You just can't coach against speed and youth.
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Laurieton Stingrays captain-coach Adrian Daley admitted as much after he witnessed first-hand how Lake Cathie Raiders pulled his team apart in their April 29 Hastings League clash.
The scary thing about the 48-4 hammering is that Raiders coach Jayden Ehsman strongly believes his team can get even better.
"We played our best 40 minutes of the year (in the second half) and someone said to me it looks like we're in second gear so it's always a good sign when people think we can go up another step," he said.
"I feel like we can and we still haven't had our full squad on the paddock yet so if we get our full squad ready to go it's going to be fun to watch."
Lake Cathie only led 16-4 at half-time before they sprung into action aided by an injury-hit Stingrays.
"They had a few boys out of position, but if you hold the ball in this league, defend your line and play field position footy you'll go a long way to winning games," Ehsman said.
"If you do the one percenters right... look at the Tigers who did that and beat Penrith, so anyone can do it. We just finally got it together for 40 minutes."
One of the highlights of the Raiders victory was their defensive resolve which followed on from conceding 20 points against Kendall in the opening round and just 12 against South West Rocks.
"Even when we were up by 40 I didn't want us to get complacent," Ehsman said.
"It's so easy to do if you are winning games and on the front foot, but you know momentum is going to shift in footy so you've got to be ready for it."
Captain Jarid Bruen led the Raiders around the park with ease while Cooper Gallagher, Tyler Weatherley and Aaron Shepherd crossed for two tries each.
Bruen, Kaia Glassie and Jake Wells also scored tries.
"Jarid's captaincy and first-up contact was something. You wouldn't like to get hit by that, that's for sure and he controls the game so well. He's definitely a player you want on your side," Ehsman said.
Lake Cathie, however, are not looking too far ahead.
"We've got to stay controlled and not look forward two or three weeks, but look forward to next week."
The final scoreline blew out late in the match as a result of an undermanned Stingrays side who finished the match with no-one left on the bench due to injuries.
It enabled the Raiders to run rampant with four tries.
Stingrays coach Adrian Daley admitted it was a perfect storm of conditions, but he has no intention of letting it derail their premiership defence.
"Like I said to the boys after the game; forget about it, go back to the drawing board and move on," he said.
"A couple of the bigger boys in the middle had to play some long minutes, fatigue got to us and they kept rolling and using their fast fellas and young fellas.
"You can't really coach against youth or speed."
Daley, however, felt the scoreline didn't reflect the closeness of the match.
"They played well and deserved the win [but] we were right in the game until half-time and then fatigue got the better of us and they scored 24 points in the last 15 minutes."
In other matches, Kendall defeated Comboyne 44-2 while Long Flat hammered South West Rocks 52-10 and Beechwood held off Harrington 14-12.
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