Gunnedah Bulldogs reclaim the John Dallas Donnelly Cup at Collins Park

Narrabri Blues’ first grade side are still winless in the 2024 season after losing 50-32 against the Gunnedah Bulldogs at Collins Park on Sunday afternoon in round seven of the Group 4 Rugby League campaign.

The Bulldogs outscored the Blues nine tries to six and seven goals to four, and despite it being Gunnedah’s first win of the season and Narrabri’s closest of their seven losses, neither coach was overly pleased at the end of the game.

“It was disappointing,” the Narrabri Blues’ coach Glenn ‘Snow’ Collins told Group 4 Media.

“They made too many mistakes, dropped the ball, real under-10 stuff,” he said of his men.

“We had some real good patches, but we also had more bad patches than good. When we held the ball, we scored, but then we couldn’t defend our mistakes.

“It was just disappointing.”

“It was a win,” the Bulldogs’ coach Sean Hayne told Group 4 Media.

“We just made a lot of mistakes, get to the lead and invite them back in. Both teams did make a lot of mistakes.

“In the end, we got a win and that was the main thing we needed. We’ll take the two points and be happy.

“We had a few who had a go. It’s frustrating to watch, knowing what they can do.”

The victory also saw Gunnedah win back the John Dallas Donnelly Cup off Narrabri.

The Blues went over first on Sunday when one of their standout players so far this season, lock and captain Sam Sadler, opened the scoring with a try that Josh Trindall converted to make the score 6-0.

Gunnedah levelled it up at 6-all in the 10th minute before Cameron King restored the Narrabri advantage with their second try of the day in the 13th minute, and Trindall added the extras to make the score 12-6.

Gunnedah found some momentum in the 20th minute and scored four tries in quick succession to lead 28-12 on the half-hour mark, but Narrabri hit back as Dylan Segundo claimed a double before the break to reduce his side’s deficit to eight points.

The Bulldogs took their 28-20 lead into half-time, but Narrabri came out firing and struck first through Feleti Mateo in the 46th minute, and the score became 28-26 when Trindall added the extras.

Narrabri’s comeback was thwarted as Gunnedah again produced a flurry of tries, this time three in just eight minutes, and they converted two of them to establish a 44-26 lead after 62 minutes of play.

Clifford Toomey Junior gave the home fans some hope in the 71st minute when he crossed for the Blues’ sixth before Trindall kicked his fourth conversion of the game to make the score 44-32.

However, that hope was crushed when Gunnedah scored their ninth and final try of the day in the 74th minute. Johnathon Crowe added the extras with his seventh conversion of the contest to make the final score 50-32 in Gunnedah’s favour.

Bulldogs hooker Callum Hayne was one of the best on ground on the day and he earned three Group 4 best and fairest points, while Mateo, who was one of Narrabri’s best, was awarded two, and Gunnedah’s skipper Lincon Smith picked up one.

The loss was Narrabri’s seventh on the trot to start the season. They will pick up their first points this weekend when they sit out with the round eight bye.

The other round seven first grade winners were the Kootingal-Moonbi Roosters, the Moree Boars and the North Tamworth Bears. Kootingal-Moonbi outscored the Dungowan Cowboys 40-20 away from home on Saturday in a match that included six sin-binnings and two send-offs, while Moree won 52-22 on home soil against the Werris Creek Magpies. North Tamworth travelled to Cook Oval on Sunday afternoon where they thumped Wee Waa Panthers 62-0.

Fourth-placed Boggabri Kangaroos had the bye in round seven and they will be back in action this Sunday when they host the undefeated Moree Boars at Jubilee Oval.

Moree’s win on Saturday was their seventh in as many games this year, and they currently boast a for and against difference of 236, which is more than 100 greater than that of second-placed North Tamworth.

The other round eight fixtures see Werris Creek host Dungowan, North Tamworth travel to Kootingal and Wee Waa play away at Gunnedah.

There were two other games played at Collins Park on Sunday, both of which saw Gunnedah beat Narrabri. The Bulldogs won the ladies league tag clash 48-0 to kick off the day in style before their reserve grade men prevailed 58-22.

Lidia McCauley earned two Group 4 best and fairest points in the ladies league tag match and Chris Clark earned one in reserve grade. Clark and his teammates Harry Pattison, Bailey Toomey and Josh Gaydon all scored a try each in their loss, while Pattison kicked a goal and Josh Buckthought slotted two.

Narrabri’s under-18s team had a bye on Sunday.