It’s no pipe-dream either, with the Lions about to go into battle with Tamworth, Gunnedah, Barraba and Scone for the sixth spot in the finals.

As was resolved at the zone general meeting in February, all points for the Tier 2 sides will be reset to zero when the competition splits.

The Lions have either drawn with or beaten all of them after defeating Tamworth 26-15 on Saturday.

The Magpies showed good enterprise early but it was the Lions who struck the first blow, with winger Jake Smith swooping on a loose ball and running the length of the field.

“I know we got a runaway try but if you get a try like that it gives you belief,” Lions coach Nick Rees said.

That belief just grew from there.

They attacked with real purpose and defended likewise, little mistakes and the Magpies defence just holding them back.

“We had great phase play, it was just silly mistakes,” Rees said.

“Just once again not hanging onto the ball or trying to throw the miracle ball.”

There was nothing between them at half-time, with the Magpies scoring with about five minutes to go to tie the scores up at 10-all.

After leading for most of the first half, the Lions then found themselves behind with the dust barely having settled in the second half.

“That early try we knew we just had to regroup and restart the second half,” Rees said.

One thing they had mentioned at the break was that the counter-ruck “was on”.

“They weren’t sealing the ball,” Rees said.

“We would have probably got three counter-rucks in the second half.”

They hit the front mid-way through the second half and then pushed out to eight points with about 15 to go.

From there they switched into territory mode, trying to force the Magpies to play out of their half.

And defended with all their will.

That’s been one of the biggest turnarounds for them this season.

“A big thing in any team is talk,” Rees said.

“We might have had backs in the ruck but had had forwards strung out.”

Having learnt their lesson against Pirates going too high on number eight Conrad Starr, they had also emphasised getting two into the tackle on the Magpies’ big ball runners such as Sanimo Navatu, and locking up the ball to stop any offloads.

They were able to do that pretty well.

Hooker and skipper Toby Simkin again led from the front, topping the points and picking up the players’ player.

Outside centre James Clift picked up the two points, with former Magpie Richie Hunt earning the one.

Magpies co-coach Mark Daley was critical of his side’s performance, particularly some of their decision-making.

“It was just not smart footy in passages,” he said.

They had spits and spurts where they had the Lions under pressure but, generally, most of their attack came from counter-attack.

“We were our own worst enemies,” Daley said.

Discipline was a big issue for them, especially at the breakdown.

They also “weren’t effective enough at the breakdown”.

“We tried to go wide but they were too smart and too good on the ball,” he said.

Several times they had what looked promising raids thwarted by a turnover.

Daley  again was impressed with their defence, particularly with the amount of ball the Lions had.

He thought Joe Evans and Tom Anderson were fantastic for them, as were Jack Barker and James Bracken again.