The team travelled to Dubbo where they defeated Dubbo CYMS 36-20.

On the injury front, new signing Jacob McKendry, who joined the Bulldogs from Cessnock, escaped a serious footy injury.

“Jacob had scans on Monday and it revealed he had not broken any part of his ankle,” Kurri president Jeff Polglase said. 

“He [was] set to have further scans [on Tuesday] and then we will have a much better idea about if he will be out of action.

“But the good news is that he ­hasn’t broken any bones.”

Bulldogs coach Phil Williams said he was pleased with how the team performed and said he had some tough decision to make at the selection table

“We’ve got a couple of combinations out of it, and gave the coach a couple of headaches for positions,” Williams said.

“Which is good, it’s better to have headaches than no headaches.”

Williams said Mascot Jets ­signing Brad Manton impressed with two tries against Dubbo.

In the halves, Theeran Pearson and 2014’s Bulldogs player of the year Ben Wyborn are developing an effective combination.

“It’s looking promising,” Williams said.

The Bulldogs will face South Newcastle in the opening round at Townson Oval on April 11.

“We played Souths in the last game last year and now we play them in the first game this year, so it will be an interesting to see how we’ve ­progressed over the off-season,” Williams said.

“But everyone’s fit and rearing to go, we’ve had two trials, two ­promising efforts, so hopefully we can take that into the season.”

The Bulldogs had a famous face on their bus to Dubbo on the weekend, with famous cricketer Greg Ritchie hitching a lift.

The former Australian Test player spoke at Kurri Weston’s sportsman’s dinner on Friday night and then had to attend a golf event in Dubbo.

“He kept the front of the bus ­entertained,” Williams laughed.

“It was good, it wasn’t Greg Ritchie the entertainer, it was Greg Ritchie the cricket commentator.

“He spoke candidly about football and cricket.

“He was deadset good value.”