Narrabri Blues rebounded from a first round loss at Boggabri to beat the Gunnedah Bulldogs at Collins Park on Sunday and reclaim the John "Dallas" Donnelly Cup.
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The Jake Rumsby-coached Blues converted an 18-12 half-time lead into a 36-18 success with Chris Hunt crossing for two great tries. Rumsby, Jacob Booby, Jacob Nichols and Rylee Sadler also crossed in a much improved performance after copping a 40-22 defeat at Boggabri in the first round.
"A much better performance," Rumsby said of the effort in front of a large crowd.
"Great to win in front of a big crowd and as a tribute to ANZAC Day. That was special."
Rumsby had challenged his side to perform after a lacklustre start to the season at Jubilee Oval and they did start well with Rumsby crashing over after just four minutes.
Gunnedah hit back a few minutes later when centre Paul Sharpley sliced through some ordinary defence to even up the game.
The two sides then went tit for tat to be 12-all before Jacob Nichols dived over from dummy half in the 17th minute for his brother and halfback Todd Nichols to convert and make it 18-12.
After halftime the Blues gained control when Sadler made up for a poor penalty on the Gunnedah line earlier in the second half to dive over from dummy half to extend the lead.
Two outstanding tries from five-eighth Hunt highlighted the Blues' second half, the second one a 50m effort where he shrugged out of a number of tackles to score under the posts.
"I put a challenge to them this week," Rumsby said of his pre-match preparations.
"They knew they had to deliver and they did.
"We made some simple errors at Boggabri and we did make some errors today but were much better and our shape was better.
"We also knew Gunnedah were going to come back at us and they did but we finished off well."
He thought halfback Todd Nichols was outstanding while the forwards were strong with Daniel Jobson and Daniel Howe leading the way.
Gunnedah coach Mick Schmiedel also thought his side played well after losing three key forwards.
"I was pretty happy with the boys," he said of his restructured side.
"We had our opportunities too but just made too many errors."
He thought the fast pace in the first half contributed to the errors as his side tried to match a Narrabri side that attacked from dummy half.
"That was probably the fastest game I've seen in Group 4 for a few years," he said.
"That's where they beat us, in the fast pace of the play the balls."
"They (Narrabri) played well, we couldn't match their pace."
His young side can only improve and he believes they can develop into a major premiership threat if they produce some of Sunday's strong defence and smart attack.
Halfback Dylan Lake was outstanding, scoring two tries and saving at least two.
Young hooker Nick White schemed around the ruck and five-eighth Aiden Davis was aggressive in attack and defence.
Lincon Smith carried the Bulldog pack and his skirmishes with Rumsby, Howe and Jobson were entertaining and powerful collisions.
