Five-eighth Jake Packer, winger Peter Meppem, outside centre Jacob Booby and fullback Michael Cain all crossed in the 20-point triumph.

The foundations were laid in the first half with the visitors establishing a 22-5 lead at the break.

“We played really well,” Blue Boars coach Dylan Duncan said.

“We talked a lot during the week about our intensity and keeping our intensity for 80 minutes and we did that.”

It was only really their illdiscipline, he felt, that let the Red Devils back into the game in the second half.

“The try they did score we gifted it to them by giving away four penalties in a row,” Duncan said.

He thought they were better than against Walcha all over the field. 

“Our ball running in general was really good and we shifted the ball well,” he said.

“The forwards played really well. Gunnedah defended aggressively but we handled it well.”

They did the hard yards to open it up for the backs to puncture the Red Devils defence. 

Matt McDonnell was again a standout, the breakaway scooping the accolades. Duncan said Mitch Wheaton was also really good at number eight, while Jydon Hill is starting to find his feet at half-back. 

More accustomed to playing in the outside backs, Hill’s move to nine was necessitated through unavailability and injury, and he has done a pretty good job. 

“He has good good hands and a smart footy head,” Duncan said.

Booby was also impressive, the former St Alberts back shredding the defence with his electric pace.

Red Devils coach Jason Waerea was surprised that the holes came through the midfield. They had been almost impenetrable there.

“I’ve never seen them get breached in the midfield like they did,” he said.

They’d spoken before the game that the Blue Boars had points in them, but missed too many first-up tackles.

It was a symptom of a “very flat” performance.

“The talk was flat and we were flat on our feet,” he said.

“(But) Credit to them they were linking up well.”

“They were good at capitalising on half a break.”