Gunnedah could not have had a worse start to a home game when the Bulldogs suffered a 58-12 spanking from the Moree Boars in Sunday's Group 4 first grade clash at Kitchener Park.
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It was if the Bulldogs were doomed before the start.
They had lost young number nine Nick White in the lead-up to the crucial home game and then his replacement, Liam Ireland, didn't make it through the warm-up!
Gunnedah coach Mick Schmiedel had to make another change, moving five-eighth Will Patterson to hooker and Aidan Davis to five-eighth.
It was a major problem for a side that had hardly trained together as a side as it was, Schmiedel rued.
"We didn't start well either," he said of the actual game.
"Dropped the ball from the kickoff."
That exacerbated the pre-game woes and then Brenton Cochrane took over.
"He gave them that confidence," Schmiedel marvelled of the brilliant Boar pivot.
"We gifted them those two opening tries too, and a couple of intercepts.
"We lost our two hookers before we started. It's frustrating.
"And then every time we made an error they made us pay for it.
"Hey but our boys never stopped trying."
That was evident early in the second half when the Bulldogs scored two tries and could have had a third.
Zak Turnbull's drive earned him a try and sparked the home side in the second minute of the second half.
Then prop Lincon Smith smashed it up for KC Edmonds to follow-on with a similar bulldozing run that churned Boars up like snow in a snowplough.
At 32-12 after six minutes there was a faint hint of an amazing comeback, especially when Edmonds was diving at an overhead ball that if he had snared could have made it 32-18.
That diving catch went south and almost immediately the Boars were back on, with Brett Wright scoring a good try to make it 40-12.
Cochrane then produced a brilliant flicked pass to send Brent McDonald over, Saunders intercepted for his fourth try and then Marshall Barker offloaded a short pass for Cochrane to dash over, the final Boar nail.
Smith and Edmonds were outstanding for the Bulldogs. Davis too but it was a game the Bulldogs had lost before they had run on and then torn apart by a Moree magician.
MOREE 58 (Jason Saunders 4, Holt Cubis 2, Brett Wright, Thomas Ryan, Joe Wade, Brent McDonald, Brenton Cochrane tries, Adrian Smith 7gls) d GUNNEDAH 12 (Zak Turnbull, KC Edmonds tries, Dylan O'Brien 2gls) G4 B&F: 3 Brenton Cochrane (M), 2 Luke Hetherington (M), 1 Dylan Lake (G).
Second Grade: MOREE 34 (Jake Tighe 3, James Duncan, Kaedyn Smith, Marshall Barker tries, Wyatt Roberts 5gls) d GUNNEDAH 30 (Kih McDonald 2, Will Maggs 2, Nial Blewitt, Luke Borer tries, Farran Lamb 3gls) G4 B&F: Jason Humphries (M), 2 Kih McDonald (G), 1 Jade Girard (M).
Ladies League Tag: GUNNEDAH 12 (Madeline Buhagiar, Jacqueline Jones tries, Piper Rankmore 2gls) d MOREE 4 (Sheldyn Briggs try) G4 B&F: 3 Charlotte Eather (G), 2 Shai-Lee Smith (M), 1 Jacqueline Jones (G)
