Hay Magpies made the perfect start to their Group 20 campaign by thrashing Leeton 52-16 at home on Sunday.
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The Magpies only led by six points at the break before piling on the points when play resumed.
Hay player-coach Phil Crosby said his players' conditioning made the difference.
“We’ve been working on our fitness a fair bit,” Crosby said.
“They (Leeton) were starting to tire whereas we were doing the little things right. It worked out for us in the end
“We had a pretty new team. I worked out we had seven debutantes today.
"I think it took a little while to get used to everything, but by the second half we looked pretty strong and pretty fit.”
The victory was especially pleasing for Crosby after the Magpies drew the bye in the first round.
The Group 20 competition will break this weekend for representative football, Crosby admitting the timing wasn’t ideal for Hay.
He said the Mapgies were missing an opportunity to build momentum.
“It's pretty disappointing to not have a game next week so we can get on a roll,” Crosby said.
"We would’ve liked to have played.
“But we’ll watch the country game instead and train hard and then get ready for our next match.”