For the 38th consecutive time, a team came to Jack Woolaston Oval, saw and was conquered.
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The latest victim was Gunnedah, who returned to North Tamworth for the first time since losing last season's grand final 34-28.
Gunnedah were not as competitive on Sunday, losing 40-16, but gave the marauding, undefeated Bears one of their toughest examinations this year.
They narrowed the score to 24-16 midway into the second half, before the Bears, as they do so often, kicked again. Norths led 24-4 at halftime.
The reigning five-time premiers last lost at home in round three 2015, going down narrowly to West Lions.
Bears prop Shane Wadwell, the man of the match on Sunday, praised Norths' "gutsy" performance against Gunnedah.
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And despite Norths' utter domination so far this season, he expects there to be serious challengers to the Bears' throne in 2019.
"We've had some pretty tough games in the last month or so," he said, adding that teams were "coming up" behind them - singling out Gunnedah, Werris Creek and Narrarbri.
But in reality, the Bears are in a class of their own - scoring 272 points and conceding 82 points in their six wins.
They also rebuffed Gunnedah's challenge without three of their main players: Josh Schmiedel, Chris Hunt and Brock Wadwell.
Gunnedah went into the clash with hard-fought wins over Narrabri and Boggabri in their past two matches.
Their side on Sunday contained only six players from last year's grand final, and Bulldogs coach John Hickey said post-match that his side still had plenty to work on.
"I think they beat us across the park in a number of areas," he said. "We've got to have a real look at how we defend: they found weakness in us today."
He added: "I thought we had our opportunities, but we let ourselves down a little bit."
Hickey praised back-rowers Matt Baker and Jason Smith, describing Baker's showing as "outstanding".
Norths led 12-0 early in the first half after tries to young prop Alec Cocking and captain-coach Scott Blanch. Cocking crashed over from close range, while Blanch supported halfback Kieran Fisher after he split Gunnedah's defence from a scrum about 40 metres out from the Dogs' tryline.
Gunnedah were on the back foot from that moment, but made it interesting by scoring two unanswered tries in the first half of the second stanza:
Winger Lachlan King posted his second try when he fielded a cross-field kick by No.6 Reece Jaeger, before No.7 Matt Brady used his foot to snuff out a Blanch kick and then picked up the ball and raced about 80m to score.
North Tamworth 40 (Alec Cocking, Scott Blanch, Kieran Fisher, Zac Nigro, Jake McManus, Luke Fisher, Jack Patterson tries; Jake McManus 6 goals) d Gunnedah 16 (Lachlan King 2, Matt Brady tries; Reece Jaeger 2 goals). B&F: 3 Shane Leigh Wadwell (NT), 2 Matt Brady (G), 1 Jake McManus (NT).
