Group 4: North Tamworth Bears defeat Moree Boars in Moree

But with so much cumulative experience under their belts comes other benefits - namely an intrinsic understanding of how to lift their playing level when it matters most.

And against the Moree Boars, who have dominated the bulk of the 2023 competition, the Bears did exactly that yesterday.

"We've got a really good leadership group and a lot of experience there," North Tamworth coach, Paul Boyce, said.

"We knew we had the talent within the playing group. Scott Blanch told the boys to take it one game at a time, and that's what we did."

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Their 50-32 win over the Boars, which marked the hosts' second defeat of the season, was crucial in securing the Bears second place on the Group 4 first grade ladder.

Having begun the season with three wins and four losses, North Tamworth's victory yesterday was their seventh straight.

Though Boyce still saw areas to improve - "We weren't happy about letting 32 points in" - he knew just how big that result was for the club.

What's more, he praised the team for outperforming Moree in the second half, which is typically when they turn up the heat.

"We knew Moree have got a habit of starting a little bit slowly, but they really hit back and finish games strong," Boyce said.

"We made sure that a lot of our guys tried to lift their intensity in the second half of the game."

Leading 24-16 at half time, North Tamworth piled on another 26 points in the latter 40 minutes to shut the Boars out.

The victory means that the same scenario will be replayed next week, when Moree host the major semi-final against the Bears.

But now, Boyce said, the group knows they are capable of upsetting the Boars in their own backyard.

"It gives us a bit of a psychological advantage coming into next week," he said.

"We know we can go out to Moree and have a good performance."

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