Post-match of their elimination final win over Narrabri, Moree captain Duncan Woods remarked that - whoever they played - Saturday's preliminary final would be another level on that.
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And so it was.
It was one heck of a contest as they and the Red Devils fought it out for the right to play Pirates for the silverware next weekend with the result in the balance right up until the final whistle.
In the end, the Bulls prevailed 37-29 to win through to their first grand final since 2015, Ben Williams sealing it for them a 77th minute penalty.
Pushing the Bulls out beyond a converted try, as the flags went up you could almost hear the deflation among the Red Devils' faithful. They knew that was probably it.
The tough part of it to swallow was that they had played so well, and led up until a few minutes before, when from a penalty, Woods opted for the quick tap and breakaway Angus Roberts picked the ball up from the back of the ruck and stepped his way through a scrambling Red Devils defence.
With Williams, who had a great day with the boot even curling one beautifully in from the sideline, adding the extras, it put the Bulls ahead 34-29 with eight minutes on the clock - after they had charged back from 29-20 down midway through the second half.
It was one of about eight lead changes.
"There were plenty of ebbs and flows," Woods said.
"Gunnedah, we knew, were going to come out hungry with a point to prove after last week (qualifying final loss to Pirates)."
The home side were right up for it and played with a lot more intent and precision than the week before.
Particularly in the forwards they really stepped up and took it to the Bulls.
![Gunnedah captain Will Burke wrestles with Bulls replacement Sevanaia Nadruku, who came up with a couple of crucial plays after coming on in the second half. Gunnedah captain Will Burke wrestles with Bulls replacement Sevanaia Nadruku, who came up with a couple of crucial plays after coming on in the second half.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/ingYyB85ps4jmG9t8mfsHP/6d963d1a-fb53-44b9-809f-44bc6a7ef12d.JPG/r0_0_1320_2056_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"We were pushed around pretty well by their forward pack, who were hungry in set piece," Woods said.
"Lineouts, which are usually something we pride ourselves on, we lost a lot of ball at today, which is disappointing.
"And our scrum to be fair got bullied."
"But then when we needed it to stand up at the end, it did."
A smile creeping onto the No.8's face at the last part, it was a scrum penalty that he took the decisive tap from.
In a game tight like Saturday, it comes down to the little things and Woods spoke about probably just "a few little moments" as what won it for them.
![Moree centre Percy Duncan shows great fingertip control to grab this offload from centre partner Alex Barker. Moree centre Percy Duncan shows great fingertip control to grab this offload from centre partner Alex Barker.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/ingYyB85ps4jmG9t8mfsHP/77ce6316-9767-425f-93b9-be95fd08e50a.jpg/r0_0_3868_2713_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The Bulls will have both senior teams in the grand final after their second grade earlier defeated Barraba 30-8.
For the Red Devils, the wait to break their premiership drought goes on.
They were understandably "gutted" as captain Will Burke described it post-match after putting themselves in a good position to play in their second consecutive grand final.
"We really gave it to them in the first half and it was all even and we came out (in the second), scored some points and were up," he said.
"At the end of the day I think the last 10 minutes they just beat us with a bit of fitness and urgency."
Still, he couldn't have been prouder of their efforts, and also how far they've come in the last little while.
"There was a time there in the middle of the season we didn't know where we were going," he said.
"[But] The boys regrouped and we're really proud to get how far we did."