The Bulls certainly seem to have the four-time defending Central North champions caught in their web, making it three wins in as many meetings with a 40-19 triumph at Weebollabolla on Saturday.

In what was a disappointing follow-up to their first round win over Quirindi, Pirates co-coach Doug Biffin said they were "never in the game".

"We just didn't really turn up, we were pretty complacent from the outset," he said.

"It's always a tough road trip. I think we went out there expecting it to fall into place."

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Which it didn't.

"Our defence was pretty ordinary at times and they were pretty well executing a training drill against us," Biffin said.

Meanwhile in attack they struggled to string more than a couple of phases together, in part because their lineout was "very ordinary".

They would have lost probably 50 per cent of their own lineout ball, he said, which both put them under pressure and meant they weren't able to capitalise on any good field position they had.

"We'd get a penalty, and get good field position but lose the ball and take the pressure off from them," Biffin said.

His frustration was a contrast to Bulls' counterpart Jack Travers, who celebrated his first win in charge but more importantly witnessed a much improved performance after a disappointing first round showing against Inverell.

Saturday was "the style of footy we want to play".

"There's still areas we need to improve on," he said.

"[But] In terms of setting a standard for the year I think we did a good job of that."

He's not "getting too far ahead" though.

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They did welcome a few players back on Saturday, which made a big difference. Walker brothers Jayden and Josh were a telling injection with Jayden crossing for a double and Josh also finding the tryline.

Alex Barker, who had a great game at inside centre and picked up the three points, and second rower Gus Smith, who earned the two, were also missing against the Highlanders.

Travers said their structure also started to "click a little bit better" and they were able to execute their game plan to turn Pirates around. They also contained their stronger players well, he thought.

He was also really pleased with the way they kept the intensity up for the 80 minutes.

"It was good to see the guys continue on and continue to work hard and not drop off at the end," he said.

"That's all attitude".

New to the club this year after taking the opportunity to "get back south of the border" having spent the last two years in Brisbane, Travers said he had done a bit coaching before and enjoyed it so when he saw the Bulls were looking for some coaches he threw his hat in the ring.

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So far he has "loved" it.

"I've had a lot of support from everyone, it's helped a lot," he said.

He added there is a sense of excitement about what they can do this year, it's a matter now of "putting in the work".

For Pirates, it wasn't all gloom.

"There were some good things," Biffin said.

"A few of the young guys there, Jye Taggart, he played well.

"There's a couple of positives to build on."

In the other games Narrabri kicked off their season with a 42-nil win over Scone while Quirindi beat Walcha 30-20.

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