Group 4: Werris Creek Magpies defeat Gunnedah Bulldogs in round one

But after the game, the coaches' reactions were not quite what was expected.

Though his side earned a 46-16 victory, Werris Creek co-coach, Cody Tickle, thought they "still did too many things wrong".

"I think we took our opportunities when we could and that made it easier for us," Tickle told Group 4 media.

"However, we still made plenty of errors too."

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Meanwhile, Gunnedah coach Mick Schmiedel was "not disappointed" with his players.

"Disappointed we lost, sure," Schmiedel said, "but not disappointed in them the way they fought and the way they played. I was disappointed with that score and that it got out that far but I thought we played pretty good football.

"Werris Creek played some pretty good footy too and as a spectator in the crowd I would thought it a pretty good game to watch.

"They just made us pay for our errors."

Both sides had vastly different lead-ins to the round one clash at Gunnedah's Kitchener Oval on Saturday afternoon.

Werris Creek played multiple trial games through the preseason and all of their players had plenty of miles in the legs, whereas Gunnedah had two scheduled but only played the one.

This, Schmiedel said, was evident in their fluency on field.

"Cody's done a great job with them, they played some good, strong footy. They were just better than us," he said.

"But it was our first real hit out and they've had four trials.

"We had a trial at Singleton but only had one first grader available so we've got some work to do. We were good in patches too."

Harlee Millgate at five-eighth was adjudged the Magpies' best player by the referees, and earned three Best and Fairest points for his efforts.

Tickle, however, thought there wasn't one standout from Werris Creek, but said the team had "a lot of players across the board who played well".

While their first-graders fell short, Gunnedah got up 30-26 in reserve grade and 30-6 in the league tag. Meanwhile, Werris Creek paired their first grade win with a 48-14 triumph in the under 18s.

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