It's back to the drawing board for the Moree Boars A-grade side after a 48-24 defeat at the hands of the Glen Innes Magpies at Boughton Oval on Sunday.
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The Magpies locked up the minor premiership with the win but the Boars couldn't continue their momentum following their big win over Armidale last week.
It was a horror start for the Boars, making errors in their two opening sets and Samuel Schiffmann took full advantage with a try five minutes in.
Magpies kept rolling with Guy Mepham kicking a 40/20 off their next set, and Jamie Watts was in for the Magpies second to make it 10-0 inside 10 minutes.
It went from bad to worse for the Boars who sent the next kick off out on the full, but some stronger defence kept the Magpies out before the Boars finally got on the scoreboard through Walter Hickling to make it 10-6 after 15 minutes.
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End-to-end footy followed before the Boars broke the deadlock through a Joseph Wade try to take a 12-10 lead in the 30th minute.
However two late tries to Sam Swain and Tim Grob meant the Magpies went into the break with a 20-12 lead.
The Boars couldn't wrestle the momentum back in the second half as tries to Adam Morris and Benny Schiffman extended the Magpies lead to 32-12 in the 48th minute.
Ian Swan was forced to leave the field with a broken arm in the 55th minute before Ashley Hogan scored a length of the field try just two minutes after.
Swain had his second in the 66th minute and the game was over as the Magpies held a 42-12 lead.
It kept getting worse when Anthony Smith was sent to the sin bin inside the final 10 minutes, but the Boars showed some resilience, adding tries through captain-coach Stan Swan and Wade before Mepham added the icing on the cake with one more try at the death.
After being in the lead 30 minutes in, Swan was disappointed to let the Magpies take control, citing their poor defence as a major factor in the loss.
"We defended well last week, but I think we just let Glen Innes get on a roll and you can't let big blokes like them get on a roll," Swan said.
"We know we can play and we can score points. We're just going to have to stop them.
"We started getting a roll on, I think we ended up scoring two tries but it was too late for us."
Forwards Rodrick Smith and Marshall Barker were some of the Boars best on Sunday, producing consistently strong runs, while Wade was named Moree's best on ground.
With just one game remaining for the Boars in the regular season, defence is going to be the main focus as they prepare for finals.
"Our discipline has also got to be pretty spot on," he said.
"We give away cheap penalties. Our dropped ball is really letting us down."
While A-grade wasn't able to get the desired result, the under-18s and league tag sides both produced strong wins in a day where the Boars celebrated Indigenous round.
The under-18s got up 28-10 while league tag held the Magpies scoreless in their 30-0 win.
All teams wore Indigenous jerseys and shorts designed by league tag captain-coach Lena Smith.
The Boars now face an away trip to take on the Narwan Eels in A-grade and league tag, while the under-18s will face the Tingha Tigers.
