A dominant first half performance has got the Cowra Magpies' season back on a balanced win-loss ledger in a 42 point drubbing against the winless Blayney Bears at King George Oval.
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With the scoreline at 34 points to 4 at half-time, the Magpies were largely in cruise control for the second half, but still managed to add to the gap, with final scores sitting at 50-8.
Mitch Browne and Braydn Cassidy both scored two tries each in the first half to set up the victory, with Caley Mok again clinical, hitting seven from nine conversion goal attempts.
For the Bears, it was another difficult day, punctuated by moments of promise, with Ryley Oborn and Steven Nean the only players to trouble the scoreboard in their last match before a bye round.
You love playing against teams that really know what you're like and they like to get stuck into you; it just feeds the fire in you.
- Former Bear, now Magpie Will Ingram
The win was a valuable one for the Magpies, with a big test against the in-form Bathurst St Pat's at home this Sunday, and Will Ingram, a previous Bears player himself, put this week's result down to the team's mindset at training.
"Everything was positive, we worked really hard on the things that we're falling short on in the previous couple of weeks," the bench-player and reserves coach said, adding that a focus on simplicity will continue to be part of the Magpies' focus over the coming weeks.
"We're just going to go back to basics, keep working on our completions and our attitude on attack and defence, mainly defence," Ingram explained.
"If we get our completions right and our energy's good in defence, a lot of people are going to have a hard time with us when we're out there."
It was also Ingram's first game in Blayney since leaving the Bears, and it was an occasion that he said he relished.
"I copped a fair bit of verbal from the sideline," he explained.
"You love playing against teams that really know what you're like and they like to get stuck into you; it just feeds the fire in you."
Meanwhile, Ryley Oborn, who was one of Blayney's two try scorers for the match, said the game was a frustrating one for his team.
"Most weeks we just can't put up an 80 minute performance, but we get those 10 minutes stints, where we're one of the best teams in the comp," Oborn said, adding the second half-fight back was fuelled by that frustration.
"We were down by thirty points at half time. We just thought, 'We can't keep doing this to ourselves.'"
