.
“Defence can go under the radar a lot of the time, obviously you’re going to love attacking and having the ball in your hands, but we’re starting to find that a great defence leads to having your attack just fall into place.”
The Bullettes on paper are drawn favourably after the bye this week, scheduled to play the UC Stars and Burrangong Bears in their two games back after the bye. The Stars (8th) and Bears (9th) hold the two bottom spots of the ladder, regardless Byrne believes if her side does not remain focused they could be surprised.
“We’ve been doing a great job at competing with some of the best sides in the competition, so we can’t let our focus slip and start treating games against the lower placed teams as free wins. It’s a competitive league and any team on their day can give you a great game, so we have to remain on task.
“It’s unfortunate that we’ll have two byes in four weeks because it kind of kills any momentum you can build, we need to get through those bumpy parts of the schedule and we will be okay.”
For the full story purchase this week’s edition of the Cootamundra Times.
Tully Potts