Coach Des Hasler believes the Bulldogs’ stockpile of competition points will become invaluable during the upcoming ravages of the representative season.
The 16-12 success over Newcastle at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night left the Bulldogs alone at the top of the NRL table – overnight at least.
Starting with the selection today of Test and City-Country teams, the representative season is set to play havoc with club campaigns until the State of Origin series is over in July.
“I’ve said all along, the early stages of this competition is about getting wins like that and getting the points for them,” said Hasler.
“With the rep season coming upon us pretty quickly, they’re the sort of points you need at the back end of the season.
Captain Michael Ennis said the Dogs’ unprecedented feat of winning three consecutive games by one point would be of enormous benefit in the months ahead.
“It’s just the fact that the rep season is around the corner and the grind between weeks 10 to 20 – you’re trying to accumulate as many points as you can in that early part,” hooker Ennis said.
“That’s probably the most pleasing thing at the moment. I think there’s still some improvement to be made and as Des said, Newcastle had some key guys missing. That weekend off will do us the world of good.”