A Calub Cook brace has led the Dubbo Roos to their second win of the Blowes Cup season on Saturday afternoon.
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Hosting the Orange Emus in round three of the season at No.1 Oval, the Roos fought their way back into the game after a slow start to win 21-12 against one of the competition's best sides.
Roos captain Tom Keorstz said his team bounced back from their loss a week earlier in the perfect fashion.
"I'm really pleased with the effort, to bounce back from last week where we lost a couple of key moments and today I think we turned that around," he said.
"Defensively is what I'm proud of, we had a goal to come out to play for the full 80 minutes and play for each other."
Emus coach Matt Campbell believes his side had enough chances to seal the game but just couldn't get the last pass to stick.
"It was a pretty tough game, we just beat ourselves really," he said.
"At 12-0 up we just couldn't finish the game properly, it's just those little things like holding the ball and basic footy principles that we didn't do today which is frustrating."
COVID-19 struck the Roos camp early on Saturday morning with some forward reshuffles meaning 18-year-old Campbell Watts was added to the bench to make his debut in the top grade.
It was the Emus who got on the board first with Archer Hall burrowing his way over in the 25th minute before Nigel Staniforth added the extras to give the visitors a 7-0 lead.
Only minutes later the Emus would cross again as some slick set plays from the backline allowed Charlie Steele-Park to go over in the corner with the conversion unsuccessful.
Emus flanker Sam Greatbatch was given a yellow card for a high tackle just before half-time at the Roos made the most of it with Cook sprinting through a hole 20 metres out from the line to score under the posts with Josh Bass adding the extras.
Half-time was blown shortly after Cook's try with Emus leading 12-7.
It was an arm wrestle between the two sides to start the second half with both forward packs doing all they could to inspire their sides but it would be Roos flanker Will Archer who would step up.
Archer picked and drove his way to score in the corner to tie the match up at 12-all before Bass converted the try, giving Dubbo the lead.
Cook left the field due to cramping and was replaced by Watts who made a 60-metre dash towards the try-line shortly into his stint on the field only to be tackled a metre out from the line before knocking the ball on.
Emus then marched the ball up the field, camping down Dubbo's end but the Roos' defence held firm and forced several turnovers but the hosts struggled to make it out of their own half.
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This was until Ratu Roko chipped a clever kick over the top for Cook, who returned to the field minutes early to race away and score in the corner with just two minutes remaining to push the score to 19-12.
Bass nailed the sideline conversion to extend the lead even further before the Roos forwards retrieved the ball of the restart as full-time was blown.
Following the match, Keorstz had nothing but praise for Cook and Watt's efforts.
"The mullet was in full flight and there is nothing more beautiful, those boys you sort of have to give them a license to just play," he said.
"They can tear a game apart, you don't want to cage them.
"It sounds a bit cliche but you've just got to let them play footy. I love watching those boys play."
Saturday's win was Dubbo's first against the Emus in some time and the Roos skipper said it was an important step in the right direction for their season.
"It's special, I came up against a lot of mates too," he said.
"Them and Bathurst have been the benchmark for the last two or three years.
"After a couple of disappointing things last week it was good to see us respond.
"We're not here to make up numbers, we want to really go for it and get back to the top two or three like we used to be.
"For us, it's just about next week. Massive thanks to the forwards, to play the full 80 minutes after COVID-19 struck this morning was a phenomenal effort."
While they may not have got the win, there were enough positive signs in the Emus' open field play for Campbell to be left pleased.
"It's something we've been working on using that width which is nice to see," he said.
"It was just when we made that break we were throwing an extra pass or pop to try score rather than have an easy place and play off the back of that."
While they are one of the competition heavyweights, Campbell admitted playing Dubbo at home is never an easy task.
"It's probably one of the toughest road trips, we come here twice this year," he said.
"Last year we had a game-winning tackle in the corner and this year we were down by two points with a few minutes left so we knew it would be tough.
"Dubbo always comes out firing in the first 20 minutes so we thought we'd wear that and we did."
DUBBO ROOS 21 (Calub Cook 2, Will Archer tries; Josh Bass 3 goals) defeated ORANGE EMUS 12 (Archer Hall, Charlie Steele-Park tries; Nigel Staniforth goal)
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