The Inverell Saints have shown their premiership credentials, kicking 30 goals on their way to a resounding victory over the Moree Suns on Saturday.
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The Suns had no answers for the 2018 premiers, struggling to keep up with 14 different Saints players posting goals in the 30-22-202 to 3-5-23 win.
The Saints were on top from the get go, their impressive midfield meant the ball rarely left their forward 50.
The Suns were held scoreless in the opening quarter and their dominance continued, going into the half time break with a 16-12-108 to 1-1-7 lead.
The Saints refused to let up in the second half, piling on seven goals in each of the final two quarters.
Jack Montgomery (two) and Matt Lather (one) were the only Suns to add goals to the scoreboard.
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Suns coach Eric Faulkner said it was always going to be a tough match with a number of changes to the team once again.
"Seven changes again this week with five late outs an hour before the game meant it was always going to be an uphill battle," he said.
"The Saints are a very well drilled team that clearly work on their structures relentlessly.
"We just couldn't go with their midfield that rotate and rest regularly and lacking firepower up forward we were unable to convert in our forward 50.
"There were a lot of umpire calls that should have gone our way which is frustrating too."
Faulkner said their backline played strong despite being peppered all day, with Zach Collier named their best on ground at fullback.
Jack Montgomery and Wyatt Roberts were also among the Suns best on the day.
"The whole team fought it out to the end and we never gave up even though we had no bench and lacked skill for on field rotations," Faulkner said.
In the under-17s, the Suns suffered their first loss of the season against a spirited Saints outfit.
In a seesawing affair, the Suns held slender leads at each interval, trading goals as neither side could hold the momentum for long.
Three behinds were all that separated the two sides at half time while a single point was the difference heading into the last quarter.
The Saints were able to get on top and kicked three goals to none in the final quarter to run away with a 7-10-52 to 4-11-35 win.
The Suns juniors have the bye this weekend while the senior men prepare to head to Tamworth to take on the Kangaroos in a replay of the round three fixture that was called off.
"Hopefully we have a full strength team again for this weekend and we start getting good numbers on the track again too," Faulkner said.
Faulkner also wanted to thank the supporters who came down to support on Saturday.
INVERELL SAINTS 30-22-202 (Lachie White 6, Tyler Desborough 3, Hayden Chappel 3, Joseph Kimmince 3, Keiran Te Velde 3, Mathew Penberthy 2, Dallas Baldwin 2, Lachie Martin 2, Samuel Kimmince, Joshua Desborough-Graham, Michael Gould, Marli Gobbert, Jade Mcilwain, Cameron Patch) defeated MOREE SUNS 3-5-23 (Jack Montgomery 2, Matt Lather).
