The first grade side was outclassed by the finals-bound Lions 39-nil. Second grade fared better turning a 38-nil half-time lead into a 50-24 win, with winger Tom Adams crossing for a double. But it wasn't quite enough for them to squeeze into sixth with Barraba beating Tamworth to finish ahead of them.

The 39-point drubbing for first grade wasn't the finish coach Jason Waerea was hoping for.

“We just didn't turn up today,” Waerea said.

That wasn't to take anything away from the Lions', who were, he said, a better side than the one they faced in the first round.

“Their lineout was a bit more offensive,” Waerea said.

“That's usually one of our strengths.”

They would have dropped four or five in the first half - before he stopped counting.

The signs were promising early with the Red Devils enjoying good territory the first five minutes. But it came to nothing when they were penalised for holding on. It was something that hurt them through the game, with the Lions, as Waerea put it, disturbing them at the ruck.

Several times they foiled raids by turning the ball over. The Lions were also very effective at slowing Red Devils ball down, which stifled their attack.

“We were definitely forced for go lateral too early,” Waerea said.

“The ball was coming out (to the backs) slow or around the toes.”

They did have some bright moments and were only narrowly denied a try right on half-time.  Adams also livened things up when he came on in the second half making a couple of good breaks.

One of Waerea's criticisms of them was that their line speed in defence didn't put enough pressure on the Lions. Consequently the backs had to do a fair bit of chasing in defence.

Waerea also thought they were a bit predictable in attack.

“We didn't mix it up in attack enough,” he said.

But they kept "chugging on”, and were a lot more competitive in the second half. The Lions only try in the second half, until the last five minutes, came from a Red Devils error.

The backrow were again superb and dominated the points with Pete Hughes picking up the three, Jeremy Brown the two and Lachlan Johnson the one.