The Highlanders will tackle Narrabri at Walcha next Saturday, after upsetting Pirates 37-12 in the minor semi-final at Gunnedah on Sunday.

Their second Tamworth scalp of the finals series, the Highlanders set the win up in the first half, taking a 29-5 advantage into the break.

“The first 10-15 minutes of the game we took control and played our game. We didn’t play at their pace,” Highlanders coach Fraser Palmer said.

It was something they were conscious of heading into the game – not getting dragged into playing at Pirates’ fast pace.

“Once we got a couple of tries on the board we kept on going forward,” Palmer said.

Their first win over Pirates for about four years, the forwards laid the foundation with a strong performance. 

“We’ve been working a lot at training on our pods. That worked well,” he said.

They also showed good patience when they got down Pirates’ end, and their work over the ball was strong to set up the ball.

Struggling to put two teams on the paddock week in week out has meant not really having a stable second grade side and players have had to often double up, but Palmer believes in a way it has been a blessing in disguise.

“It’s really brought everyone together,” he said.

That camaraderie and communication that they’ve built is now starting to pay dividends, with both the Magpies and Pirates finishing higher than them.

Palmer said it was an outstanding performance from everyone but couldn’t go past captain and inside centre Blake Whitechurch. Since stepping up to the captaincy he has really upped his game.

Flankers Scott Houston and Trent Hoscher also had a big influence while Brady Mather had an “unreal game” at fullback.

Coming off a double in their elimination final win over Tamworth the previous week, he scored twice, Josh Phillips, Tyson Kennedy and Hunter Barnett also finding the tryline.