Season Preview 2023: Goulburn City Bulldogs

Author: crrl.com.au
Timestamp: Tue 11 Apr 2023, 09:26 AM

A refreshed, new-look Goulburn City Bulldogs side look fit and raring to go in the Canberra Raiders Cup under new head coach Shane McCallum.

While the Bulldogs Katrina Fanning Shield side are after revenge following an early exit in last year's preliminary final.

The marquee signings of brothers Mitch and Tyler Cornish have returned to their junior club with a goal of bringing a Canberra Raiders Cup premiership back to their hometown.

Pairing the experienced Cornish brothers in the halves alongside Country representative Dillon Rota and star-forward Ron Leapai makes the Goulburn side extremely dangerous on paper coming into round one.

Mitch Cornish spoke with media about the influence of new head coach Shane McCallum as they prepare for round one.

"[Shane] has been really good. He's been around footy for a long time and he's very up to date with what's going on. He coached the Monaro side so we couldn't have a better bloke there to be honest," Cornish said.

Cornish also touched on their recent trial match against Newcastle Rugby League side, Wyong Roos, and what they can take away from it heading into the new season.

"It was a really good first hit-out. They're a really strong side and the boys really got up for it. We trained really hard for two weeks leading into it and we got the result."

Women's Tackle representative Annika Picker touched on the competitiveness of the Katrina Fanning Shield and Goulburn's will to lift the Shield in 2023.

"[We learned to] expect anything in finals footy. We beat Woden in every round game and then come finals time, they got over the top of us. But, we'll be prepared this year and hopefully go good," Picker said.

Mackenzie Dodds mentioned the challenges of a new squad as they look to push for a top four spot in this year's competition.

"We've been training really well, we've had a lot of consistency at training. We've got a few girls coming through who are new, and quite a few girls learning some new key roles. So it's looking good," Dodds said.