The Bulls did, Alex Corlis scoring to cut the deficit back to 10 points at half-time before stampeding Narrabri in the second half to edge out their rivals 24-17 and earn a sixth straight grand final berth.  

“It was typical finals football, nothing less than what we expected and it shows the resilience of the boys to come back from 17-nil down,” Bulls coach Sylvester Joseph said.

They probably should have erased more of the deficit at half-time after being camped in the Blue Boars half for much of the closing stages of the first half. But for a variety of reasons such as dropped balls, muffed lineouts and the Blue Boars defence they were unable to make anything of it.

The weight of possession and territory eventually told though with Brandon Morris scoring to make it a five point game with 20 minutes remaining. Alex Knight powered over not long after to tie up the scores. Compounding that for the Blue Boars’ they were reduced to 14 for the next 10 minutes with replacement half-back Matt Schwager sin-binned.

The Bulls forwards were by then really starting to get on a roll, and as their territorial dominance took its toll on the Blue Boars, inside centre Jacob Cutcliffe reached out to put them ahead with six minutes to play.

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The Blue Boars had a chance to potentially send the game into extra time with just over a minute to go but blew it. The first time they were in their half for about 20 minutes, the lineout went awry.

“We’ve got a lot to play for, a deep-seated reason for playing,” Joseph said.

“The boys knew they needed to step it up a gear. They knew they had it in them and luckily they found it.”

He said as they do week in week out the forwards set the platform, noting that they had the ascendancy in the scrums.

Knowing what they needed to do, the Bulls really picked up the intensity in the second half, and were a lot more effective with their cleanout.

“The rucks were a lot tidier and that made it easier for the half-back,” Joseph said.

The ‘fresh legs’ off the bench also provided some good impact.

“Alex Knight coming off the bench gave us a bit of momentum, and Tony O’Donnell really controlled the forwards well,” Joseph said.

“And big Fiji Mac (Maciu Latabua) had a big game after his spell on the bench.”