THE Boggabri Roos have gotten their 2019 Group 4 season off to a poor start going down at the hands of the Narrabri Blues on Sunday.
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After previously coming up short against their local rivals in a trial match last month, the Roos were aiming to turn the result around in round one.
However, the experience of Blues playing-coach Brenton Cochrane, Lachlan Cameron and Brady Jenkins saw the home side walk away with a 54-22 victory.
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Roos coach Shane Rampling said his side "didn't get off to a good start".
"We took a little while to get into both the first and second halves," Rampling told the Leader.
"I think we made too many silly mistakes, in fact I think we gifted them about 20 points from those mistakes. Against a quality team like Narrabri you can't afford to do that."
Nick Millar was named the Roos best player on the day after scoring a try for the side.
Bailey Lennox, Jarred Adams and Matt Gillham also crossed for the Roos in the 32-point defeat.
"Nick was outstanding in his first game for our club," Rampling said.
"He brought a lot of aggression to the team and really played well.
"Bailey was also terrific, but we probably didn't get the ball to him as much as we would of liked, and Matt is a work horse for us."
The Roos will now look to bounce back with a bye in round two, before taking on the North Tamworth Bears in round three.
"I think there is certainly a lot of positives about our team, and if we can eliminate those little mistakes we will be very competitive," Rampling said.
"We will be working on going back to basics and doing the little things well.
"A big thing will be applying pressure to the opposition and being mentally tough.
"If we can do those things and play a full 80 minutes every week I'm sure we can match it with anyone."
The Blues will now look ahead to their round two clash against the Werris Creek Magpies.