After the first half of the 2023 winter season, most of the focus around the Group 4 women's league tag competition was on the race between the North Tamworth Bears and Kootingal-Moonbi Roosters for the top of the ladder.
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But amid the jostling of the top two teams, the Gunnedah Bulldogs women have quietly put together a strong claim to this year's 'Dark Horse' tag.
And they underlined their credentials over the weekend with an 18-10 win over reigning premiers, the Dungowan Cowgirls.
"I was really happy with that," Gunnedah coach, Jacqui Jones, said.
"We didn't have the holes that we often have against these good teams. And I think that's why we won."
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That victory cemented the Bulldogs' grasp on third spot on the ladder, just one point shy of the Roosters in second.
But Jones has her eyes on a top two spot on the ladder by the end of the season, and knows exactly what the Gunnedah women need to do to make that happen.
"We need to beat at least one of [Norths and Kootingal-Moonbi]," she said.
"We obviously want to win all of our games, but we can afford to lose to one team and still make top two. So we've got some big games coming up."
Saturday's victory was the Bulldogs' second of the year over Dungowan, and what pleased Jones the most was how they managed to (largely) shut down the threat of Georgia Horniman.
The Cowgirls fullback was voted the 2022 Group 4 Player of the Year, and has made a habit of running circles around opposition players.
"When we played them in the first round, they didn't have Georgia," Jones said.
"It's always scaring playing her, she just runs such brilliant lines. But we've been working really hard on our squeeze defence, and obviously it didn't shut her down every time, but whenever she scored, we were around it."
And while they still have areas on which they could improve, Jones is thrilled with the awareness her players are showing on the field.
"It's unreal, I've never made so many breaks and had so many people to throw the ball to," she said.
"It's just so good that everyone's pushing up."
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