Albury Thunder turned on the razzle-dazzle in smashing Cootamundra 66-6 on Sunday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The home side ran in 12 tries, including a length of the field effort, as coach Adrian Purtell urged his players to play with freedom, just three weeks out from finals.
IN OTHER NEWS:
"I gave the boys the opportunity to take the shackles off a little bit," he said.
"We've probably been playing a bit too one-out, a bit predictable.
"Leading into finals we know we're going to have to move other teams around and play with a bit of flair.
"I think the boys showed what they're capable of and we've just got to improve on that next week."
Hard-running centre Etu Uaisele and powerful back-rower Liam Wiscombe scored doubles, along with winger Curtly Jenkinson, who was playing his 100th game.
Fellow flanker Keanau Wighton finished with 22 points from a try and nine goals.
Thunder looked like keeping the Bulldogs scoreless, but hooker James Woolford barged across with seven minutes left.
"We spoke about moving the ball around out of yardage, which took a bit of juice out of them," Purtell said.
"Obviously Cootamundra's struggling a little bit this year, we couldn't focus on that, we could only focus on us.
"We had a real focus of trying to keep them to zero, defensively we were really impressive, but we've still got a lot we can work on for next week."
Long-time Riverina rugby league supporters are saddened by the fall of Cootamundra, which was a nursery for the sport, producing former superstar Les Boyd in the 1970s, as well as a number of other classy NRL first graders.
The Bulldogs remain winless after 16 rounds.
The match was effectively over after 14 minutes when Wiscombe crashed his way through a host of defenders on a superb 40m run for an 18-0 lead.
The next try was a ripping 100m effort.
The Bulldogs were on Thunder's try-line when clever halfback Robbie Byatt intercepted a pass and took off.
He bumped off a handful of defenders on a 25m run and then found rangy lock Luke Ingram, who also brushed off tackles, before finding Wighton, who raced 50m.
English forwards Joe Lumb and Brad Hill scored the first two tries, which was a nice touch given their fathers were at the game.
Thunder's defensive effort and attacking brilliance will be tested when it hosts Young on Sunday.
The Cherrypickers fell to Tumut by only 10 points.