It followed Tamworth's 38-29 loss to St Albert's College in a season opener the previous weekend.

Despite the winless start to the season, Burke likes the look of his side.

Read also:

"Yes, it would be nice to have points on the board," he said. "But in this competition, it's how you're going at the back end - not the front end.

"We're building, and we're happy where we're at."

Burke said his best players against the Blues were openside flanker Nick Wiseman and halfback-skipper Charlie Kensey.

Second-rower Cam Williams was also good, he added.

"It was a close game," Burke said. "But we had to fight back. We were down 17-0 at one stage.

"We didn't start the game at all well. And defensively we were being sucked into a pretty strong Armidale Blues game plan, and found ourselves wanting out wide on several occasions in the first half."

Tamworth improved their defence in the second half, Burke continued, and "we certainly finished the stronger team".

"We just gave them too much of a headstart, really," he added.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: