Heath Riggs opened the scoring after just three minutes when Scone turned over possession at the other end of the field, which allowed the Bulls to swing the ball to the right-hand side.

Winger Jordan Cosh raced down the sideline before kicking back in-field for Riggs to win the race to the ball which started a procession of points in the first quarter of the game.

Sam Bacigalupo scored a hat-trick while Cosh and centre Damien Meppem, who played his first game of the year, also scored tries as the Bulls raced out to an early 24-0 lead which became 38-0 by the break.

Bulls coach Damien Kelly was happy with the performance.

“We wanted to get our forwards into the game straight away so we did that. We defended well off the kick-off, turned them over and released our backs so that’s our plan every week,” he said.

The win sets up a clash with rivals Narrabri on Saturday where top spot goes on the line and Kelly said semi-final football “starts now”.

“Next week we can finish the first round on top which is what we did last year and hopefully you get a home semi-final at the end of it.

“The goal is to finish first at the end of the second round but the way the comp is structured now it is going to be bloody hard,” he said.

Kelly believed there was a danger the Bulls would go into the game underdone after registering three comprehensive victories in three weeks but that would be countered by minimal injuries.

“No-one we’ve played in the last three weeks has really challenged us that much but in saying that we’re going to be relatively fresh.

“But we haven’t had that hard contact in a game since Pirates a couple of weeks ago so we’ll probably have to work on that at training.”

Meanwhile in reserve grade, the Bulls remained undefeated on top of the ladder with a 120-0 rout of Scone in a game where it would have been easier to note who didn’t score rather than who did.

Nathan Holland had a day out with the boot kicking 12 from 12 and coach Paul King said it was a pleasing result.

“We didn’t make a lot of mistakes and Will Hiscox and Luther Williams were probably two of our best. We’re happy with where we’re at. There’s no doubt the game against Narrabri this week will be a step up but I’m quietly confident,” he said.