However despite finishing ahead 22-18 in their Toohey’s Cup fixture at HEZ Sportsground, it wasn’t all good news as the Bulldogs racked up a disappointing penalty count.

Bulldog’s coach Shaun Collingwood lambasted the number of times his team was penalised during the match.

In particular he felt that prop Marty Oborn – who was pinged for two high shots in the game – and Shane McIntyre were hard done by.

“We had four penalties for supposed high shots and I couldn’t see much in it,” Collingwood said.

“I start to wonder how much referees talk.

“They’re (the Kurri players) coached to hit hard and play physically. It’s a fair jolt – I know I wouldn’t want to get hit by Marty.

“But he’s spent a lot of time correcting his technique. I think he’s being maligned now.”

The Scorpions put the first points on the board through a penalty and after crossing the line led the Bulldogs 8-2.

By half-time the score was 14-6 in favour of the Scorpions and the Bulldogs had conceded five unanswered penalties.

After a prep talk in the locker rooms, the Bulldogs hit back and got the scoreline to 14-10 before the Scorpions knocked another two penalties between the posts to slide away 18-10.

Three late tries from the Dogs pushed them over the line for the win.

“Things started to happen. We got a bit of a go forward with penalties actually going our way,” Collingwood said.

“Unfortunately sometimes the ref can control whether you get a roll on.”

Collingwood named Oborn and try scorers Simon Craig, Dan Palmer and Chris Tyrie as the best on the park for the Bulldogs.

“For a little man he’s a really physical bloke,” Collingwood said of Tyrie.

The Kurri performance was in stark contrast to their appaling efforts against Cessnock in round six, where the Dogs were annihilated 42-12.

“We needed the win particularly after last week,” Collingwood said.

“We knew we had to do something about it (the loss to Cessnock) and we fought back to the credit of the boys. They can crow about that. It was a big turnaround.”

The Bulldogs suffered one injury setback out of the match with utility forward Aiden Burke breaking his foot. It expected to sideline him for several weeks.

Kurri Kurri Bulldogs 22 (Dan Palmer 2, Chris Tyrie, Steve Kidd, Simon Craig tries; Luke Knoblanche pen) d Macquarie Scorpions 18.