After having the bye in the opening round of the competition, the Red Devils were made to work in round two.

Gunnedah coach Jason Waerea said his players got plenty of tackling practice in throughout the match.

“We had to defend for the most of the first half,” Waerea said.

“I’m happy with our defence. We didn't have lot of ball and when we did get it, we were were probably a bit rusty.”

The Red Devils trailed 3-0 at the break which turned into a 10-point deficit when Jake Packer crossed for Narrabri before Callum Styles nailed the conversion.

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However, Gunnedah rumbled back into the contest on the back of their strong defence.

“I think we defended and scrambled well. I can’t fault our defence,” Waerea said.

“I think it [possession] was about 50-50 in the second half. We had more of the ball and started to penetrate out a bit wider and our kick returns worked well.

“Kyle McDonald had a really good second half. He came off the bench after playing reserve grade and opened them up a bit on their right hand side.”

New recruit Nick Lyons was the man to cross for the Red Devils while Brad Swain kicked a conversion and a penalty goal in the draw.

Waerea said Lyons was huge for Gunnedah on Saturday.

The flanker took out the three points for the travelling side while fellow breakway Dan Brown and prop Matt Pardesi also had big games for Gunnedah.

Waerea said the Blue Boars had come on in leaps and bounds since their season-opening 54-7 loss to Walcha.

“I watched the Narrabri-Walcha game and they definitely had ironed out some of their bugs and having Schwager back in the side give them a bit more direction,” he said.

Waerea also said the backline combination of Mal Frend, Joe Hinchey and Jono Madden was coming along well.

“We had a new inside back combination. Our nine, 10 and 12 – it was their first game together,” he said.

“I think they held their own and I guess Narrabri had the benefit of playing the week before to work out some of their bugs.”