Dylan Hately will never be the quickest half going around - but this "tough country kid" might just be the perfect lock.
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The Gungahlin Bulls have claimed their second big scalp in three weeks after toppling the Queanbeyan Blues 24-22 in the Canberra Raiders Cup at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval on Sunday.
It comes a fortnight after they knocked over reigning premiers Woden Valley with the exact same scoreline, and it may not have come to fruition without Hately.
"Dylan Hately has moved from the halves into lock over the past few weeks and he has really stepped up and moved us around the park," Bulls coach David Howell said.
"We're trying to do something a little bit different. He's not the quickest half, but he's a tough country kid. He brought it to me and I trialled Rourke o'Sullivan at five-eight in the pre-season.
"That was an option we could take up if we had a few middles go down. Being a smaller pack, we're trying to play a different style of footy.
"Moving him into lock helps us play the style of footy I want us to play."
The visitors scored three consecutive tries to take a 10-point lead into the break but ran into a red-hot Bulls outfit on the other side of half-time.
First it was Ryan Cronin crossing the line. Soon after Hately converted a Jone Pio try from the sideline to snatch the lead.
Pio found the line once more with the game hanging in the balance inside the final nine minutes, making a 78th minute try to Blues fullback Matt Cole ultimately futile.
"To knock off the Blues is always a great effort," Howell said.
"We had Brendan O'Hagan come back from the Raiders again, he's that cool, calm head that helped steer us around again.
"Our middles really stood up. Jacob Sturt, a young Raiders boy, he really carried the ball strongly and got us good momentum. Jason Brown was very solid as well."
AT A GLANCE
Canberra Raiders Cup round six: GUNGAHLIN BULLS 24 (J Pio 2, I Vatanitawake, R Cronin tries; D Hately 3, B Robinson goals) bt QUEANBEYAN BLUES 22 (N Marshall 2, M Cullen, M Cole tries; T Campese 3 goals) at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval.