The Coonabarabran Unicorns followed up their resounding win in the Christie and Hood Castlereagh League knockout last week with an impressive round one win away against the Cobar Roosters.
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It may be early but the Unicorns have announced themselves as a real contender in 2019 after the 48-16 win at Cobar.
The long road trip had little effect on the Unicorns as they raced in eight tries to the Rooster's three, aided and abetted by an eight-goal effort from Jai Cain, who also crossed the stripe on two occasions, to announce the Unicorns are well and truly back after not fielding a first grade side last year
Elsewhere, the Trangie Magpies may well consider their home game against the Dunedoo Swans was one they should have won
Defence was seemingly not a high priority for either side with no less than 13 tries scored throughout the encounter, the irony of it as far as Magpie supporters were concerned being that the black and whites scored seven of them but fell two points short at full time going down 36-34.
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At Coonamble the Bears had to withstand a strong challenge from the Baradine Magpies before claiming the game 36-16 while at Binnaway an enthusiastic Bombshells outfit went down 46 to 1-18 to the visiting Gulgong Terriers.
It was a welcome return to the field for a Terriers side which is moving on from losing last year's grand final, but coach Mark Gorrie insisted the performance was far from perfect.
"We played a lot of frustrated football, a lot of things didn't go our way," Gorrie said.
"We did end up with a good victory in the end but we made it a little difficult for ourselves in certain places and there's some room for improvement.
"Just the way that we finished our sets off, giving a bad pass in a situation where they could have held the ball, kicking to the wrong area or not throwing a pass, just a little bit of execution that we didn't get quite right."
The match was also a special one for the Gulgong club as it marked the first time in 32 years three brothers had lined up in the one side.
In 1987, it was the Jackson brothers who took to the field for Gulgong, coached by Tony Gorrie, while this year it was Andrew, Brent and Zac Warwicker also coached by a Gorrie who brought back the rare sight.
"It's very rare, especially for a town with only two thousand people," Gorrie said.
"They were very proud to be lining up together."
In this weekend's second round there will be a local derby clash between Coonabarabran and the Baradine Magpies.
Elsewhere, it will be a battle of the birds at Dunedoo when the Swans host the Cobar Roosters and the Gilgandra Panthers will play their opening game of the season against the Binnaway Bombshells at The Crater.
