The impact of a disjointed pre-season was on show on Saturday afternoon when the Macquarie Raiders were beaten in the opening game of the new Peter McDonald Premiership.
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The Raiders suffered a 34-26 loss to the Mudgee Dragons in what was the curtain-raiser to the Manly-Canberra clash at Glen Willow.
The Raiders enjoyed a fruitful off-season with a number of major signings but the action on the field was far from perfect as a number of players missed training sessions due to COVID isolation while Gunnedah pulled out of a planned trial match recently.
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That lack of on-field time showed at Mudgee, as the Raiders were scrappy throughout the contest and were made to pay for poor handling and missed tackles.
"We came in confident," CJ Ralph, an outside back who is one of the new faces in the team, said at full-time.
"We've got a good side on paper. It was the first time all of us boys played together, it was just the mistakes that let us down.
"It was pretty close in the end, we had plenty of opportunities but we just had mistakes, we've got to work on our ball security."
Mudgee were also far from perfect in the opening game of the season but the performance was enough to prove they will be a contender in the inaugural season of the western-wide competition that brings together clubs from Group 11 and Group 10.
Lock Ben Thompson led from the front and provided an impact while also proving hugely vocal for his side, while influential captain-coach and former NRL player Jack Littlejohn was also key at five-eighth.
I'm sure there will be a few beers tonight.
- Jack Littlejohn
It took Mudgee just six minutes to score the opener on Saturday as Jake Gale dived over for the try, which was converted by Lee Hicks, and then four minutes later the lead grew when Jared Robinson went over.
The Raiders - who were without injured captain-coach Alex Ronayne as he recovers from a broken jaw - got on the board for the first time through Western Rams back-rower Corey Cox.
The Raiders scored again through Filisione Pauta before the Dragons had Chad Chandler squeeze through to get the next four-pointer.
Just one minute later Jake Durrant scored for the hosts to give them a 22-10 half-time lead and plenty of momentum.
The Raiders were the first over the line following the break with off-season recruit Joshua Nixon bringing his side four points closer to their opponents.
Mudgee's Hicks replied four minutes later and converted his own try, and with 15 minutes to go fullback Nathan Orr got his first try of the season to put the Dragons in complete control.
With 11 minutes left on the clock, Clayton Daley's try gave the Raiders some hope and winger Eric Fernando also scored late on as Mudgee ran out eight-point winners.
"I'm pretty gassed after that. Getting two points at home...I'm sure there will be a few beers tonight," Littlejohn said.
"It's hard because you're playing against teams you've never seen play before, you don't know their calibre of players. It was a bit daunting not really knowing what you were up against.
"We came away with a win which is pleasing but there were a lot of penalties, a lot. When we fix that up, we'll be good."
The Mudgee-Macquarie match was played one week prior to the rest of round one due to the NRL match at Glen Willow.
With no match next week and then the Easter holidays, the Raiders won't be in action again until the round two trek to Lithgow on Sunday, April 24.
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