Barraba extended their competition-benchmark winning streak to eight matches with a fairly comfortable 24-16 home defeat of Uralla on Saturday. But don’t tell Bulldogs coach Jesse Phillips that his side is the finished product.
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No. Phillips would have none of such talk post-match, insisting second-placed Barraba, four weeks out from the finals, can improve.
“I don’t think we’ve peaked yet, to be honest,” he said. “We’ve played some good football, but I think we’ve got another gear yet to go if we keep going the way we’re going. The boys a looking pretty good.”
Against fifth-placed Uralla, who were coming off back-to-back wins including a last-start 108-1 flaying of Bingara, Barraba should have won by more.
They dominated possession in the first half, terrorising the Tigers on the left edge as five-eighth Luke White, fullback Jeremy York and centre Tom Mellor formed a potent partnership.
White and Mellor scored tries, with White going himself from close to the tryline and Mellor crossing after receiving a laser-like pass from York as the Bulldogs attacked the tryline.
Halfback Kris Halloran failed to convert both tries from out wide.
Barraba second-rower Zac Mallise also crossed down the left flank in the opening stanza, when he barged over from close range out wide. Again, Halloran could not convert.
Desperate to crack the top four but now in sixth spot following the loss, Uralla had the Bulldogs’ attention to the end.
It was 12-all at halftime after halfback Kearin Stiff regathered his own grubber and scored when York fumbled in the shadow of the uprights, and then replacement forward Stephen Vanry slipped under York’s attempted tryline tackle to crash over.
But Barraba quickly gained the ascendancy after the break when influential prop Jock Mallise, a shearer by trade like his brother Zac, proved unstoppable from 10 metres out.
Holloran added the extras and it was 18-12 – soon to be 24-12 when Mellor went himself from a scrum near the halfway line and dissected the Tigers’ defence down the middle to score under the posts.
The Tigers hit back about midway through the half with a try in the corner to fullback Danny White, but Barraba then shut them down to keep the pressure on the competition-leading Roosters.
Barraba 24 (T Mellor 2, L White, Z Mallise, J Mallise tries; K Halloran 2 goals) d Uralla 16 (K Stiff, S Vanry, D White tries; J Clark, Stiff goals)
