The Bulldogs scored the first points of the match – when a Matt Brady grubber kick was grounded by winger Jason Fenn in the second minute for a 4-nil lead – but that was all the joy the Bulldogs had in the first half.

The Bears exploited some defensive frailties on their right edge as centre Tristram Morris bagged a double and winger Jack Patterson scored one.

Morris and Patterson then traded passes down the eastern touchline for Morris to complete a first half hat-trick before captain-coach Scott Blanch handed fullback Colby La Chuisa a dream run to an easy try.

That made it 30-4 after Jake McManus converted on his way to seven from seven attempts for the day.

With the bulk of the damage done in the first half, Gunnedah coach Sean Hayne said his side was guilty “of not counting up in defence”.

He said the Bears rolled through for some soft tries.

“We didn’t complete our sets, dropped balls, did pretty much what we talked about not doing,” Hayne said.

“You can’t give that much ball to them. We’re a long way off them at this stage.”

Gunnedah competed better in the second half as halves Brady and DJ Smith came into the game on the back of some hard work by backrowers Hayden Smith, Jordy Ford and Hayden Jaeger as well as teenage prop KC Edmonds.

But every time the Bulldogs scored, the Bears hit back with props Shane Wadwell and James Cooper prominent along with halves Blanch and Kieran Fisher.

The Bulldogs also went down in league tag and reserve grade.

The league tag side just went down by four points against North Tamworth in the four tries to three 20-16 loss.

Despite a double to Tony Griffiths in reserve grade, the Dogs went down 32-20.

RESULTS

First grade: NORTH TAMWORTH 42 (Tristram Morris 3, Colby La Chiusa 2, Jack Patterson, Scott Blanch tries; Jack McManus 7gls) d GUNNEDAH 16 (Jason Fenn, Hayden Smith, Rod Orcher tries; David Smith 2gls) NORTH WEST FARM MACHINERY AGCO B&F: 3 Scott Blanch (NT), 2 David Smith (G), 1 Jake McManus (NT).

Second grade: NORTH TAMWORTH 32 (Luke Byrnes 2, Damian Cutmore 2, Aiden Lee 2 tries; Zahn Chisholm 4gls) d GUNNEDAH 20 (Tony Griffiths 2, Daniel Head, Darren Mason tries; Mason 2gls) NORTH WEST FARM MACHINERY AGCO B&F: 3 Luke Byrnes (NT), 2 Tony Griffiths (G), 1 Nicholas O’Leary (NT).

Ladies league tag: NORTH TAMWORTH 20 (Kate Ferguson 2, Jesse Brown, Steph Fullwood tries, Brown 2gls) d GUNNEDAH 16 (Genevieve Vickers, Zoe Fleming, Piper Rankmore tries; Fleming, Chelsea Campbell gls) NORTH WEST FARM MACHINERY AGCO B&F: 3 Kate Ferguson (NT), 2 Zoe Fleming (G), 1 Steph Fullwood (NT).