CAREY'S Freight Lines continued their unbeaten run at the inaugural Wests Entertainment Group 9s at Scully Park on Saturday evening.
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A 16-11 win over Marius Street Family Dental and then a 13-5 victory over Shay Brennan Constructions completed their competition rounds of the WEG 9s in dominant fashion.
They now enter October 31 finals series as the red-hot favourites, given their six wins in six games.
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However, the Brenton Cochrane-skippered side didn't have it all their own way on Saturday, especially in the top-of-the-table clash against Marius Street Family Dental in the first game of the night.
CFL also had to wait before scoring their first try of the game, with both Jacob Nichols and then Lachlan Trindall adjudged to have been held up over the line.
CFL's Brayden Reid was then awarded a try, but MSFD hit back almost immediately when Matt Wilson created an opening for Trent Taylor to slice through and score a try converted by Wilson. MSFD led 6-4 and looked capable of ending CFL's unbeaten run.
Isaiah Adams finished off a flowing CFL move to dummy his way over and regain the lead, for an 8-6 CFL advantage at half-time.
Ryley Taylor then jinked his way around the MSFD defence and his inside pass enabled Jamarley Jerrard to increase CFL's lead to 12-6.
That's when it got interesting, with Gunnedah teenager Deacon Sankey crossing for a five-point super-try. Incredibly, Lachlan McGrady missed the conversion from in front and CFL retained a narrow lead (12-11).
Sam Taylor's cross kick was superbly placed for Nathaneal Slater to dive on in the corner and make it a 16-11 finish.
"We were up and down," Cochrane admitted after the five-point win. "Just proud of the boys. They all played well, all had a dig."
Cochrane received the Bottlemart man of the match award for another ramrodding effort, while Taylor and Wilson were awarded two points and one point, respectively.
CFL had to wait two games before tackling winless Shay Brennan Constructions in their final game.
Cochrane had set up a great start when he ran 40m from dummy half to score out wide and claim a 4-nil lead but SBC squandered chances, the most notable being when Zak Turnbull dropped a bouncing kick with the line wide open.
Isaiah Adams reciprocated for CFL with a clanger just before half-time.
SBC looked as if it had CFL trapped deep in its own territory early in the second half, only for Brayden Reid to step out of a tackle and set up a long-distance raid that he finished off for a game-changing try.
Ahead 8-nil, CFL extended that to 13-nil when Clay Frendin cleaned up the scraps and latched onto Cochrane's bouncing pass to score a super try - only for Lachlan Trindall to miss the easy conversion.
Dan Boland scored a super-try of his own for SBC, to complete the scoring and a 13-5 loss to the unbeaten leaders.
The loss completed another fruitless night for SBC, following on from an 18-10 loss to JT Fossey.
"Little errors killed us again," SBC captain Cody Tickle lamented.
Marius Street Family Dental bounced back from a 16-11 loss to Carey's Freight Lines to beat JT Fossey 20-11 after JT Fossey had claimed an 18-10 win over Shay Brennan Constructions.
It left JT Fossey two wins astern of second-placed MSFD.
JT Fossey skipper Mitch Doring was in scintillating form in their victory over SBC.
He and Dwight Millgate both crossed for five-point tries.
"We found that game a little easier after we cut the mistakes out," Doring said. "It was a great win."
While Doring won the Bottlemart MOM award, he said: "They all dug deep and backed ourselves. [It's] probably the best game we've played, everyone did their job."
It was almost the reverse when JT Fossey stumbled against MSFD in their clash.
MSFD won that game 20-11. It was a game notable for some individual brilliance from Doring and Sankey.
Doring's cover tackle on Lachlan McGrady was a magnificent first-half defensive effort but he couldn't produce the same in the second effort when Sankey motored past his desperate attempt, to score out wide.
Ryan Ingram had set up Sankey brilliantly in a blindside first-half raid, o net the Gunnedah flyer his first try and an 8-4 lead, before Brett Jarrett's kick for Shuaib Rhodes-Swain to score the first of his two tries was also a piece of perfect attacking ingenuity.
JT Fossey fought their way back from the 12-4 deficit to get within a point when Jimmie Pascoe scurried over from dummy half for a five-point super-try.
However Sankey's pace was too much and he crossed out wide and Brayden Jerrard slithered over, after Matt Wilson's good work, to complete a 20-11 scoreline - with Kobe Bone sin binned for telling the ref his decision was "soft".
"A bit of panic set in," Doring said of the loss. "[It was] just a tough game for us. You've got to take your chances, and we didn't."
WEG 9s SCOREBOARD
Scully Park - Round 3 - Saturday, October 17
Game 9: CAREYS FREIGHT LINES 16 (Isaiah Adams, Brayden Reid, Jamarley Jerrard, Nathaneal Slater tries) d MARIUS STREET FAMILY DENTAL 11 (Deacon Sankey 5pt try, Trent Taylor try, Matt Wilson con) BOTTLEMART MOM - 3 Brenton Cochrane (CFL), 2 Sam Taylor (CFL), 1 Matt Wilson (MSFD). CAREY'S FREIGHT LINES 4 (Brayden Reid try).
Game 10: JT FOSSEY 18 (Dwight Millgate 5pt try, Mitch Doring 5 pt try, Abel Carney try, Abel Carney 2cons) d SHAY BRENNAN CONSTRUCTIONS 10 (Cody Tickle, Jake Tighe tries, Tickle con). BOTTLEMART MOM - 3 Mitch Doring (JTF), 2 Sam Sadler (SBC), 1 Kobe Bone (JTF).
Game 11: MARIUS STREET FAMILY DENTAL 20 (Shuaib Rhodes-Swain 2, Deacon Sankey 2, Brayden Jerrard tries) d JT FOSSEY 11 (Jimmy Pascoe 5pt try, Nathan Vaisey try, Pascoe con) BOTTLEMART MOM: 3 Deacon Sankey (MSFD), 2 Ryan Ingram (MSFD), 1 Mitch Doring (JTF)
Game 12: CAREY'S FREIGHT LINES 13 (Clay Frendin 5pt try, Brenton Cochrane, Brayden Reid tries) d SHAY BRENNAN CONSTRUCTIONS 5 (Dan Boland 5pt try). BOTTLEMART MOM - 3 Clay Frendin (CFL), 2 Brayden Reid (CFL), 1 Bryce Daniels (SBC).
