Scrum-half Joshua Elliot was the star, slotting four important penalty goals to seal the 24-15 win.

Warrigals jumped out to an early lead when forwards Cam McKerrow and George Kalin scored in quick succession.

Despite leading 15-3 midway through the first half, Warrigals did not record another point for the entire match, which is a credit to the defence of Cloncurry.

“Our defence was one of our strongest parts of our game last season and we have carried that across into this season which is pleasing,” Cloncurry captain Hamish Chrisp said.

“With their being quite a few infringements in the match, it slowed the game down which helped us maintain the lead.

“For us to hold out a side with so many attacking weapons for 60 minutes was awesome.”

Chrisp was surprised with how quickly his team gelled, considering half the team train in Mount Isa and the other half in Cloncurry.

“The cohesion the boys showed was excellent considering that we hardly train together and it’s so early in the season,” he said.

“I was particularly impressed by the play of forwards Andrew Faulkner and Kieron Weller.”

Warrigals captain Tom Robertson, who broke his foot in the first 20 minutes of play, said there were positives to take from his side’s loss.

“The first 20 minutes of action by us was superb and if we can put that together for a full 80 minutes, I think we will be hard to beat,” he said.

“After the first 20 minutes, when we lost a few boys through injury, I thought we lost direction in attack.

“It’s hard to rotate 30 players into a match and not lose momentum but I think by us using all of our squad it will help us figure out who works well in combinations.”

“We were also our own worst enemy at times, with our poor discipline resulting in Cloncurry kicking numerous penalty goals.”