Group 11 coach Justin Yeo said he was "half-happy" with the 24-all draw with Group 10 in their Western Division selection trial at Bathurst on Saturday.
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The men in red and black however, grabbed just seven of 17 Western Division jumpers despite the result.
Western Division seniors and under-18s will now play Northern Division at Gunnedah next Saturday in a trial leading up to their AAMI Country Divisional clash with Monaro at Apex Oval in Dubbo on Friday May 12.
Group 11 have not beaten by Group 10 since they won 26-18 back in 2000 and Yeo said this year's draw was more frustrating than anything else.
"We didn't play smart football at all. Our class got us the draw. Our effort was good, but we only trained twice.
"Unavailability is a big problem with blokes having to come from Cobar and other places. My goal was to win this game ... any player who gets through, that's a personal goal for them."
Yeo felt the Louie brothers from Narromine Mick and Anthony were excellent on their wings which would have made their non-selection puzzling for the former Dubbo CYMS and North Sydney back.
But Yeo was spot on the money with lauding Parkes second-rower Pat Rosser and Wellington lock Trent Runciman, who both grabbed Western Division jumpers.
"Looking at our team, we had a lot of players with Sydney experience and I thought we would get there," Yeo said.
"But they played simple, smarter football, they were pretty good."
Group 10 and Western Division coach Dave Scott was not upset despite the men in blue not winning for the first time in five years.
"There's always nothing in this game ... there are good-quality players from both sides of the deck," Scott said.
"They came here with the big guns rolling but I thought we dominated for most of the game. Only silly things got them back in it."
Scott was delighted with Mudgee second-rower Matt Kurtz's big hitting. He said five-eighth Clint Giddings (Bathurst Panthers) and props Kip Maranda (Lithgow) and Stan Latu (Panthers) along with Bathurst St Pat's centre Elliott all played well.
Captain Maranda (Lithgow) was rewarded being named skipper of Western Division while Kurtz was selected on the interchange bench and Elliott in the centres.
Scott said that after 27 minutes Group 10 had a perfect completion rate.
"That's when he controlled things," he said.
"We drifted away from that and it hurt us. I think we were just out on our feet. We should have wrapped them away at 24-18 ... it shouldn't have come down to the end."
Group 10 scored first through Maranda in the second minute. They jumped to a 12-4 lead through Maranda's double and Panthers winger Dave Eddy's four-pointer.
Group 11 then crossed through Wellington centre Nathan Smith and when former NRL star Joel Caine (Parkes) scored just before the break and another ex-Sydney star Blaine Stanley converted, it was 12-10 to Group 10 at half-time.
An Elliott kick and a wicked bounce saw Giddings cross in the 41st minute. Bathurst Panthers centre Christian Luyks converted for 18-10.
A brilliant one-handed tap from Manildra centre William Kennedy put Mick Louie in for Group 11 in the 50th minute, while Runciman scored four minutes later to tie the scores but Todd Jayet's conversion bounced off the right upright.
Brendan Van Veen showed why he deserved selection when he shrugged Caine off to cross in the 61st minute and Luyks converted for Group 10 to lead 24-18.
When Cameron Williams produced an intercept Group 10 looked set to score but his pass to Daniel Stuart was a shocker. Jayet made Group 10 pay in the 76th minute when he scored after magic lead-up passes from Forbes prop Damien Kennedy and Dubbo CYMS five-eighth Shaun Townsend. Jayet converted for 24-all.
Aside from Jonathan Van Veen's missed field goal Group 10 also went close through a break from Lithgow halfback Ranse, but he could not find any support.
o Group 11 24 (Nathan Smith, Joel Caine, Mick Louie, Trent Runciman, Todd Jayet tries; Blaine Stanley, Jayet goals) drew with Group 10 24 (Kip Maranda 2, Brendan Van Veen, Clint Giddings, Dave Eddy tries; Christian Luyks 2 goals).
