Ladies Day loss the fourth-straight for Red Devils

In the last round of regular season games, which also coincided with the club’s Ladies Day, the Devils went down 68-24 to the Tamworth outfit.

As the women of the club sipped and chatted their way through the next glass of champagne, Devils co-coach Nik Hannaford was left to ponder what contributed to his side’s fourth consecutive loss.

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He thought an improved second-half performance went some way to narrow the deficit but as for a win, it was all too little, too late.

“Our biggest trouble in the first-half was missed tackles,” Hannaford said.

  “We slipped off a few which gave them a bit of a roll to get over the advantage line.

“Our fitness wasn’t as good as theirs either.

“We started to lag and it carried on through the game.

“We probably only had about 20 minutes of possession.

“In the second-half, we picked it up a gear and had a real dig. 

“That’s where we scored our tries.

“We worked harder and in some areas, a lot smarter. But again, ball retention, or lack of it, came into it.”

As the fifth-placed team on the Central North leaderboard, Gunnedah will now take on next best, Walcha, in the second-tier, major semi-final.

“Now that we’ve finished fifth, everyone needs to dig in and prove to themselves that they deserved to be in the top tier to start with. 

“I know some of our results haven’t been the best but I think for their sake, they need to prove they are the next best side by winning a couple of games and building a bit of belief.”

In second grade, the Red Devils also finished the season fifth after a 26-all draw with Pirates. The Devils will meet Barraba in the second tier semi-final this Saturday at Gunnedah, while firsts play Walcha.

The Devils’ second grade needed a win to sneak into top tier finals contention and could have limped over the line with a draw if not for unfavourable results in other zone matches that weekend.