Gunnedah continued their winning ways in the AFL North West competition on Saturday but were given a real scare by the Tamworth Swans.
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Down by four points at the final break, the Bulldogs kicked two goals to the Swans' one to sneak home 3.9 (27) to 3.6 (24).
Their 11th win of the season, it was their toughest.
"It was really tough, I think they really brought it to us and I think we really had to dig deep to get that win," captain for the day Kyra Carlyon said.
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Having up until Saturday won all of their games by in excess of 30 points, Carlyon said it a bit of a wake-up call for them, and one they probably needed.
"Definitely coming into the week we're going to work a lot harder, we're going to try and fix up those things we kind of picked up in the game," she said post-match.
There were a few little things they need to work on.
By the same token she thought their talk was a lot better on Saturday and they were a lot more physical than they had been in other games.
They did lose gun Alice Mitchell at half-time after she landed on her wrist "a bit funny" but Carlyon said it was good to see other players step up in her absence.
She thought the backline were great for them as was Katrina Rekunow.
"She was everywhere and really put in 110 per cent," she said.
Carlyon carried the 'c' next to her name after being adjudged the players' player the previous week.
"Because we're a new team we didn't really want to put a captain up there, so what we do is our players' player is the captain the week following," she explained.
It was her second time leading the side but first this season.
"I'm probably not the biggest leader in the group but it was really nice to be able to take them for the warm-up and chat to them on the field," she said.
The forward has been there from the start of the Bulldogs journey.
"It's been awesome for me... I've never really played a team sport before," she said.
Unfortunately a broken thumb early on saw her miss a fair few games last season.
Carlyon admits it was hard watching on from the sidelines, but it did have it's positives.
"It was good to watch from afar because you get to learn a lot more about the game that you didn't know," she said.
In the other games, the Kangaroos had a seven point win over the New England Nomads 3.5 (23) to 2.3 (15) while the Inverell Saints accounted for the Moree Suns 5.12 (42) to 1.6 (12).
