Good football might not be enough to knock the Moree Boars off their perch right now.
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At least, that's the lesson the Gunnedah Bulldogs took away from Sunday's meeting with the current table-toppers.
A week removed from their upset victory over the Boggabri Kangaroos, the Bulldogs knew they had a mountain to climb but felt positive about the Kitchener Park fixture.
But Moree came prepared. And they knew that Gunnedah had found a vein of good form.
"We knew they had a good win last week," Boars captain-coach, Mick Watton, said.
"We got here and it was really cold and windy, and in months like this you need the right attitude to win games, especially on a Sunday. They love their Sunday footy here.
"We had a good warm-up, and I could feel that things were right on for us today."
That synchronicity translated onto the field, as the Boars proceeded to secure a thunderous 62-18 victory.
What was most remarkable about their win was that Gunnedah did not play badly, particularly in the first half. Every time the Bulldogs had the ball, they looked dangerous and likely to score.
The Boars, however, were simply ruthless. Every error from Gunnedah was punished, and they scarcely failed to complete a set.
"We had a pretty high completion rate, and we made it really tough for them to play footy in that first half," Watton said.
"They didn't play bad footy in that first half, I think we just strangled them out of it."
Moree's scoring was dominated by Jake Tighe (three tries) and Brent McDonald (two tries) in the first forty minutes, while Mark Pegus added another two to his season tally in the second.
There were also positive signs for star fullback Adrian Smith, who returned from an ankle injury to boot seven conversions.
While everything flowed on-field for the Boars, it did not all go their way.
Veterans Chris Vidler and Brenton Cochrane both came off with injuries. While they did not appear to be season-ending, Moree will hope they recover quickly.
At the very least, Watton said, the timing works out as they come into clashes against Narrabri and Wee Waa in the next two rounds.
"We've got a couple of soft weeks now. No disrespect to Wee Waa and Narrabri, but it's an opportunity to rest those blokes and freshen everyone up again," Watton said.
"When we're winning, our whole club's winning. And we want to look after some of those reggie boys that have been playing good footy as well."
