MOREE Boars and Boggabri Kangaroos played a rematch of their 2024 Group 4 first-grade grand-final on Sunday at Boughton Oval – and coach Jack Durheim reckons his team played better this time around.

Moree pounced on Boggabri 40-18 in last year’s season decider and on Saturday dished out a similar scoreline, winning 46-12.

Durheim, currently sidelined with hamstring damage, said the tried-and-true formula of “simple footy” again won the game.

“We kept to simple footy and the first half was near-perfect in my eyes,” Durheim said.

“We completed well and won a lot of tackles in defence, and didn’t give piggy-backs on the way out. “The boys were disciplined and didn’t give away too many penalties.”

The Boars led 28-nil leading into the break, courtesy of two tries each to Kaedyn Smith and Steven McIntosh and one to Joe Wade, with Adrian Smith converting four from five.

“The second half was a little different,” Durheim said.

“For at least half of the second half, they did everything I wanted them to do. We still completed sets pretty well, but we started to let the penalties creep in.

“We let them get in our heads a little bit, and that put us off our game.”

Second-half tries to Adrian Smith, who kicked three more goals, and Jack Mitchell and Brent McDonald sealed the game, despite a short-lived Boggabri rally in the final 20 minutes of play that saw a brace of tries from Josefa Condwadua and one to Pita Rogosau.

“I’m pretty happy with that result and it was a similar scoreline to last year’s grand-final,” Durheim said.

“I think we played a lot better than we did in the grand-final, so it’s disappointing we let in those last three tries.

“But it does get a bit hard sometimes. When you’re up by 40-odd points, you can switch off a little bit.

“I couldn’t be any prouder of the boys for at least 70 minutes of the game,” Durheim said.

Durheim said all players excelled on Sunday, with a couple of stand-outs.

“As always, Alex Barker had so many carries and he and Jake Tighe – who turned 24 on Sunday – are always getting us out of trouble,” Durheim said.

“Our bench players came on and made a real impact when we needed it as well.  Steve McIntosh went out and scored two quick tries within three or four minutes and Daniel Howe in defence was unbelievable.

“But as a team, we played very good footy,” he said.

Club points went to Alex Barker (3), Daniel Howe (2) and Steven McIntosh (1).

All grades play next Saturday, May 31, against North Tamworth, at Tamworth.

In other first-grade matches at the weekend, Werris Creek Magpies clung to a 25-24 win over North Tamworth Bears; Dungowan Cowboys beat Kootingal Roosters, 38-32; and Gunnedah Bulldogs strolled away 66-6 against Wee Waa Panthers.