Moree were “scary” when they blasted Gunnedah off their Kitchener Park home turf with a 62-18 victory.
The unbeaten Boars crossed for 11 tries, converting a 34-6 halftime lead into the 44-point slaughter.
Boars winger Jake Tighe crossed for three tries while backrower Brent McDonald scored two deserving tries and tall centre Mark Pegus also touched down twice.
“We were scary,” a jubilant Moree captain-coach Michael Watton told Group 4 Media after the match.
“Scary good. We had a good review at halftime of what we were doing and tidied a few things up. We played some good footie today. We had a solid win last week but it was cold and miserable today so we had to come with the right attitude and did that.
“We started well and we punished them for every mistake they made.”
Gunnedah captain Lincon Smith and coach Sean Hayne were disappointed men.
“We dropped our heads early,” Smith said of a side which lost the ball to Moree on the second hit up of the game.
“We were on the back foot from then,” he added.
Coach Sean Hayne said the Bulldogs were “never in it from the kickoff”.
“Out-enthused and lost the ruck. They had all the momentum and we played off the back foot.”
Michael Watton said the fact his side completed at a high rate “made it tough for them (Gunnedah) to play footy”.
“They had to play off the back foot and we just strangled them out of the game.”
Moree have some injury worries however with prop Chris Vidler limping off with a groin strain and Brenton Cochrane suffering what looked to be a knee injury.
Werris Creek “clicked into gear” after an ordinary 15 minutes starting today’s Whitehaven Coal Group 4 First Grade Round 12 game against Wee Waa to win by the mercy rule at Cook Oval, Wee Waa today.
The Magpies won 62-nil with the game ending early after about 18 minutes of the second half.
Tyren Cloake and Cody Tickle crossed for two tries apiece as the Maggies amassed 11 tries in all in their near-hour of work.
“We were a bit off the first 10 or 15 minutes,” Werris Creek coach Dave Stewart told Group 4 Media.
“But then we clicked into gear were very sharp. This week we had a plan in place and executed. We were strong…just a very good win.”
The win maintains Creek’s top four spot, third behind Moree and Kootingal and just a point ahead of North Tamworth.
Meanwhile, first grade coach Matt Freeman doesn’t mind admitting that the Wee Waa Panthers are struggling after the Mercy Rule imposed loss.
That he had to pull the boots on and play was another indication of how tough the side is going.
“It was tough, we lost by the Mercy Rule again. We were down a few troops too, a few were ill and we didn’t have a big forward pack.”
Freeman said all the Panthers “struggled”.
“We’ve been getting a beating each week and that’s taking a bit of a toll on the boys. Just got to try and keep them motivated for the rest of the year.
“We go well for 20 minutes but when fatigue sets in we drop off.”
That he has players travelling from Tamworth and Gunnedah to make up the numbers doesn’t help.
“They can’t get to training,” he said.
“That make it harder to play as a team. We’ve also got one player driving down from Queensland to play for us.”
As it is the Panthers will continue to fulfil their obligations and are prepared for a trip to Boggabri to play the Kangaroos at Jubilee Oval, Boggabri this Sunday.
Boggabri Kangaroos produced a “game of two halves” when they overwhelmed Narrabri 54-20 on Saturday.
The Roos led 38-10 at halftime after what coach Shane Rampling described as an impressive and “ruthless” first 40 minutes.
“Played really well that first half,” Rampling told Group 4 Media.
“But then we took the foot off the pedal and let Narrabri get back into the game.
“It ended up 54-20 but for that 20 minute period in the second half we went to sleep. We got the two points though, that’s the main thing and that keeps us in the hunt.
The Roos also lost Aaron Hobden during the game after dizziness from his bad flu bout took hold.
Narrabri coach Glenn Collins watched his side do what it has done all season – fritter away chances with some simple errors.
“Same old story,” he told Group 4 Media.
“We let them get a big lead and then try and run them down.
“We were down 38-6 and came back. We had the wind int eh first half and used it early, scored a good try to lead 6-nil but that was it. We actually played better running into the wind in the second half.
“The effort was there just not the execution. Just the last pass going to ground or knocking on. Those little things just go against us.”
Unfortunately for the Blues they may have lost fullback Andrew Weber to a broken wrist.
North Tamworth Bears beat Dungowan Cowboys 40-38 in one of the most see-sawing and thrilling Whitehaven Coal Group 4 First Grade matches in many years at the Dungowan Recreation Reserve on Saturday.
Dungowan opened strongly in a game they had to win to stay in contact with the top four when they scored two early tries through young winger Noah Hooley and lock Trent Taylor. Taylor converted both for a 12-nil lead.
Norths hit back to level it up, and Dungowan retook the lead six minutes later when Dylan lake scored the first of his three tries from a short Taylor grubber before Sheridan dived over from dummy half a second time to convert his second touchdown and take a 18-16 lead into the break.
The first 20 minutes of the second half were dominated by the Bears as they crashed through some flimsy defence to post tries by Shaq Ervine (46th), Misaele Vakacegu (49th), Mark Simon (55th) and Jone Marau (59th).
The Cowboys also had Lochie Collins sin-binned 12 minutes into the second half.
While they were down 40-16 the Cowboys weren’t just quite out.
They scored some sparkling tries, instigated by fullback Dylan Lake, to roar back into the match through touchdowns from Tevita Peceli (65th), Lake (71st), Lake (74th) and Brett Wright (76th).
The Cowboys had three minutes to effect a sensational escape but the Bears just held on.
“I wasn’t happy with the last 15 minutes,” Norths coach Paul Boyce told G4 Media.
“But we were down on troops. And we were busted at the end. It had been a real good effort.”
He was delighted with the way his side overcame their player losses before the match and singled out teenage fullback Oscar Turner.
“He made his first grade debut,” Boyce said of the diminuitive number one.
“He’s only 17. Had a massive game, Made three try-saving tackles. If he doesn’t make anyone of his three we lose.”
Turner’s tackle on rampaging Cowboy centre Peceli in the 76th minute was one of the tackles of the season. Unfortunately for Turner and the Bears the Cowboys scored off the next tackle through Brett Wright to make it 40-38 and a grand slam finish.
The Cowboys needed to win to keep their realistic semi-final hopes alive but six rounds left they must win every game and hope results go their way.
Top image: 17 year old Oscar Turner who made his first grade debut for the North Tamworth Bears on Saturday (Facebook)
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