Experienced Wyong playmakers Mitch Williams and Terence Seu Seu earned rave reviews from rival coach Todd Edwards after the Cessnock Goannas suffered their first loss at home since the 2019 season.
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Unbeaten after the opening four rounds of the premiership, the Goannas fell 30-12 to Wyong after being down 14-6 at the break with Kangaroos winger Zane Rickit finishing with a hat-trick of tries in their upset win.
"We were as flat as a tack but full marks to Wyong - I thought Mitchy Williams was enormous for them and Terence was really good as well," Edwards said.
"The most disappointing thing for me was we were at home. Our last loss at home was back when Wests toweled us up back in 2019 so that definitely hurts. The one positive was we were still in the game there in the second half despite how flat we were."
Macquarie grabbed top spot on the ladder on points differential with centre Royce Geoffrey among their stars in a dominant 40-12 win over Kurri at Toronto.
Geoffrey scored two of his side's seven tries and was a constant threat with the Scorpions in control at halftime leading 22-6.
"They didn't have Mitch Cullen who was a big out for them but I was pretty happy with the way we controlled the game and our defence was good," Scorps coach Steve Kidd said. "Tyler Randall was hard to handle for them but we did a pretty good job on him."
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In other matches, Maitland duo Brock Lamb and Perry Le Brocque both had a day out in the Pickers' thumping 58-6 win over Lakes United at Belmont while Central Newcastle accounted for Western Suburbs 24-10 at St John Oval and The Entrance survived a second half scare to beat South Newcastle 19-16 on the Central Coast.
Winger Brocque crossed for four of Maitland's 10 tries against Lakes while Lamb finished with a personal haul of 22 points from a try and nine goals from 10 attempts.
Souths, who trailed 12-6 at halftime, threatened to upset The Entrance after drawing level at 16-all with eight minutes remaining. But a Will Pearsall field goal with four minutes left and a penalty goal on fulltime got the Tigers home.
Central halfback Luke Walsh played the full 80 minutes in his return from injury in his side's 14-point win over the Rosellas.
The Butchers kept winless West scoreless in the second half with coach Phil Williams rapt in his side's defensive effort.