The Blues looked down and out when they trailed 28-6 at half-time and then 34-6 six minutes into the second half following  Aaron Donnelly’s second try after some good work by new, big second-rower Danny Reid.

It all revved up when captain-coach Lachlan Cameron dived over from dummy half, his second try of the game, to make it 34-10.

Only the fanatical supporter could have hoped for a comeback but the glimmer of hope continued to brighten as Ben Tupou grabbed a lobbed pass and raced over to score and make it 34-16.

Centre Dillon Walford then got in on the resurrection act, chasing a grubbered kick from halfback Justin Knight to land the first of his three tries.

Five minutes later and Andrew Harvey also pounced on a Knight grubber to score and make it 34-26 before Knight again went the dribbling Alfie Langer route for Walford to dive on his second four-pointer.

The Blues were just two points behind with 12 minutes left and the best was yet to come.

 Knight, seemingly out of grubbers, went the chip kick.

Perfectly placed in behind the Bulldog defensive line, it bounced  perfectly for him to regather and find Cameron in support.

Cameron in turn found a looming Walford and sent him a high pass that Walford juggled initially but then collected to dive over for his third try, the matchwinner and a 38-34 victory.

 Cameron has never been so proud of his teammates.

“We got together at half-time and said ‘we’ve got to change what is happening’,” he said.

“We’d made errors everywhere in attack and defence in the first half. 

“We’d make two or three tackles but then let them off- load and get a roll-on.

“So we wanted to restore a bit of pride after that first half.

“I was so proud of what they did in the second half. 

“They did it for each other and it all gelled.”

The Blues forwards, led by Jake Rumsby and dynamic little hooker Sam Sadler led the way, with Cameron and the brilliant Knight steering the attack.

Gunnedah were unable to counter-act the Blues barrage.

“The first half was real good,” two-try scoring co-coach Trent Hilton said.

“We completed our sets and had our defence in order.

“But the second half was a disaster.”

Losing halfback Matt Brady (knee) didn’t help while lock Michael Cobb was an early casualty to a leg injury as well.

In the end the Bulldogs had no bench to call on to change any of the on-field mayhem and were stunned young men after the game.