On Sunday, Lake said an X-ray of the left leg he injured in Gunnedah's 36-22 preliminary final win over the Roosters at Kootingal on Saturday had revealed a broken fibula.

He will miss the grand final against North Tamworth at Jack Woolaston Oval on Sunday, delivering a big blow to the Bulldogs’ chances of upsetting the reigning four-time premiers.

In a text message reply to The Leader on Sunday afternoon, Lake said: “3-6 months off sports ... and [a] week off work so no good no grand final.” He added: “Not the news I wanted to hear at this time of the year.”

The sight of Lake, the sting in the Bulldogs’ tail, being carried off the field late in the match would have sent a shiver through the side and their supporters.

Limping noticeably post-match, Lake touched his left leg around the calf and said he had heard a crack. 

“I’ll get it looked at and heal up for next week,” he said straight after the match. “I’m feeling confident [of playing in the grand final]. We’ll go to hospital tonight [Saturday] and get it looked at, and yeah, keep rolling.”

Lake and his fellow spine members, halfback Matt Brady, five-eighth DJ Smith and hooker Callum Hayne, certainly got on a roll against the Roosters, severing the minor premiers’ title aspirations with a sustained offensive onslaught that saw Gunnedah establish a 24-6 halftime lead, before posting two tries early in the second half to lead 36-6.

Gunnedah lost a bit focus at that point and Kooty, like they did in last Sunday’s major preliminary final loss to Norths, rallied late in the match, but the Bulldogs were never seriously threatened.

For a large chunk of the match Gunnedah delivered on their promise. They were simply too fast and mobile for Kooty, with the Bulldogs’ spine ably supported by experienced centres Reece Jaeger and Aaron Donnelly and lock-forward Hayden Smith.  

Bulldogs coach Sean Hayne praised his pack for the momentum they sparked, underlining the performances of young props KC Edmonds and Lincon Smith.

Kooty’s cause was not helped when they lost influential forward Phil Beaton through injury in the first half. Roosters halfback Sam Taylor also had his afternoon curtailed by injury.

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The Roosters were not the same when they lost Beaton (shoulder) and Taylor (knee) in a loss to Norths on July 8. They returned in the 24-16 loss to the Bears last Sunday. But the Roosters couldn’t recapture the form that secured them the minor premiership, after the side was elevated to first grade this season from the now-defunct Second Division.

For the second season in the row, they bombed out of the finals without winning a match after claiming the minor premiership.

Gunnedah are into their first grand final since 2014, when Norths beat them, thus starting their run of four straight titles, while the Bulldogs’ last premiership was in 1998.

Lake said: “It’s been a long 10 months. We put the hard yards in in the pre-season and we take it out on the field.

“It’s all coming together. We started the season a bit slow. And the boys all regrouped and [we’re] injury free and we come away with the win. It’s good.”

Lake opened the scoring in the 12th minute when he posted the first of his two tries, attacking Kooty’s left edge about 12 metres out from the Roosters’ tryline and getting around centre Anthony Smith to score.

The home side hit back in the 23rd minute when hooker Ryan Martin regathered his own grubber to score. Mitch Doring converted and Kooty led 6-4.

But for the next 30 minutes it was the Gunnedah show. First, Donnelly charged down the western touchline and found winger Nic Altmann, close to Kooty’s tryline, with a beautiful pass out the back of the hand and Altmann scored.  

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In the 29th minute Hayden Smith threw his powerful frame at Kooty’s defensive line and crashed over about five metres to the left of the uprights. Jaeger missed his third straight conversion attempt and the Bulldogs led 12-6.

Two minutes later, Altmann scored his second try when Brady carved the Roosters up on the right edge from deep in his own half, before offloading to Altmann close to the Roosters’ tryline. Jaeger converted from out wide – 18-6.

Just before the break, DJ Smith found a chink in the Roosters’ defences on the left edge about 40m from the home side’s tryline. He then passed to Brady, who passed to Lake, who found Brady with an inside ball and the skilful No.7 scored under the posts.

Five minutes after the break, Bulldogs winger Lachlan King scored in the left-hand corner after Jaeger was put into open space down the western touchline inside the Roosters’ 40m zone. The powerful centre then drew the defence and passed to King, who raced about 10 metres to score. Jaeger converted – 30-6.

Six minutes later, Lake split Kooty up the middle, in another nicely worked team move, and raced about 35m to touch down under the posts. 

Kooty’s doomed fightback commenced in the 58th minute when Doring went himself inside the Bulldogs’ 10m zone and scored under the posts.  

Doring crossed again when he breached the Bulldogs’ defence up the middle and produced a swerving run.

GUNNEDAH 36 (Nic Altmann 2, Dylan Lake 2, Hayden Smith, Matt Brady, Lachlan King tries; Reece Jaeger 4 goals) d KOOTINGAL-MOONBI 22 (Mitch Doring 2, Ryan Martin, Nick Zahra tries; Mitch Doring 3 goals)