Despite returning from Saturday's trek to Walcha without a win, the two Tenterfield Tigers teams took plenty of positives out of their round two efforts against the Roos.
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The Tigers league tag team rocketed out of the blocks to post the first four-pointer of the day via Breanna Field.
Walcha hit back through Nicola Hoy and Bonnie Brown to lead 10-4 at the break.
The second stanza saw Walcha post a further 10 points with tries to Robyn Broadbent and Bec Hoy.
The Jillaroos took the win but Tenterfield captain-coach Megg Landers was pleased with the efforts of her side.
"I think our first-half was really good," she said.
"We were really good as a team.
"We scored the first try which was good and then in the second-half we just ran out of puff and just a let a few tries in."
From the round two clash, Landers said her team will be working on putting together a full 50-minute performance.
"I was really positive at half-time, I thought we played really well as a team," she said.
"We were very confident but then we just let ourselves down in the second-half.
"We just had lots of missed tags but we will work on it, it is only round two."
Tenterfield only had two reserves on the bench and Landers put the slight fade out late in the game down to fitness.
"Our attack in the first-half was good but we just ran out of steam," she said.
"We started strong and then just let it all go."
In the men's clash, Tenterfield only took 13 players to take on a close-to-full-strength Walcha at home.
The Roos capitalised, posting early points before Tigers halfback Jarrod McIntosh crossed to get Tenterfield on the scoreboard.
Walcha led 20-6 at half-time and continued to post points against a tired Tigers team and eventually took the game 42-10, McIntosh landing a double.
Co-coach Geoff Swan was left too deflated at the result but praised the troops who made the trip.
"I was proud of my boys, that was one thing, we showed lots of character," he said.
"They didn't give up and played right through until the end, the effort was there."
Eight players withdrew before the match and Swan said they felt it on the field.
"It was just unfortunate that work and family commitments, there were eight that were out on the weekend," he said.
"It is our biggest trip so it is good that it is out of the way.
"We were with them [Walcha] for a bit and then they scored those two late tries before half-time.
"We were with them and then just ran out of puff."'
Walcha captain Steve Eveleight applauded the efforts of the Tigers men.
"All respect to Tenterfield as well though," he said.
"It is never easy travelling hours away with no bench and they never gave up."
They have two weeks to recover from the tough encounter with the competition in a hiatus over the long weekend.
Swan said his team were happy to get some match fitness and they are looking forward to knuckling down in the lead up to their round three clash against Bundarra.
"Everyone came through unscathed, no major injuries," he said.
"We are just proud of the effort we put in and we just turn our focus to the next game, put that behind us."