THERE will be a distinct Bulldogs flavour to the Central West colts representative side playing in this weekend’s NSW Country Championship with nine members of the Bathurst club selected in the team.

Given such a large portion of the 25-strong squad are Bulldogs, it is a great promotion for the strength of the under 20s talent pool at the Bathurst club.

Hooker Jock Grant is one of the Bulldogs who made the cut and is eager to make the Bowral trip.

There the Baby Bulls, the defending champions, will face a stern first up test against Newcastle-Hunter on Saturday.

“It feels good. I had a crack last year, but didn’t get in. This year I was really happy to get picked in the squad and it’s also a real honour for the club as well,” he said.

“We’ve all come together pretty well. I think we’re going to go down there as a strong team. They’re all pumped and they really want to win it, that’s for sure. We’re going to give it a good shot.

“The forwards are pretty strong and our backs are skilled, so we should have a fair chance.”

Jaymen Carter is the sole Bulldogs representative picked who is returning to the Blue Bulls colts side after finding success with the representative outfit last year.

The remaining Bulldogs players selected were Scott Howe, Travis Gibson, Brendan Nelson, Adam Miles, Adam Plummer, Joel Harper and Dylan Carter.

Following initial trials in Orange, where numbers were not looking great for the Central West side with just 14 hopefuls turning out, but a larger squad took part in convincing trial wins recently at Illawarra. That has the Baby Bulls full of confidence. 

“We [Bulldogs] took the most numbers out there to the trials at the beginning, so we thought there was a fair chance of most of us getting into the team, but it’s unreal to see all of us in from who went there,” Grant said.

“A few of the boys have done a great job, like Joel Harper who has come across from league last year and he’s stoked to be in the team, so he must be doing pretty well.”

The high number of selections also has Bulldogs colts coach Damien Grant full of pride.

“I’m really pleased for them. I liked their enthusiasm and it was good to see them keen to put their hand up for representative football,” he said.

“They’ll come away from the weekend with a new group of mates and that’s one of the great things about sport. It’s great that they’re able to participate and get that chance to go on to further Country selection.”

The large number of Bulldogs players in the colts outfit reflects what they have done in their tier of the Central West Rugby Union competition so far this season.

They are currently level on points with Orange City at the top of the table with three wins from as many games.

As well as a strong showing from Bulldogs, five CSU players also made the cut with Marcus Burrell, Kadison Campion, Jim Connors, Charlie McIntosh and George Storrier to all line up in Central West colours.

CENTRAL WEST COLTS: 1 Scott Howe (Bathurst Bulldogs), 2 Jock Grant (Bulldogs), 3 Marcus Burrell (CSU Bathurst), 4 Logan Brockmann (Orange City), 5 Travis Gibson (Bulldogs), 6 Jayden Norris (Orange Emus), 7 Brendan Nelson (Bulldogs), 8 Kadison Campion (CSU), 9 Harry Taberner (Orange City), 10 Adam Miles (Bulldogs), 11 Jake Roberts (Emus), 12 Riley Byrne (Parkes), 13 Nathan Orr (Mudgee), 14 Adam Plummer (Bulldogs), 15 Tom Fisher (Orange City), 16 Joel Harper (Bulldogs), 17 Angus Dunn (Mudgee), 18 Dylan Carter (Bulldogs), 19 Jaymen Carter (Bulldogs), 20 Jim Connors (CSU), 21 Charlie McIntosh (CSU), 22 George Storrier (CSU), 23 Jayden Brown (Emus), 24 Josh Robertson (Dubbo Kangaroos), 25 Josh Lees (Yeoval).